Perpignan

**Perpignan** () is a city in the south of France. It is also a commune and the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department. Perpignan was the capital of the old province and county of Roussillon (*Rosselló* in Catalan) and continental capital of the Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Perpignan was named, from 2001, as a *City of Art and History* () by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.

## Name of the city 
Perpignan is mentioned in a document from 927 as *Villa Perpinianum*. Later, there are other, but similar, names:
* *Villa Perpiniano* (959)
* *Pirpinianum* (11th century)
* *Perpiniani* (1176)
* *Perpenyà* (13th century); this form was the most common until the 15th century and was used even during the 17th century.

In Catalan, the regional language of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the name of the city is ''*.

## History 
### Middle Ages
The medieval town of Perpignan seems to have been founded around the beginning of the 10th century (first mentioned in a document as *villa Perpinianum* in 927). Soon Perpignan became the capital of the County of Roussillon. The last Count of Rossillon, Girard II, gave his lands in 1172 to the King of Aragón and Count of Barcelona.

Perpignan was made a partly self-governing commune in 1197. The French king Louis IX gave the Roussillon to the Kingdom of Aragón by the Treaty of Corbeil (1258).

### Kingdom of Majorca
When James I the Conqueror, king of Aragon and count of Barcelona, founded in 1229 the Kingdom of Majorca, Perpignan became the capital of the territory on the mainland. This continued from 1278 to 1344. The *Castle of the Kings of Majorca'' () was built during this period. The different parts of the kingdom were the Balearic Islands, Northern Catalonia (Roussillon and Cerdagne) and the coastal area of Montpellier.

This period is considered the golden age in the history of the city. Perpignan became an important center of cloth industry, leather and goldsmiths' and other crafts.

## Geography
Perpignan is at the centre of Roussillon, an old province organized around an agricultural plain.

Perpignan is in the valley of the Têt river, in the Roussillon plain which is bordered to the south by the Pyrenees, to the west by the region of Corbières and to the east by the Mediterranean Sea. The old city is on the right side of the Têt river, where the small river La Basse joins the Têt.

It is the southernmost of the great cities of metropolitan France ().

The cities of Pia and Cabestany are now part of Perpignan, while Bompas, Saleilles, Canohès, Toulouges, Le Soler, Baho, Saint-Estève and Rivesaltes are all close to the city limits. Nearest cities are Narbonne to the north (65&nbsp;km), Montpellier towards the northeast (150&nbsp;km), Barcelona to the south (190&nbsp;km) and Toulouse to the northwest (200&nbsp;km). The distance to Paris is .

### Climate
The climate of Perpignan is a warm Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification *Cfa*), with mild winters and dry summers and warm.

The average temperature for the year in Perpignan is 15.6&nbsp;°C (60.0&nbsp;°F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 23.9&nbsp;°C (75.0&nbsp;°F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 8.3&nbsp;°C (47.0&nbsp;°F).

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Perpignan 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 . Perpignan has a population density of  inhabitants/km2.

**Evolution of the population in Perpignan**

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Perpignan forms with 66 *communes* the urban area of Perpignan with a population of 313,861 inhabitants (2013) and an area of . The centre of this urban area is the metropolitan area of Perpignan, formed by 15 *communes* with a population of 197,715 inhabitants and an area of .

## Administration 
Perpignan is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department since 1790. It is also the capital of the *arrondissement* of Perpignan and the administrative centre () of six cantons: 
# Perpignan-1 : part of Perpignan, with 28,922 inhabitants  (2014)
# Perpignan-2 : 3 *communes* (Bompas, Sainte-Marie, Villelongue-de-la-Salanque) + part of Perpignan, with 29,798 inhabitants (2014)
# Perpignan-3 : 1 *commune* (Cabestany) + part of Perpignan, with 25,633 inhabitants (2014) 
# Perpignan-4 : part of Perpignan, with 23,862 inhabitants  (2014)
# Perpignan-5 : 1 *commune* (Canohès) + part of Perpignan, with 25,119 inhabitants (2014)
# Perpignan-6 : 1 *commune* (Toulouges) + part of Perpignan, with 23,969 inhabitants (2014)

It is part of the intercommunality *Perpignan Méditerranée* ().

### Twinned and partner towns 
Perpignan is twinned with:

**Twinned towns**
*  Hanover, Germany, from 1960
*  Lancaster, United Kingdom, from 1962
*  Lake Charles, United States, from 1991
*  Sarasota, United States, from 1994
*  Tyre, Lebanon, from 1997
*  Ma'alot-Tarshiha, Israel, from 1998
*  Tavira, Portugal, from 2001

**Partner towns**
*  Girona, Spain, from 1988
*  Barcelona, Spain, from 1994
*  Figueres, Spain, from 1996
*  Lleida, Spain, from 2005

## Economy 
Traditional commerce is in wine and olive oil, corks (the cork oak *Quercus suber* grows in Perpignan's mild climate), wool and leather, and iron.

## Gallery 

File:Perpignan - Le Castillet.jpg|Le Castillet
File:Perpignanrivierebasse.jpg|Bridge over river Basse
File:Font sirenes Perpinya.jpg|Mermaids fountain
File:086 Perpignan Rue.JPG|Town Centre
File:ChateauRoussillon Tour.jpg|Château Roussillon : tower of the old castle (13th and 14th centuries)
File:ChateauRoussillon ChapelleStPierre 01.jpg|Château Roussillon : Sainte-Marie and Saint-Pierre chapel (11th and 12th centuries)
File:088 Perpignan Cathédrale Saint-Jean.JPG|Cathédrale Saint-Jean
File:Perpignan-Cathedrale-02.JPG|Perpignan Cathedral

## Notes
## Related pages
* Arrondissement of Perpignan
* Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

## References
## Other websites
* City council website 
* History of Perpignan 
* Perpignan Tourist Office 
* Museum guide
* Unofficial guide to Perpignan Airport 
* Companie Transports&nbsp;– Public Bus System