Gers

Gers (Gascon: Gers) is a department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Gers river.

History
Gers is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the old provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.

The new department had six districts: Auch, Lectoure, Condom, Nogaro, L'Isle-Jourdain and Mirande. The capital (now prefecture) was Auch.

in 1808, part of the Gers department was transferred to the new Tarn-et-Garonne department'.

Geography

Gers is known for its hilly landscape and bastide villages. The Pyrenees are visible to the south.

Gers is part of the Occitanie region, and is the 34th French department in area with .

The department is surrounded by six departments in two regions:
 Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
 Lot-et-Garonne (north)
 Pyrénées-Atlantiques (southwest)
 Landes (west)
 Occitanie region
 Tarn-et-Garonne (northeast)
 Haute-Garonne (east)
 Hautes-Pyrénées (south)

The main rivers of the department are the Garonne and the Gers, a left tributary of the Garonne. Other rivers are Save, Gimone, Arrats, Baïse and Osse.

The highest point in the department is Mont de Chapelle Saint Roch (), in west central Pyrénées near the border with the Hautes-Pyrénées department, with an altitude of .

Climate
The climate of Gers is an oceanic climate with template summers, Cfb (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The annual rainfall in the department varies from over  in the southwest of the department, to less than  in the northeast (Auch, Condom and Lectoure).

Summers are very hot and dry, the temperatures often exceed . Winters vary, often with frost, but the climate remains mild and dry.

Administration
The department is managed by the Departamental Council of the Gers in Auch. Gers is part of the region of Occitanie.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 17 cantons and 462 communes (municipalities) in Gers.

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

 Adour-Gersoise (3201)
 Armagnac-Ténarèze (3202)
 Astarac-Gimone (3203)
 Auch-1 (3204)
 Auch-2 (3205)
 Auch-3 (3206)
 Baïse-Armagnac (3207)
 Fezensac (3208)
 Fleurance-Lomagne (3209)
 Gascogne-Auscitaine (3210)
 Gimone-Arrats (3211)
 Grand-Bas-Armagnac (3212)
 L'Isle-Jourdain (3213)
 Lectoure-Lomagne (3214)
 Mirande-Astarac (3215)
 Pardiac-Rivière-Basse (3216)
 Val de Save (3217)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Gers are known, in French, as Gersois (women: Gersoises).

Gers has a population, in 2014, of 190,625, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Auch, with 87,118 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Condom and Mirande, have respectively 65,562 and 37,945 inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Gers

The 10 most important cities in the department are:

Economy
The economy in Gers revolves primarily around agriculture and culinary tourism. The department is a producer of maize, wheat, rapeseed, sunflower.

Some well-known products of the region are:
 Armagnac, a brandy
 Côtes de Gascogne, wine
 Floc de Gascogne, an apéritif (an alcoholic drink served before a meal)
 Foie gras
 Wild mushrooms

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Gers department
 Communes of the Gers department

References

Other websites

 Departamental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Comité départemental du tourisme et des loisirs du Gers 
 Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie du Gers 

Departments in Occitanie