Pyrénées-Orientales

**Pyrénées-Orientales** (English: *Eastern Pyrenees*; ; ) is a department in the region of Occitanie in southern France; it is next to the northern Spanish border and the Mediterranean Sea.

The department is formed by the historically Catalan-speaking area of **Rosillon** (with its different parts: Roussillon (modern), Haute Cerdagne (or simply Cerdagne), Conflent, Vallespir and Capcir) and Fenouillèdes, an historically Occitan-speaking area.

## History
Before 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, within the Kingdom of Spain, so historically most of it has been Catalan-speaking, and it is still sometimes referred to as Northern Catalonia.

Pyrénées-Orientales was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Pyrénées-Orientales was formed by the province of Roussillon and Fenouillèdes (), a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc.

## Geography
Pyrénées-Orientales has an area of . The best known mountain in the department is Le Canigou () that is  high.

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

# Les Aspres (6601)
# Le Canigou (6602)
# La Côte Sableuse (6603)
# La Côte Salanquaise (6604)
# La Côte Vermeille (6605)
# Perpignan-1 (6606)
# Perpignan-2 (6607)
# Perpignan-3 (6608)
# Perpignan-4 (6609)
# Perpignan-5 (6610)
# Perpignan-6 (6611)
# La Plaine d'Illibéris (6612)
# Les Pyrénées catalanes (6613)
# Le Ribéral (6614)
# La Vallée de la Têt (6615)
# La Vallée de l'Agly (6616)
# Vallespir-Albères (6617)

## Demographics 
Pyrénées-Orientales has a population, in 2014, of 466,327,

French is spoken by almost all the population. Minority languages in the region are Catalan and Occitan, which between them are estimated to be spoken by rather more than a quarter of the population and understood by more than 40%.

On 10 December 2007, the *Departamental Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales* recognized Catalan as a regional language of the department, though French is still the only official language in France, according to the Constitution.

## Economy
Pyrénées-Orientales is a wine-growing area and a tourist destination.

The area is famous for its wine with the predominately red grape varieties grown all over the department.

## Places of interest
Some places of interest are:
*Prades () - site of the Catalan Summer University (''Universitat Catalana d'Estiu*).
*Banyuls-sur-Mer (Catalan *Banyuls de la Marenda'') famous for its wines.
*Prats de Molló - important defensive castle of the 17th century facing south to the Pyrenees.
*Salses - important defensive castle of the 16th century, on the ancient frontier with Spain.

## Gallery

File:090 Perpignan Le Castillet -La Porte Notre-Dame-.JPG|Perpignan
File:Château royal de Collioure 09.jpg|Château Royal de Collioure
File:Salses.JPG|Fort de Salses
File:Saint-Michel de Cuxa.JPG|Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa abbey
File:Thémis.jpg|The THEMIS Solar Power tower
File:Canet 1.jpg|Beach in Canet-en-Roussillon
File:Saint Martin du Canigou.jpg|Martin-du-Canigou abbey

## Related pages
* Northern Catalonia
* Arrondissements of the Pyrénées-Orientales department
* Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

## References
## Other websites
* Departamental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales  
* Prefecture website  
* Réseau Culturel Terre Catalane