Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Gascon: Pirenèus-Atlantics;  or ) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. It takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.

History
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790, with the name of Basses-Pyrénées. It was created from parts of the old provinces of Guyenne, Béarn, and Gascony.

The new department had six districts: Mauléon, Oloron, Orthez, Pau, Saint- Palais and Ustaritz.

The first prefecture was Navarrenx but then it was moved to Pau; in 1795, the prefecture was moved to Saint-Palais but in 1796 it was returned to Pau.

On 10 October 1969, the name of the department was changed from Basses-Pyrénées to Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Geography
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southwestern France, and is the 10th French department in area with .

There are two small territorial enclaves—a remnant from the Middle Ages— that are part of the neighboring Hautes-Pyrénées department.

The department is surrounded by the departments:
 Landes and Gers to the north,
 Hautes-Pyrénées to the east,
and by Spain to the south and the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean) to the west.

The Pyrenees mountain range is found in the southern part of the department and goes, east to west, from the Col d'Aubisque, a mountain pass  south of Tarbes and Pau, to the mouth of the river Bidasoa.

The Pic Palas (), at , is the highest point of the department and also the highest of the Aquitaine region; it is on the border with Spain.

The main river of the department is the Adour and all rivers in the department, except for some coastal small rivers, flow into this river. Other important rivers are the Gaves réunis, formed by the rivers Gave d'Oloron and Gave de Pau, and the Nive.

Climate
The climate of Pau is Marine West Coast Climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb), with mild winters and warm summers.

The average temperature for the year in Pau is 13.5 °C (56.3 °F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 20.7 °C (69.3 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 6.6 °C (43.9 °F).

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Pau is . The month with the most precipitation on average is December with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

Administration
The department is managed by the Departamental Council of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in Pau. Pyrénées-Atlantiques is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 27 cantons and 546 communes (municipalities) in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
 INSEECode  Arrondissement  Capital  Population(2014) Area(km²)  Density(Inh./km²)  Communes 641  Bayonne  Bayonne  287,546  2,269.9    122 642  Oloron-Sainte-Marie  Oloron-Sainte-Marie  74,614  2,884.9    155 643  Pau  Pau  305,089  2,490.0    269

The following is a list of the 27 cantons of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Anglet (6401)
 Artix et Pays de Soubestre (6402)
 Baïgura et Mondarrain (6403)
 Bayonne-1 (6404)
 Bayonne-2 (6405)
 Bayonne-3 (6406)
 Biarritz (6407)
 Billère et Coteaux de Jurançon (6408)
 Le Cœur de Béarn (6409)
 Hendaye-Côte Basque-Sud (6410)
 Lescar, Gave et Terres du Pont-Long (6411)
 Montagne Basque (6412)
 Nive-Adour (6413)
 Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1 (6414)
 Oloron-Sainte-Marie-2 (6415)
 Orthez et Terres des Gaves et du Sel (6416)
 Ouzom, Gave et Rives du Neez (6417)
 Pau-1 (6418)
 Pau-2 (6419)
 Pau-3 (6420)
 Pau-4 (6421)
 Pays de Bidache, Amikuze et Ostibarre (6422)
 Pays de Morlaàs et du Montanérès (6423)
 Saint-Jean-de-Luz (6424)
 Terres des Luys et Coteaux du Vic-Bilh (6425)
 Ustaritz-Vallées de Nive et Nivelle (6426)
 Vallées de l'Ousse et du Lagoin (6427)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Pyrénées-Atlantiques are known, in French, as Basques et Béarnais (women: Basques et Béarnaises). The Basques live mainly in the western part of the department and the Béarnais in the eastern part. From 1790 to 1969, before the change of the name of the department, the inhabitants of this departmente were known as Bas-Pyrénéens.

The Pyrénées-Atlantiques has a population, in 2014, of 667,249, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Pau, with 305,089 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Bayonne and Oloron-Sainte-Marie, have respectively 287,546 and 74,614 inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Pyrénées-Atlantiques

The city with more people living in it is the capital, Pau, with 77,489 inhabitants, the  of the total population of the department. The subprefectures of Bayonne and Oloron-Sainte-Marie have, respectively, 48,178 inhabitants () and 10,824 inhabitants ().

The main cities in the department are:
 City  Population(2014) Arrondissement Pau  77,489  Pau Bayonne ()  48,178  Bayonne Anglet ()  38,633  Bayonne Biarritz ()  24,713  Bayonne Hendaye ()  16,783  Bayonne Saint-Jean-de-Luz()  13,431  Bayonne Billère  13,336  Pau Lons  12,616  Pau Oloron-Sainte-Marie  10,824  Oloron-Sainte-Marie Orthez  10,722  Pau

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
 Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

References

Other websites

 General Council of Pyrénées-Atlantiques  
 Prefecture official website