Loiret

**Loiret** is a department in north-central France in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is named after the Loiret river, a tributary of Loire that is completely within the department.

Its prefecture is Orléans and there are two subprefectures: Montargis and Pithiviers.

## 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 Orléanais.

The new department had seven districts: Orléans, Beaugency, Neuville, Pithiviers, Montargis, Gien and Boiscommun. The capital (now prefecture) was Orléans.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the seven districts were changed into four *arrondissements*: Orléans, Gien, Montargis and Pithiviers.

The main rivers are:
* Loire, that flows through the department from the southeast to the west.
* Loiret, a short tributary of the Loire and that gives its name to the department.
* Loing, 142&nbsp;km long.
* Cosson, 96.4&nbsp;km long.
* Essonne, 97&nbsp;km long.

There are several natural regions in the Loiret department:
# The **Loire Valley**, the valley around the Loire river.
# **Beauce**, to the northwest of the department; it is a limestone plateau and an important farming region where wheat is grown.
# **Gâtinais**, to the east around the city of Montargis.
# The '''Forêt d'Orléans** ("Forest of Orléans"), the largest national forest of France; it is to the north of the Loire river and to the south of the Beauce region.
# **Sologne**, south of the Loire river.
# **Berry** (a small part), to the southeast.
# **Puisaye**, between the Berry and the Gâtinais.

### Climate 
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Orléans 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 Orléans is . The month with the most precipitation on average is August with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is March with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Orléans 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 Loiret* in Orléans. Loiret is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

### Administrative divisions
There are 3 *arrondissements* (districts), 21 *cantons* and 326 *communes* (municipalities) in Loiret.

The following is a list of the 21 cantons of the Loir-et-Cher department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Beaugency (4501)
# Châlette-sur-Loing (4502)
# Châteauneuf-sur-Loire (4503)
# Courtenay (4504)
# La Ferté-Saint-Aubin (4505)
# Fleury-les-Aubrais (4506)
# Gien (4507)
# Lorris (4508)
# Malesherbes (4509)
# Meung-sur-Loire (4510)
# Montargis (4511)
# Olivet (4512)
# Orléans-1 (4513)
# Orléans-2 (4514)
# Orléans-3 (4515)
# Orléans-4 (4516)
# Pithiviers (4517)
# Saint-Jean-de-Braye (4518)
# Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle (4519)
# Saint-Jean-le-Blanc (4520)
# Sully-sur-Loire (4521)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Loiret are known, in French, as *Loiretains* (women: *Loiretaines*).

Loiret has a population, in 2014, of 669,737, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement'' of Orléans, with 435,676 inhabitants, is by far the largest.

**Evolution of the population in Loiret**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 430629
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 490189
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 bar:1990 at: 580612 fontsize:S text: 580,612 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 618126 fontsize:S text: 618,126 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2006 at: 645325 fontsize:S text: 645,325 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 669737 fontsize:S text: 669,737 shift:(-18,5)

The main cities in the department are:

## Gallery

File:Orleans - Cathedral int 01.jpg|Orléans cathedral
File:Chateau de Sully sur Loire DSC 0188.JPG|Château de Sully-sur-Loire
File:France Loiret Yevre-le-Chatel Chateau 06.JPG|Yèvre-le-Châtel
File:Beaugency2.jpg|Beaugency
File:MeungSurLoire01.jpg|Meung-sur-Loire
File:Jardin Durzy-4.JPG|The Durzy garden, Montargis

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

## Other websites
* Departmental Council website 
* Prefecture website