Drôme

**Drôme** () is a French department in southeastern France in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and named after the Drôme river. Its prefecture is the city of Valence.

## History

Drôme is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790; it was made with part of the old French province of Dauphiné. It was divided in 6 districts: Romans, Valence, Die, Buis, Montélimar,and Crest. The capital was Chabeuil but in the same year the capital was moved to Valence.

With the creation of the _arrondissements_, the 6 districts became four _arrondissements_: Valence, Die, Montélimar and Nyons. In 1926, the _arrondissement_ of Montélimar was eliminated.

## Geography

Drôme is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in southeastern France, with an area of .

The department borders with 5 other departments in 2 regions:
- Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
    - Hautes-Alpes (east)
    - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (southeast)
    - Vaucluse (south)
- Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
    - Ardèche (west)
    - Isère ( north and east)

There are 5 natural regions in Drôme; they are, from north to south:
1. A region with hills.
1. The plain of Valence to the west.
1. The **Vercors Massif** to the east.
1. The central part of the department formed by the valley of the Drôme river and the highest mountains in the department.
1. The _Drôme provençale_ to the south.

The highest point in the department is _Rocher Rond_, (). It is  high it is on the border with the Hautes-Alpes department.

The main rivers of Drôme are:
- Rhône, in the western part of the department; in the department, it is only  long.
- Drôme river, a tributary of the Rhône.
- Isère river, another tributary of the Rhône.

### Climate

The climate of the Drôme department, in the city of Valence, is an oceanic climate, **Cfb** (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The average temperature for the year in Valence, at an altitude of , 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 Valence is . The month with the most precipitation on average is September with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

## Administration

Drôme is part of the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The department is managed by the _Departamental Council of the Drôme_ in Valence.

### Administrative divisions

There are 3 _arrondissements_ (districts), 23 _cantons_ and 353 _communes_ (municipalities) in Drôme.

|INSEE code !! Arrondissement !! Capital !! Population <small>(2014)</small> !! Area <small>(km²)</small> !! Density (Inh./km²) !! _Communes_|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|261|Die|Die|42,955|2,286.9||113|
|262|Nyons|Nyons|141,971|2,358.7||149|
|263|Valence|Valence|314,233|1,884.4||105|

The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Drôme department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

1. Bourg-de-Péage <small>(2601)</small>
1. Crest <small>(2602)</small>
1. Dieulefit <small>(2603)</small>
1. Le Diois <small>(2604)</small>
1. Drôme des collines <small>(2605)</small>
1. Grignan <small>(2606)</small>
1. Loriol-sur-Drôme <small>(2607)</small>
1. Montélimar-1 <small>(2608)</small>
1. Montélimar-2 <small>(2609)</small>
1. Nyons et Baronnies <small>(2610)</small>
1. Romans-sur-Isère <small>(2611)</small>
1. Saint-Vallier <small>(2612)</small>
1. Tain-l'Hermitage <small>(2613)</small>
1. Le Tricastin <small>(2614)</small>
1. Valence-1 <small>(2615)</small>
1. Valence-2 <small>(2616)</small>
1. Valence-3 <small>(2617)</small>
1. Valence-4 <small>(2618)</small>
1. Vercors-Monts du Matin <small>(2619)</small>

## Demographics

The inhabitants of Drôme are known, in French, as _Drômois_ (women: _Drômoises_).

Drôme has a population, in 2014, of 499,159, for a population density of  inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>. The _arrondissement_ of Valence, with 314,233 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Nyons and Die, have respectively 141,971 and 42,955 inhabitants.

The city with more people living in it is the capital, Valence (62,150 inhabitants). The subprefectures of Nyons and Die have, respectively, 6,641 and 4,516 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Drôme**

The 10 most important cities in the department are:

|City|Population <small>(2014)</small>|Arrondissement|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Valence|62,150|Valence|
|Montélimar|37,193|Nyons|
|Romans-sur-Isère|33,366|Valence|
|Bourg-lès-Valence|19,591|Valence|
|Pierrelatte|13,071|Nyons|
|Bourg-de-Péage|10,171|Valence|
|Portes-lès-Valence|9,973|Valence|
|Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux|8,944|Nyons|
|Livron-sur-Drôme|8,927|Die|
|Crest|8,211|Die|

## Related pages

- Arrondissements of the Drôme department
- Communes of the Drôme department

## Other websites

- Departamental Council website
- Prefecture website
- Drôme Tourisme

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Drôme
- **type**: Departments of France, Department
- **image skyline**: Valence depuis Crussol (04).jpg
- **image alt**: Valence, capital of Drôme
- **image caption**: Valence, Drôme, Valence, capital of Drôme.
- **image flag**: Drapeau département fr Drôme.svg
- **flag size**: 125px
- **flag alt**: Flag of Drôme
- **image shield**: Blason département fr Drôme.svg
- **shield size**: 80px
- **shield alt**: Coat of arms
- **image map**: Drôme-Position.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Drôme in France
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: France
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of France, Region
- **subdivision name1**: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- **established title**: Département
- **established date**: 4 March 1790
- **seat type**: Prefectures in France, Prefecture
- **seat**: Valence, Drôme, Valence
- **parts type**: Prefectures in France, Subprefectures
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Die, Drôme, Die
- **p2**: Nyons
- **leader title**: President of the Departmental Council, President
- **leader name**: Marie-Pierre Mouton
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 6530.0
- **population total**: 499159
- **population as of**: 2014
- **population rank**: List of French departments by population, 33
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Drômois
- **blank name sec2**: Arrondissements of France, Arrondissements
- **blank info sec2**: 3
- **blank1 name sec2**: Cantons in France, Cantons
- **blank1 info sec2**: 19
- **blank2 name sec2**: Communes in France, Communes
- **blank2 info sec2**: 367
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +1
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +2
- **iso code**: FR-26
- **website**: [http://www.ladrome.fr/ http://www.ladrome.fr/]