Côte-d'Or (literally, "Slope of Gold", "Golden Slope") is a department in the eastern France. It is one of the 83 first French departments made during the French revolution and one of the eight departments of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

Its prefecture (capital) is the city of Dijon. The inhabitants of the department are called Costaloriens (women:Costaloriennes) or Côte-d'Oriens (women:Côte d'Oriennes).

History 
Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the old province of Burgundy. It was divided in seven districts: Arnay-le-Duc, Beaune, Châtillon-sur-Seine, Dijon, Is-sur-Tille, Saint-Jean-de-Losne and Semur-en-Auxois.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the seven districts were changed into four arrondissements: Dijon, Beaune, Châtillon-sur-Seine and Semur-en-Auxois.

After the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), the department was occupied by the Austrian army from June 1815 to November 1818.

In 1926, the arrondissement of Montbard was made with the arrondissements of Châtillon-sur-Seine and Semur-en-Auxois.

Origin of name

Côte-d'Or is the only French department who was not named after a geographical feature: a river, a mountain, and so on. The name was chosen by Charles-André-Rémy Arnoult, member of the National Constituent Assembly of 1789, who suggested the name, inspired by the golden hue that took the vineyards of the region in the autumn.

The French word côte means, in this case, a slope that geologists usually name with the Spanish word cuesta.

Geography
Côte-d'Or is part of the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The department borders with 7 departments that are part of 2 regions:
 Grand Est region
 Aube (north)
 Haute-Marne (northeast)
 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
 Haute-Saône (east)
 Jura (southeast)
 Saône-et-Loire (south)
 Nièvre (southwest)
 Yonne (west)

The department has an area of . The highest point of the department is Mont de Gien (),  high; it is in the commune Ménessaire. The lowest point of the department,  high, is where the river Saône leaves the department, in the commune Chivres.

A chain of hills called the Plateau de Langres runs from north-east to south-west through the department to the north of Dijon and continues south-westwards as the Côte d'Or escarpment, which takes its name from that of the department (without the hyphen). It is the south-east facing slope of this escarpment which is the site of the celebrated Burgundy vineyards. To the south-east of the plateau and escarpment, the department lies in the broad valley of the middle section of the river Saône.

Rivers
The main rivers of Côte-d'Or are:
 The Seine, with its source in the southern end of the Plateau de Langres, in the commune Source-Seine.
 The Aube, right tributary of the Seine.
 The Armançon and the Serein, tributaries of the Yonne which is a left tributary of the Seine.
 The Saône, an important tributary of the Rhône. It flows through several communes of the Côte-d'Or department and some of the tributaries are Vingeanne, Tille, Bèze and Ouche.
 The Arroux is a right tributary of the Loire.

Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Dijon is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

The average temperature for the year in Dijon is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month, on average is January, with an average temperature of .

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Dijon is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

In the Plateau de Langres, winters are long and cold with frequent frosts.

Administration
The department is managed by the Departmental Council of Côte-d'Or in Dijon. Côte-d'Or is part of the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 23 cantons and 704 communes (municipalities) in Côte-d'Or.

The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the Côte-d'Or department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Arnay-le-Duc (2101)
 Auxonne (2102)
 Beaune (2103)
 Brazey-en-Plaine (2104)
 Châtillon-sur-Seine (2105)
 Chenôve (2106)
 Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur (2107)
 Dijon-1 (2108)
 Dijon-2 (2109)
 Dijon-3 (2110)
 Dijon-4 (2111)
 Dijon-5 (2112)
 Dijon-6 (2113)
 Fontaine-lès-Dijon (2114)
 Genlis (2115)
 Is-sur-Tille (2116)
 Ladoix-Serrigny (2117)
 Longvic (2118)
 Montbard (2119)
 Nuits-Saint-Georges (2120)
 Saint-Apollinaire (2121)
 Semur-en-Auxois (2122)
 Talant (2123)

Demographics
Côte d'Or has a population, in 2014, of 531,380, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Dijon, with 373,574 inhabitants, is by far the one with more inhabitants. The other two, Beaune and Montbard, have respectively 97,107 and 60,699 inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Côte-d'Or

The main cities in the department are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Côte-d'Or department
 Communes of the Côte-d'Or department

References

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Pays Beaunois 

Departments in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté