Vienne

**Vienne** is a department in southwestern France in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is named after the Vienne river, the most important river in the department.

## History
Vienne is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the old provinces of Poitou, Touraine and Berry, until the 15th century part of the Duchy of Aquitaine.

The new department had six districts: Châtellerault, Civray, Loudun, Lusignan, Montmorillon and Poitiers. The capital (now prefecture) was Poitiers.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the six districts were changed into five *arrondissements*: Châtellerault, Civray, Loudun, Montmorillon and Poitiers.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Poitiers is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is August with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Poitiers 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 .

## Administration
The department is managed by the *Departamental Council of the Vienne* in Poitiers. Vienne is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

### Administrative divisions
There are 3 *arrondissements* (districts), 19 *cantons* and 274 *communes* (municipalities) in Vienne.

The following is a list of the 19 *cantons* of the Vienne department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Chasseneuil-du-Poitou (8601)
# Châtellerault-1 (8602)
# Châtellerault-2 (8603)
# Châtellerault-3 (8604)
# Chauvigny (8605)
# Civray (8606)
# Jaunay-Clan (8607)
# Loudun (8608)
# Lusignan (8609)
# Lussac-les-Châteaux (8610)
# Migné-Auxances (8611)
# Montmorillon (8612)
# Poitiers-1 (8613)
# Poitiers-2 (8614)
# Poitiers-3 (8615)
# Poitiers-4 (8616)
# Poitiers-5 (8617)
# Vivonne (8618)
# Vouneuil-sur-Vienne (8619)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Vienne are known, in French, as *Viennois* (women: *Viennoises*).

Vienne has a population, in 2014, of 433,203, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Poitiers, with 246,038 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Châtellerault and Montmorillon, have respectively 112,313 and 74,852 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Vienne**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 319208
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 331619
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 bar:1990 from:0 till: 357366
 bar:1999 from:0 till: 371428
 bar:2008 from:0 till: 424354
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 bar:1975 at: 331619 fontsize:S text: 331,619 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1982 at: 340256 fontsize:S text: 340,256 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1990 at: 357366 fontsize:S text: 357,366 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 371428 fontsize:S text: 371,428 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2008 at: 424354 fontsize:S text: 424,354 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 433203 fontsize:S text: 433,203 shift:(-18,5)

The 10 main cities in the department are:

## Gallery

Poitiers, Église Notre-Dame la Grande-PM 31852.jpg|*Notre-Dame la Grande* church, Poitiers
Saint-Martin-l'Ars 86 Abbaye la Réau Vue SW 2012.jpg|Remains of the abbey, Saint-Martin-l'Ars
Romagne Saint-Laurent 2010.jpg|*Saint-Laurent* church, Romagne
Montmorillon pont.JPG|The old bridge of Montmorillon

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Vienne department
* Communes of the Vienne department

## References
## Other websites
* Departamental Council website 
* Prefecture website  
* Tourism official website