Gard

Gard is a French department in southern France in the Occitanie region and named after the Gardon river. Its prefecture is Nîmes.

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, Nîmes, Pont-Saint-Esprit, Saint-Hippolyte, Sommières, Uzès and Le Vigan. The capital was Nîmes alternating with Alais and Uzès. In 1794, Nîmes became the only capital.

With the creation of the arrondissements, the 8 districts became four arrondissements: Nîmes, Alais, Uzès and Le Vigan. In 1926, the arrondissement of Uzès 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-Côte d'Azur
 Bouches-du-Rhône (south)
 Vaucluse (east)
 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
 Ardèche (north)
 Occitanie
 Hérault (south)
 Aveyron (west)
 Lozère (west)

The department has a  long coast along the Mediterranean Sea.

There are 4 natural regions in Gard:
 The Cévennes, a mountain chain that is part of the Massif Central. It is between the Lozère and Gard departments.
 The Garrigues, a natural region found in the Hérault and Gard departments. It is formed by hills and plateaus of limestone.
 The Costières, a natural region of the Gard department found to the south of Nîmes.
 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 Cévennes mountains, on the border with the Lozère 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 Nîmes, is subtropical with dry-summer, Csa (Mediterranean Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The average temperature for the year in Nîmes, 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 Nîmes 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 Nîmes.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 23 cantons and 353 communes (municipalities) in Gard.
 INSEEcode  Arrondissement  Capital  Population(2014)  Area(km²)  Density(Inh./km²)  Communes 301  Alès  Alès 151,823  1,321.6    101 302  Nîmes  Nîmes  547,598  3,132.8    177 303  Le Vigan  Le Vigan  36,608  1,398.5    75

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)
 Alès-1 (3002)
 Alès-2 (3003)
 Alès-3 (3004)
 Bagnols-sur-Cèze (3005)
 Beaucaire (3006)
 Calvisson (3007)
 La Grand-Combe (3008)
 Marguerittes (3009)
 Nîmes-1 (3010)
 Nîmes-2 (3011)
 Nîmes-3 (3012)
 Nîmes-4 (3013)
 Pont-Saint-Esprit (3014)
 Quissac (3015)
 Redessan (3016)
 Roquemaure (3017)
 Rousson (3018)
 Saint-Gilles (3019)
 Uzès (3020)
 Vauvert (3021)
 Le Vigan (3022)
 Villeneuve-lès-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 Nîmes, with 547,598 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Alès and Le Vigan, have respectively 151,823 and 36,608 inhabitants.

The city with more people living in it is the capital, Nîmes (151,075). The subprefectures of Alès and Le Vigan have, respectively, 39,993 and 3,933 inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Aude

The 10 most important cities in the department are:

 City  Population(2014) Arrondissement Nîmes  151,075  Nîmes Alès  39,993  Alès Bagnols-sur-Cèze  18,172  Nîmes Beaucaire  15,859  Nîmes Saint-Gilles  13,326  Nîmes Villeneuve-lès-Avignon  11,716  Nîmes Vauvert  11,353  Nîmes Pont-Saint-Esprit  10,155  Nîmes Marguerittes  8,577  Nîmes Uzès  8,569  Nîmes
Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Gard department
 Communes of the Gard department

References

Other websites

 Departamental Council website 
 Prefecture website  
 Région Occitanie