Ardennes (department)

Ardennes is a department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France named after the Ardennes forest. Its prefecture is the city of Charleville-Mezieres.
History
Ardennes is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Mezieres as is capital. It was formed with the former province of Champagne, the principalities of Sedan and Argonne and other territories.
It was divided in six districts: Charleville, Grandpre, Rethel, Rocroi, Sedan and Vouziers.
In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the six districts were changed into five arrondissements: Mezieres, Rethel, Rocroi, Sedan and Vouziers.
On 10 September 1926, the arrondissements of Rocroi and Sedan were eliminated but in 1942 Sedan was made again an arrondissement.
The communes of Charleville and Mezieres are joined to form the new commune of Charleville-Mezieres; it was named the capital of the department.
Geography
Ardennes is part of the Grand Est region. It has an area of .
The department borders with Belgium (Namur and Luxembourg provinces) and 3 other departments in 2 regions:
Hauts-de-France region
Aisne (west)
Grand Est region
Marne (south)
Meuse (east)
The highest point of the department is Croix-Scaille () with an altitude of high.; it is found between the French commune of Hautes-Rivieres and the Belgian commune of Gedinne.
The lowest point is on the Aisne river in Brienne-sur-Aisne, high.
Several rivers flow through the department; the main rivers are the Meuse, in the north, and the Aisne, in the south.
Climate
The Koppen climate classification type for the climate at Charleville-Mezieres is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Charleville-Mezieres is . The month with the most precipitation on average is November with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is June with an average of .
The average temperature for the year in Charleville-Mezieres 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 .
Administration
Ardennes is managed by the Departmental Council of Ardennes in Charleville-Mezieres. The department is part of the Grand Est region.
Administrative divisions
There are 4 arrondissements (districts), 19 cantons and 452 communes (municipalities) in Ardennes.
The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Ardennes department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Attigny (0801)
Bogny-sur-Meuse (0802)
Carignan (0803)
Charleville-Mezieres-1 (0804)
Charleville-Mezieres-2 (0805)
Charleville-Mezieres-3 (0806)
Charleville-Mezieres-4 (0807)
Chateau-Porcien (0808)
Givet (0809)
Nouvion-sur-Meuse (0810)
Rethel (0811)
Revin (0812)
Rocroi (0813)
Sedan-1 (0814)
Sedan-2 (0815)
Sedan-3 (0816)
Signy-l'Abbaye (0817)
Villers-Semeuse (0818)
Vouziers (0819)
Demographics
The inhabitants of the Ardennes department are known, in French, as Ardennais (women: Ardennaises),
Ardennes had a population, in 2014, of 279,715, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Charleville-Mezieres, with 160,939 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.