Nièvre

Nièvre is a department in the centre of France, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It is named after the Nièvre river, a tributary of the Loire. Its prefecture and largest city is Nevers.

History
Nièvre 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 Nyèvre.

It was divided in nine districts: Nevers, Saint-Pierre-le-Moutier, Decize, Moulins-Engilbert, Château-Chinon, Corbigny, Clamecy, Cosne and La Charité.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the nine districts were changed into four arrondissements: Nevers, Château-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
Nièvre is part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It has an area of . The highest point of the department is Mont Préneley (),  high; it is in the commune Glux-en-Glenne.

The department borders with six departments in three regions:
 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
 Yonne (north)
 Côte-d'Or (east)
 Saône-et-Loire (southeast)
 Auvergne-Rhône-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 Régional 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 Köppen 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
Nièvre is managed by the Departmental Council of Nièvre in Nevers. The department is part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.

Administrative divisions
There are 4 arrondissements (districts), 17 cantons and 309 communes (municipalities) in Nièvre.

 INSEEcode  Arrondissement  Capital  Population(2014)  Area(km²)  Density(Inh./km²)  Communes 581  Château-Chinon (Ville)  Château-Chinon (Ville) 25,717  1,929.1    80 582  Clamecy  Clamecy  24,993  1,464.0    84 583  Nevers  Nevers  118,087  2,020.3    82 584  Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire  Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire 44,772  1,403.3    63

The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Nièvre department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 La Charité-sur-Loire (5801)
 Château-Chinon (5802)
 Clamecy (5803)
 Corbigny (5804)
 Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire (5805)
 Decize (5806)
 Fourchambault (5807)
 Guérigny (5808)
 Imphy (5809)
 Luzy (5810)
 Nevers-1 (5811)
 Nevers-2 (5812)
 Nevers-3 (5813)
 Nevers-4 (5814)
 Pouilly-sur-Loire (5815)
 Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier (5816)
 Varennes-Vauzelles (5817)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Nièvre are known, in French, as Nivernais (women: Nivernaises).

Nièvre 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.

Evolution of the population in Nièvre

The 10 communes with more inhabitants in the department are:

 City  Population(2014) Arrondissement Nevers  34,485  Nevers Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire  10,553  Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire Varennes-Vauzelles  9,467  Nevers Decize  5,626  Nevers La Charité-sur-Loire  5,008  Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire Fourchambault  4,456  Nevers Clamecy  3,889  Clamecy Garchizy  3,835  Nevers Marzy  3,656  Nevers Coulanges-lès-Nevers  3,591  Nevers

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Nièvre department
 Communes of the Nièvre department

References

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Agence de Développement Touristique de la Nièvre