Aude

**Aude** is a department in the region of Occitanie in southern France. It is named after the Aude river.

The inhabitants of the Aude are known, in French, as _Audois_ (women: _Audoises_).

## History

Aude was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Aude was formed with part of the old province of Languedoc.

It was divided in six districts: Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, Narbonne, Lagrasse, Limoux and Quillan, with Carcassonne as is capital.

In 1800, with the creation of the _arrondissements_ in France, the six districts were changed into four _arrondissements_: Carcassonne, Castelnaudary, Limoux and Narbonne. On 10 September 1926, the _arrondissement_ of  Castelnaudary was eliminated.

### Early forms of habitation

A skull was found, and named _Homme de Tautavel_ (Tautavel Man). It was found in a cave on the site called Caune de l'Arago, near Tautavel. The fossils are between 300.000 and 450.000 years old. There are over 80 fragments; the skull belonged to a man in his twenties. He was about 1.65 m, and weighed around 45–55 kg. Other remains are two mandibles, belonging to a woman in her fifties, and to a man, about 20 to 25 years old. It looks like they did not know how to use fire yet. It also looks like they might have been cannibals, or that they preferred to scavenge for food, rather than hunt. Some bones of rhinoceros, horses, wild sheep (called Mouflon), Tahrs (resemble wild goats), Muskox (a type of bovine), deer, and reindeer were found in the cave. There is an ongoing debate if this hominian is directly related to the Neanderthal. If they are not they would be Homines erecti (currently they are classified as H. erectus Tautavelensis). If they are direct predecessors of the Neanderthals, they would be Homo heidelbergensis.

## Geography

Aude has an area of . It is surrounded by the departments of Pyrénées-Orientales, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Tarn, and Hérault, with the Gulf of Lion (Mediterranean Sea) on the east.

The main river in the department is the Aude river which gives its name to the department. Other important rivers are Fresquel and Orbieu; these two rivers are tributaries of the Aude river.

The highest point in the department is the Pic de Madrès (), in the French Pyrenees; it is  high.

## Administration

The département is managed by the _Departamental Council of Aude_ in Carcassonne. Aude is part of the region of Occitanie.

### Administrative divisions

There are 3 _arrondissements_ (districts), 19 _cantons_ and 436 _communes_ (municipalities) in Aude.
|INSEE code !! Arrondissement !! Capital !! Population <small>(2014)</small> !! Area <small>(km²)</small> !! Density (Inh./km²) !! _Communes_|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|111|Carcassonne|Carcassonne|161,442|2,668.1||207|
|112|Limoux|Limoux|44,467|1,780.9||147|
|113|Narbonne|Narbonne|159,569|1,690.0||82|

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

1. La Piège au Razès <small>(1101)</small>
1. Carcassonne-1 <small>(1102)</small>
1. Carcassonne-2 <small>(1103)</small>
1. Carcassonne-3 <small>(1104)</small>
1. Le Bassin chaurien <small>(1105)</small>
1. Les Basses Plaines de l'Aude <small>(1106)</small>
1. Les Corbières <small>(1107)</small>
1. Le Lézignanais <small>(1108)</small>
1. La Région Limouxine <small>(1109)</small>
1. La Malpère à la Montagne Noire <small>(1110)</small>
1. Narbonne-1 <small>(1111)</small>
1. Narbonne-2 <small>(1112)</small>
1. Narbonne-3 <small>(1113)</small>
1. La Haute-Vallée de l'Aude <small>(1114)</small>
1. Le Haut-Minervois <small>(1115)</small>
1. Le Sud-Minervois <small>(1116)</small>
1. Les Corbières maritimes <small>(1117)</small>
1. La Montagne d'Alaric <small>(1118)</small>
1. La Vallée de l'Orbiel <small>(1119)</small>

## Demographics

The Aude department has a population, in 2014, of 365,478, for a population density of  inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>. The _arrondissement_ of Carcassonne, with 161,442 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two _arrondissements_, Limoux and Narbonne, have respectively 44,467 and 159,569 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Aude**

The main cities in the department are:

|City|Population (2014)|Arrondissement|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Narbonne|52,855|Narbonne|
|Carcassonne|45,941|Carcassonne|
|Lézignan-Corbières|11,248|Narbonne|
|Castelnaudary|11,096|Carcassonne|
|Limoux|10,275|Limoux|
|Coursan|5,916|Narbonne|
|Port-la-Nouvelle|5,635|Narbonne|
|Sigean|5,473|Narbonne|
|Trèbes|5,498|Carcassonne|

## Related pages

- Arrondissements of the Aude department
- Communes of the Aude department

## Other websites

- General council website
- Prefecture website
- Aude official tourism website
- Photos of the Aude Department

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Aude
- **type**: Departments of France, Department
- **image flag**: Drapeau non-offiicel fr département Aude.svg
- **flag alt**: Flag
- **image shield**: Blason dpt fr Aude.svg
- **shield size**: 80px
- **shield alt**: Coat of arms
- **image map**: Aude-Position.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Aude in France
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: France
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of France, Region
- **subdivision name1**: Occitanie
- **seat type**: Prefectures in France, Prefecture
- **seat**: Carcassonne
- **parts type**: Prefectures in France, Subprefectures
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Limoux
- **p2**: Narbonne
- **leader title**: President of the Departmental Council, President
- **leader name**: André Viola
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 6139
- **population total**: 365478
- **population as of**: 2014
- **population rank**: 66th
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Audois, Audoises
- **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**: 436
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +1
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +2
- **iso code**: FR-11
- **website**: [http://www.aude.fr/ http://www.aude.fr/]