Hautes-Alpes

**Hautes-Alpes** () is a department in southeastern France, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is named after the Alps mountain range and its prefecture (capital) is Gap.

## History
The department of the Hautes-Alpes was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with the southeastern part of the old province of the Dauphiné.

It was divided in four districts: Briançon, Embrun, Gap and Serres, with Chorges as its capital but during that same year the capital was moved to Gap.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the four districts were changed into three *arrondissements*: Gap, Briançon and Embrun. The lowest point is in the valley of the Buëch river, with an altitude of .

The main rivers in Hautes-Alpes are the Durance, a tributary of the Rhône river, Buëch and Drac.

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

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

The average temperature for the year in Embrun 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
Hautes-Alpes is managed by the *Departmental Council of Hautes-Alpes* in Gap. The department is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

### Administrative divisions
There are 2 *arrondissements* (districts), 15 *cantons* and 167 *communes* (municipalities) in Hautes-Alpes.

The following is a list of the 15 cantons of the **Hautes-Alpes** department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# L'Argentière-la-Bessée (0501)
# Briançon-1 (0502)
# Briançon-2 (0503)
# Chorges (0504)
# Embrun (0505)
# Gap-1 (0506)
# Gap-2 (0507)
# Gap-3 (0508)
# Gap-4 (0509)
# Guillestre (0510)
# Laragne-Montéglin (0511)
# Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur (0512)
# Serres (0513)
# Tallard (0514)
# Veynes (0515)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Hautes-Alpes are known, in French, as *Haut-Alpins* (women: *Haut-Alpines*).

Hautes-Alpes had a population, in 2013, of 139,883, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Gap, with 104,131 inhabitants, is the *arrondissement* with more inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Hautes-Alpes**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 91790
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 97358
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 bar:1990 at: 113300 fontsize:S text: 113,300 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 121631 fontsize:S text: 121,631 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2006 at: 130752 fontsize:S text: 130,752 shift:(-18,10)
 bar:2014 at: 139883 fontsize:S text: 139,883 shift:(-18,5)

The *communes* in the department with more inhabitants are:

## Gallery

File:Gap018.jpg|Gap
File:Collégiale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Nicolas de Briançon.jpg|Briançon
File:Lac des Hautes-Alpes.JPG|Lake of Serre-Ponçon.
File:Saint-V%C3%A9ran-Hiver-Queyras.jpeg|Saint-Véran-en-Queyras
File:Chateau-Queyras 01.jpg|Fort Queyras.

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Hautes-Alpes department
* Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department

## References
## Other websites
* Departmental Council website 
* Prefecture website 
* Hautes-Alpes tourism