The inhabitants of Pyrénées-Atlantiques are known, in French, as "Basques et Béarnais" (women: "Basques et Béarnaises"). The Basques live mainly in the western part of the department and the Béarnais in the eastern part. From 1790 to 1969, before the change of the name of the department, the inhabitants of this departmente were known as "Bas-Pyrénéens".
The Pyrénées-Atlantiques has a population, in 2014, of 667,249, for a population density of inhabitants/km. The "arrondissement" of Pau, with 305,089 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Bayonne and Oloron-Sainte-Marie, have respectively 287,546 and 74,614 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Pyrénées-Atlantiques
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Pau, with 77,489 inhabitants, the of the total population of the department. The subprefectures of Bayonne and Oloron-Sainte-Marie have, respectively, 48,178 inhabitants () and 10,824 inhabitants ().
The main cities in the department are:
Hautes-Pyrénées
Hautes-Pyrénées () is a department in the southwest of France. It is part of the Occitanie region and its main city is Tarbes.
Hautes-Pyrénées is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created with parts of the former province of Gascony; these parts were the old province of Bigorre and the Pays des Quatre-Vallées.
Hautes-Pyrénées has an area of , or 0.81% of the country. It is part of the Occitanie region and has two small territorial exclaves—a remnant from the Middle Ages—located within the neighboring "département" of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The department is surrounded by 2 regions and 3 departments:
and by Spain (the province of Huesca) to the south.
Three natural regions can be distinguished in the department.
The Pyrénées, along the border with Spain, cover the southern half of the department, with 66% of the department. They form a natural barrier between France and Spain. More than 30 mountains here are over high.
The Pic Vignemale (), at , is the highest point of the department; it is on the border with Spain. The Vignemale is in the Pyrénées National Park.
The second region of the Hautes-Pyrénées, with 17% of the territory, consists of chains low hills.
The third region, in the northern part of the department, is the plain of the Adour river and consists of largely flat agricultural land.
The main river of the department is the Adour river that flows through the cities of Tarbes and Bagnères-de-Bigorre. Other rivers are the Gave de Pau and the Neste.
Hautes-Pyrénées has two small territorial exclaves—a remnant from the Middle Ages—within the neighboring "département" of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The climate of the department is an oceanic climate with relatively hot summers, mild winters and abundant rainfall, Cfb in the Köppen climate classification.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Lourdes is . The month with the most precipitation on average is November with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .
The average temperature for the year in Lourdes 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 département is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Haute-Garonne" in Tarbes. The Hautes-Pyrénées is part of the region of Occitanie.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 17 "cantons" and 470 "communes" (municipalities) in the Hautes-Pyrénées.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Hautes-Pyrénées department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
The inhabitants of Hautes-Pyrénées are known, in French, as "Haut-Pyrénéens" (women: "Haut-Pyrénéennes"). They are also known as the "Bigourdans".
Hautes-Pyrénées has a population, in 2014, of 228,950, for a population density of inhabitants/km. The "arrondissement" of Tarbes, with 143,753 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Argelès-Gazost and Bagnères-de-Bigorre, have respectively 38,813 and 46,384 inhabitants.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Tarbes (40,900), followed by Lourdes (14,361). The subprefectures of Argelès-Gazost and Bagnères-de-Bigorre have, respectively, 3,020 and 7,602 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Hautes-Pyrénées
The cities with more than 4,000 inhabitants in the department are:
Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales (English: "Eastern Pyrenees"; ; ) is a department in the region of Occitanie in southern France; it is next to the northern Spanish border and the Mediterranean Sea.
The department is formed by the historically Catalan-speaking area of Rosillon (with its different parts: Roussillon (modern), Haute Cerdagne (or simply Cerdagne), Conflent, Vallespir and Capcir) and Fenouillèdes, an historically Occitan-speaking area.
Before 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, within the Kingdom of Spain, so historically most of it has been Catalan-speaking, and it is still sometimes referred to as Northern Catalonia.
Pyrénées-Orientales was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Pyrénées-Orientales was formed by the province of Roussillon and Fenouillèdes (), a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc.
Pyrénées-Orientales has an area of . It has the department of Aude to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, Spain to the south, and Andorra and the department of Ariège to the west.
The department is dominated by the Pyrenees mountain range. The highest mountain is Pic Carlit () that is high. The best known mountain in the department is Le Canigou () that is high.
There are three main rivers in the department: from north to south, Agly, Têt (the largest river of the department) and Tech; the Agly has its source in the Corbières hills, in the southern part of the Aude department. The other two river has their sources in the Pyrenees. The three rivers flow into the eastern Plain of Roussillon before they flow into the Mediterranean Sea.
Most of the population and agricultural production are concentrated in the Plain of Roussillon, with only 30% of the area.
Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain, that forms a Spanish exclave surrounded by French territory.
In the department, there are three subtypes of the group C in the Köppen climate classification:
The département is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales" in Perpignan. The Pyrénées-Orientales is part of the region of Occitanie.
The area is traditionally divided into comarques, of which five (French Cerdagne, Capcir, Conflent, Roussillon and Vallespir) are historically Catalan-speaking and one (Fenouillèdes) is historically Occitan-speaking.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 17 "cantons" and 226 "communes" (municipalities) in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Pyrénées-Orientales department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Pyrénées-Orientales has a population, in 2014, of 466,327, for a population density of inhabitants/km. The "arrondissement" of Perpignan, with 349,959 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Ceret and Prades, have respectively 73,192 and 43,176 inhabitants.
The only important city is Perpignan with 120,605 people living there in 2012. The subprefectures Céret and Prades have 7,663 and 5,927, respectively.
Evolution of the population in Pyrénées-Orientales
The cities with more than 6,000 inhabitants in the department are:
The inhabitants of Pyrénées-Orientales are known, in French, as "Pyrénaliens" (women: "Pyrénaliennes") or "Catalans" (women: "Catalanes").