Gers

**Gers** (Gascon: *Gers*) is a department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Gers river.

## History
Gers 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 Guyenne and Gascony.

The new department had six districts: Auch, Lectoure, Condom, Nogaro, L'Isle-Jourdain and Mirande. The capital (now prefecture) was Auch.

in 1808, part of the Gers department was transferred to the new Tarn-et-Garonne department'.

### Climate
The climate of Gers is an oceanic climate with template summers, **Cfb** (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The annual rainfall in the department varies from over  in the southwest of the department, to less than  in the northeast (Auch, Condom and Lectoure).

Summers are very hot and dry, the temperatures often exceed . Winters vary, often with frost, but the climate remains mild and dry.

## Administration
The department is managed by the *Departamental Council of the Gers* in Auch. Gers is part of the region of Occitanie.

### Administrative divisions
There are 3 *arrondissements* (districts), 17 *cantons* and 462 *communes* (municipalities) in Gers.

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

# Adour-Gersoise (3201)
# Armagnac-Ténarèze (3202)
# Astarac-Gimone (3203)
# Auch-1 (3204)
# Auch-2 (3205)
# Auch-3 (3206)
# Baïse-Armagnac (3207)
# Fezensac (3208)
# Fleurance-Lomagne (3209)
# Gascogne-Auscitaine (3210)
# Gimone-Arrats (3211)
# Grand-Bas-Armagnac (3212)
# L'Isle-Jourdain (3213)
# Lectoure-Lomagne (3214)
# Mirande-Astarac (3215)
# Pardiac-Rivière-Basse (3216)
# Val de Save (3217)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Gers are known, in French, as *Gersois* (women: *Gersoises*).

Gers has a population, in 2014, of 190,625, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Auch, with 87,118 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Condom and Mirande, have respectively 65,562 and 37,945 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Gers**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 181577
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 bar:1975 at: 175366 fontsize:S text: 175,366 shift:(-18,5)
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 bar:1990 at: 174587 fontsize:S text: 174,587 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 172335 fontsize:S text: 172,335 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2008 at: 185266 fontsize:S text: 185,266 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 190625 fontsize:S text: 190,625 shift:(-18,5)

.]]
The 10 most important cities in the department are:

## Economy
The economy in Gers revolves primarily around agriculture and culinary tourism. The department is a producer of maize, wheat, rapeseed, sunflower.

Some well-known products of the region are:
* *Armagnac*, a brandy
* *Côtes de Gascogne*, wine
* *Floc de Gascogne*, an apéritif (an alcoholic drink served before a meal)
* *Foie gras*
* Wild mushrooms

## Gallery

File:Monfort 02.JPG|Market square and church, Monfort
File:FR-32-Auch01.JPG|Auch from the Gers bridge
File:Sarrant jardin medieval.jpg|Sarrant. Medieval garden
File:Hôtel de ville de Mirande (Gers, France).JPG|Town hall, Mirande

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

## References
## Other websites
* Departamental Council website  
* Prefecture website 
* Comité départemental du tourisme et des loisirs du Gers 
* Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie du Gers