Tarn (department)

**Tarn** () is a French department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Tarn river.

Its prefecture and largest city is Albi.

## History
Tarn is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from a part of the old province of Languedoc.

The new department had five districts: Albi, Castres, Lavaur, Gaillac, Lacaune. The capitals (now prefectures) were, alternatively, Albi and Castres but, from 1790 to 1797, the capital was only Albi; in 1797, the capital was moved to Castres.

In 1800, Albi became again the capital of the department and the *arrondissements* were created; the department had four *arrondissements*: Albi, Castres, Gaillac and Lavaur. In 1926, the *arrondissements* of Gaillac and Lavaur were eliminated.

The **Montagne Noire** (, "Black Mountain") is a mountain range in central southern France. It is at the southwestern end of the Massif Central in the border area of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departments. Its highest point is the Pic de Nore () at  high. The mountain is within the Haut-Languedoc Regional Natural Parc ().

The main river in the department are the Tarn and its tributary, the Agout river.

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

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Albi is . The month with the most precipitation on average is November with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Albi 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 Tarn* in Albi. Tarn is part of the region of Occitanie.

### Administrative divisions
There are 2 *arrondissements* (districts), 23 *cantons* and 320 *communes* (municipalities) in Tarn.

The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the **Tarn** department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Albi-1 (8101)
# Albi-2 (8102)
# Albi-3 (8103)
# Albi-4 (8104)
# Carmaux-1 Le Ségala (8105)
# Carmaux-2 Vallée du Cérou (8106)
# Castres-1 (8107)
# Castres-2 (8108)
# Castres-3 (8109)
# Les Deux Rives (8110)
# Gaillac (8111)
# Graulhet (8112)
# Le Haut Dadou (8113)
# Les Hautes Terres d'Oc (8114)
# Lavaur Cocagne (8115)
# Mazamet-1 (8116)
# Mazamet-2 Vallée du Thoré (8117)
# La Montagne noire (8118)
# Le Pastel (8119)
# Plaine de l'Agoût (8120)
# Les Portes du Tarn (8121)
# Saint-Juéry (8122)
# Vignobles et Bastides (8123)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Tarn are known, in French, as *Tarnais* (women: *Tarnaises*).

Tarn has a population, in 2014, of 384,474, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Castres, with 194,373 inhabitants, is the *arrondissement* with more inhabitants. The *arrondissement* of Albi has 190,101 inhabitants.

The city with more people living in it is the capital, Albi (49,531). The subprefecture of Castres has 41,382 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Tarn**

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 bar:1990 at: 342723 fontsize:S text: 342,723 shift:(-18,5)
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 bar:2008 at: 371738 fontsize:S text: 371,738 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 384474 fontsize:S text: 384,474 shift:(-18,5)

The cities with more than 6,000 inhabitants in the department are:
: Garden in front of the Saint Alain cathedral.]]

## Gallery

File:Albi, cathédrale Sainte Cécile, Tarn et pont Vieux..jpg|Albi and the Tarn
File:Place Jean Jaurès, nuit fin décembre 2011.JPG|Jean Jaurès square, Castres, by night
File:Penne (Tarn) Gresigne.jpg|The town of Penne from the Grésigne forest
File:FR-81-Landscape.JPG|Sunflowers near Salvagnac

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

## References
## Other websites
* General Council website  
* Prefecture website  
* Discover Tarn - Comité Départemental du Tourisme du Tarn