Bouches-du-Rhône

**Bouches-du-Rhône** (, lit. "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River. It is the department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region with more people living in it.

## History
Bouches-du-Rhône is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was made with part of the old province of Provence and was divided in six districts: Tarascon, Apt, Aix, Marseille, Salon and Arles, with Aix as is capital.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the six districts were changed into three *arrondissements*: Marseille, Aix and Tarascon. The prefecture was moved from Aix to Marseille.

The Rhone River is the western border of the department, and Durance River is its northern border. South of Arles, the Rhone divides into the Grand Rhone (Large Rhone) and the Petit Rhone (Small Rhone). The area between the Grand Rhone and the Petit Rhone is a large wetland called the Camargue.

The **Frioul Archipelago** is a group of 4 islands in the Mediterranean Sea almost   from Marseille.

### Climate
The type of climate around Marseille is called the Mediterranean climate, with a subtype called Csa. The area around Marseille, at an altitude of about , has dry summers.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Marseille is . October has the highest average precipitation with  and July the lowest with .

The average temperature in Marseille is . July is warmest, with an average temperature of . January is coolest, with an average temperature of .

## Administration
Bouches-du-Rhône is managed by a departmental council in Marseille. The department is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

### Administrative divisions
Bouches-du-Rhône has 4 *arrondissements* (districts), 29 *cantons*, and 135 *communes* (municipalities).

Recently the French government decided to reorganise all the nation's cantons. This change went into effect in March 2015. These are the 29 reorganised cantons of the Bouches-du-Rhône department:

# Aix-en-Provence-1 (1301)
# Aix-en-Provence-2 (1302)
# Allauch (1303)
# Arles (1304)
# Aubagne (1305)
# Berre-l'Étang (1306)
# Châteaurenard (1307)
# La Ciotat (1308)
# Gardanne (1309)
# Istres (1310)
# Marignane (1311)
# Marseille-1 (1312)
# Marseille-2 (1313)
# Marseille-3 (1314)
# Marseille-4 (1315)
# Marseille-5 (1316)
# Marseille-6 (1317)
# Marseille-7 (1318)
# Marseille-8 (1319)
# Marseille-9 (1320)
# Marseille-10 (1321)
# Marseille-11 (1322)
# Marseille-12 (1323)
# Martigues (1324)
# Pélissanne (1325)
# Salon-de-Provence-1 (1326)
# Salon-de-Provence-2 (1327)
# Trets (1328)
# Vitrolles (1329)

## Demographics
People who live in the Bouches-du-Rhône department are known, in French, as *Buccorhodaniens* (men) or *Buccorhodaniennes* (women).

In 2014, Bouches-du-Rhône had 2,006,069 people living there,  or  people/km2. In the same year, the Marseille *arrondissement* had the highest population of the four *arrondissements*: 1,058,615.

**Population growth in Bouches-du-Rhône**

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These are the 10 *communes* with the highest population:

## Gallery

Marseille Vieux Port Night.jpg|Marseille, main city of the region.

File:Marseille - Fort Saint-Jean 16.jpg|Fort Saint-Jean, Marseille
File:Arena d'Arles.JPG|Arles Amphitheatre
File:2016 Aix-en-Provence - Hôtel de ville.jpg|Aix-en-Provence town hall
File:Istres - Centre ancien.jpg|Istres - historical centre

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Bouches-du-Rhône department
* Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department

## References
## Other websites
* Departmental Council website  
* Prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhône department