Gard

Gard is a French department in southern France in the Occitanie region and named after the Gardon river. Its prefecture is Nimes.
History
Gard is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was divided in 8 districts: Alais, Beaucaire, Nimes, Pont-Saint-Esprit, Saint-Hippolyte, Sommieres, Uzes and Le Vigan. The capital was Nimes alternating with Alais and Uzes. In 1794, Nimes became the only capital.
With the creation of the arrondissements, the 8 districts became four arrondissements: Nimes, Alais, Uzes and Le Vigan. In 1926, the arrondissement of Uzes was eliminated.
Geography
Gard is part of the Occitanie region, in southern France, with an area of .
The department borders with 6 other departments in 3 regions:
Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Bouches-du-Rhone (south)
Vaucluse (east)
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes
Ardeche (north)
Occitanie
Herault (south)
Aveyron (west)
Lozere (west)
The department has a long coast along the Mediterranean Sea.
There are 4 natural regions in Gard:
The Cevennes, a mountain chain that is part of the Massif Central. It is between the Lozere and Gard departments.
The Garrigues, a natural region found in the Herault and Gard departments. It is formed by hills and plateaus of limestone.
The Costieres, a natural region of the Gard department found to the south of Nimes.
The low region formed by the plains of the Rhone river and those along the coast.
The highest point in the department is Mont Aigoual, () that is high it is in the Cevennes mountains, on the border with the Lozere department.
The main river of Gard is the Gardon (or Gard), a right tributary of the Rhone. The Rhone flows through the eastern border of the department.
Climate
The climate of the Gard department, in the city of Nimes, is subtropical with dry-summer, Csa (Mediterranean Climate) in the Koppen climate classification.
The average temperature for the year in Nimes, 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 Nimes is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .
Administration
Gard is part of the region of Occitanie. The department is managed by the Departamental Council of the Gard in Nimes.
Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 23 cantons and 353 communes (municipalities) in Gard.
The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the Gard department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Aigues-Mortes (3001)
Ales-1 (3002)
Ales-2 (3003)
Ales-3 (3004)
Bagnols-sur-Ceze (3005)
Beaucaire (3006)
Calvisson (3007)
La Grand-Combe (3008)
Marguerittes (3009)
Nimes-1 (3010)
Nimes-2 (3011)
Nimes-3 (3012)
Nimes-4 (3013)
Pont-Saint-Esprit (3014)
Quissac (3015)
Redessan (3016)
Roquemaure (3017)
Rousson (3018)
Saint-Gilles (3019)
Uzes (3020)
Vauvert (3021)
Le Vigan (3022)
Villeneuve-les-Avignon (3023)
Demographics
The inhabitants of Gard are known, in French, as Gardois (women: Gardoises).
Gard has a population, in 2014, of 736,029, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Nimes, with 547,598 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Ales and Le Vigan, have respectively 151,823 and 36,608 inhabitants.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Nimes (151,075). The subprefectures of Ales and Le Vigan have, respectively, 39,993 and 3,933 inhabitants.