Indre (department)

**Indre** is a department in the centre of France in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is named after the Indre river, the most important river in the department.

Its prefecture is Châteauroux.

## History
The department is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was created from part of the former province of Berry.

The new department had six  districts: Issoudun, Châteauroux, Argenton, Le Blanc, La Châtre and Marennes. The capital (now prefecture) was Châteauroux.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the six districts were changed into four *arrondissements*: Saintes, Châteauroux, Le Blanc, La Châtre and Issoudun.

The department is bordered by the 6 departments in 2 regions:
* Centre-Val de Loire region
** Loir-et-Cher
** Cher
** Indre-et-Loire
* Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
** Creuse
** Vienne
** Haute-Vienne

The main rivers are:
* Creuse, a tributary of the Vienne, is  long.
* Claise,  long and a tributary of the Creuse.
* Indre, that flows centrally through the department from south to north, through the major towns of La Châtre, Châteauroux and Loches. It is a tributary of the Loire, joining it at Chinon in the neighbouring department of Loir-et-Cher.

### Climate 
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Châteauroux is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype **Cfb**.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Châteauroux is . The month with the most precipitation on average is May with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Châteauroux 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 *Departmental Council of the Indre* in Châteauroux. Indre is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

### Administrative divisions
There are 4 *arrondissements* (districts), 13 *cantons* and 243 *communes* (municipalities) in Indre.

The following is a list of the 13 cantons of the Indre department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Ardentes (3601)
# Argenton-sur-Creuse (3602)
# Le Blanc (3603)
# Buzançais (3604)
# Châteauroux-1 (3605)
# Châteauroux-2 (3606)
# Châteauroux-3 (3607)
# La Châtre (3608)
# Issoudun (3609)
# Levroux (3610)
# Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre (3611)
# Saint-Gaultier (3612)
# Valençay (3613)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Indre are known, in French, as *Indriens* (women: *Indriennes*).

Indre has a population, in 2014, of 226,175, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Châteauroux, with 126,428 inhabitants, is by far the largest.

**Evolution of the population in Indre**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 243178
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 248523
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 bar:1975 at: 248523 fontsize:S text: 248,523 shift:(-18,5)
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 bar:1990 at: 237510 fontsize:S text: 237,510 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 231139 fontsize:S text: 231,139 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2006 at: 232959 fontsize:S text: 232,959 shift:(-18,10)
 bar:2014 at: 226175 fontsize:S text: 226,175 shift:(-18,10)

The main cities in the department are:

## Gallery

Châteauroux rue des Pavillons 3.jpg|Châteauroux
Saintbenoitdusault1.JPG|Saint-Benoît-du-Sault
Le Blanc chateau Naillac.JPG|Le Blanc
Argenton-sur-Creuse bords de Creuse 08.jpg|Argenton-sur-Creuse

## References
## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Indre department
* Communes of the Indre department

## Other websites
* Departmental Council website 
* Prefecture website  
* Indre Nature