Nièvre

Nievre is a department in the centre of France, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region. It is named after the Nievre river, a tributary of the Loire. Its prefecture and largest city is Nevers.
History
Nievre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Nevers as its capital. It was formed from part of the old province of Nivernais and its name was written at first as Nyevre.
It was divided in nine districts: Nevers, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, Decize, Moulins-Engilbert, Chateau-Chinon, Corbigny, Clamecy, Cosne and La Charite.
In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the nine districts were changed into four arrondissements: Nevers, Chateau-Chinon, Clamecy and Cosne.
On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Cosne was eliminated but in 1943 it became again an arrondissement of the department.
Geography
Nievre is part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region. It has an area of . The highest point of the department is Mont Preneley (), high; it is in the commune Glux-en-Glenne.
The department borders with six departments in three regions:
Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region
Yonne (north)
Cote-d'Or (east)
Saone-et-Loire (southeast)
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region
Allier (southwest)
Centre-Val de Loire region
Cher (west)
Loiret (nortwest)
There are three main geographical zones in the department:
Eastern zone, with small hills covered with forests; here is the Parc Naturel Regional du Morvan ("Morvan regional natural park").
Central zone, an agricultural zone.
Western zone, a zone organised along a north-south line formed by the valley of the Loire river; it is the zone of the department with higher population.
The main rivers in the department are the Loire, that makes most of the western border, with its tributaries Allier and Aron; and the Yonne, with its tributary Cure.
Climate
The Koppen climate classification type for the climate at Nevers is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".
It rains in all seasons but precipitations are more important in the eastern zone, in the Morvan, and weaker in the Loire valley.
Administration
Nievre is managed by the Departmental Council of Nievre in Nevers. The department is part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region.
Administrative divisions
There are 4 arrondissements (districts), 17 cantons and 309 communes (municipalities) in Nievre.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Nievre department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
La Charite-sur-Loire (5801)
Chateau-Chinon (5802)
Clamecy (5803)
Corbigny (5804)
Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire (5805)
Decize (5806)
Fourchambault (5807)
Guerigny (5808)
Imphy (5809)
Luzy (5810)
Nevers-1 (5811)
Nevers-2 (5812)
Nevers-3 (5813)
Nevers-4 (5814)
Pouilly-sur-Loire (5815)
Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier (5816)
Varennes-Vauzelles (5817)
Demographics
The inhabitants of Nievre are known, in French, as Nivernais (women: Nivernaises).
Nievre had a population, in 2014, of 213,569, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Nevers, with 118,087 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.