Ardèche () is a département in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. It is named after the Ardèche river.

History
The department of Ardèche was created on 4 March 1790 with seven districts: Annonay, Aubenas, L'Argentière, Privas, Tournon, Vernoux and Villeneuve-de-Berg. The capital was Privas alternating with Annonay, Aubenas, Le Bourg(-Saint-Andéol) and Tournon. In August of that year, the number of districts was reduced to three: Mézenc, Aubenas and Tanargue. In September, Privas became the only capital of the department.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the three districts were changed into three arrondissements: Privas, L'Argentière and Tournon.

On 18 March 1988, Tournon changed its name to Tournon-sur-Rhône.

Geography
The Ardèche is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It has an area of .

The department is surrounded by 7 departments in 3 regions:

 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
 Loire (north)
 Isère (northeast)
 Drôme (east)
 Haute-Loire (west)
 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region
 Vaucluse (southeast)
 Occitanie region
 Gard (south)
 Lozère (southwest)

The highest point in the department is  Mont Mézenc (). It is  high.; it is in the northwest of the department, on the border with the Haute-Loire department. The lowest point,  above sea level, is where the Ardèche river flows into the Rhône (in the south east of the department).

The main rivers in Ardèche are: 
 Loire, that flows through the western part of the department and ends in the Atlantic Ocean.
 Rhône, that makes the eastern border of the department and ends in the Mediterranean Sea.
 Ardèche, a tributary of the Rhône.

The Allier river forms the border of the Lozère department and the Ardèche for about .

Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Privas is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype Cfb. The southern part of the department has a Mediterranean climate of the subtype Csb.

Administration
Ardèche is managed by the Departmental Council of Ardèche in Privas. The department is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 17 cantons and 339 communes (municipalities) in Ardèche.

The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Ardèche department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Annonay-1 (0701)
 Annonay-2 (0702)
 Aubenas-1 (0703)
 Aubenas-2 (0704)
 Bourg-Saint-Andéol (0705)
 Le Cheylard (0706)
 Guilherand-Granges (0707)
 Lamastre (0708)
 Le Pouzin (0709)
 Privas (0710)
 Sarras (0711)
 Le Teil (0712)
 Thueyts (0713)
 Tournon-sur-Rhône (0714)
 Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (0715)
 Les Vans (0716)
 La Voulte-sur-Rhône (0717)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Ardèche are known, in French, as Ardéchois (women: Ardéchoises).

Ardèche had a population, in 2014, of 322,381, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Tournon-sur-Rhône, with 135,786 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Allier

The communes in the department with more than 7,000 inhabitants are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Cantons of the Ardèche department
 Arrondissements of the Ardèche department
 Communes of the Ardèche department

References

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website