Alpes-Maritimes (; ) is a department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in the extreme southeast corner of France.

The name Alpes-Maritime comes from ,  a Roman military district created in the region by Augustus in 14 BC.

History

The department of the Alpes-Martimes was created on 4 February 1793 with the territory of the County of Nice that was annexed in January of the same year. The capital was Nice. It was divided in three districts: Menton, Nice and Puget-Théniers. In 1794, district of Menton was changed to district of Fort-d'Hercule (Monaco).

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the three districts were changed into three arrondissements: Nice, Monaco and Puget-Théniers.

After the annexation of San Remo, the arrondissement  of San Remo was created in 1805. By the Peace of Paris in 1814, San Remo passed to Genoa and the rest of the department passed to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

When Nice became part of France in 1860, the department was created again with Nice as the capital and with the arrondisement of Grasse that was part of Var department. In the same year, the department was divided in two arrondissements: Grasse and Puget-Théniers.

On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Puget-Théniers was eliminated.

Geography
The Alpes-Maritimes is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It has an area of .

The department is surrounded by the Piedmont and Liguria  regions (Italy) and two departments; the Mediterranean Sea is to the south. It surrounds the Principality of Monaco on the west, north, and east.

 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region
 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (northwest)
 Var (southwest)

The highest mountain in the department is  Cime du Gélas () on the border with Italy; it is  high. The lowest point is along the Mediterranean coast.

The main rivers in Alpes-Maritimes are:  Var, Vésubie, Tinée, Roya, Estéron, Siagne, Loup.

Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Nice is a "Mediterranean climate" and of the subtype "Csb".

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Nice is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of . There are an average of 94.0 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in April with 11.0 days and the least precipitation occurring in July with 4.0 days.

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

Administration
Alpes-Maritimes is managed by the Departmental Council of Alpes-Maritimes in Nice. The department is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

Administrative divisions
There are 2 arrondissements (districts), 27 cantons and 163 communes (municipalities) in Alpes-Maritimes.

The following is a list of the 27 cantons of the Alpes-Maritimes department, in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Antibes-1 (0601)
 Antibes-2 (0602)
 Antibes-3 (0603)
 Beausoleil (0604)
 Cagnes-sur-Mer-1 (0605)
 Cagnes-sur-Mer-2 (0606)
 Cannes-1 (0607)
 Cannes-2 (0608)
 Le Cannet (0609)
 Contes (0610)
 Grasse-1 (0611)
 Grasse-2 (0612)
 Mandelieu-la-Napoule (0613)
 Menton (0614)
 Nice-1 (0615)
 Nice-2 (0616)
 Nice-3 (0617)
 Nice-4 (0618)
 Nice-5 (0619)
 Nice-6 (0620)
 Nice-7 (0621)
 Nice-8 (0622)
 Nice-9 (0623)
 Tourrette-Levens (0624)
 Valbonne (0625)
 Vence (0626)
 Villeneuve-Loubet (0627)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Alpes-Maritimes are known, in French, as Maralpins (women: Maralpines).

Alpes-Maritimes had a population, in 2014, of 1,083,312, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Grasse, with 560,045 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Alpes-Maritimes

The communes in the department with more than 20,000 inhabitants are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Alpes-Maritimes department
 Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department

References

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Côte d'Azur tourism