Gironde

**Gironde** () is a department in the southwest of France. It is named after the Gironde estuary.

The department is in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its prefecture is Bordeaux.

## History
Gironde was formed during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with parts of the old provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.

From July 1793 to April 1795, the department's name was changed to '''Bec-d'Ambès** to avoid the association with the Girondists, a French revolutionary group.

The department was divided into seven districts: Bordeaux, Libourne, La Réole, Bazas, Cadillac, Blaye and Lesparre. Its capital was the city of Bordeaux.

## Geography
Gironde is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southwestern France, and is the largest department of Metropolitan France with an area of .

The average temperature for the year in Bordeaux 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 .

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Bordeaux 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 following is a list of the 33 cantons of the **Gironde''' department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Andernos-les-Bains (3301)
# Bordeaux-1 (3302)
# Bordeaux-2 (3303)
# Bordeaux-3 (3304)
# Bordeaux-4 (3305)
# Bordeaux-5 (3306)
# Le Bouscat (3307)
# La Brède (3308)
# Cenon (3309)
# Les Coteaux de Dordogne (3310)
# Créon (3311)
# L'Entre-Deux-Mers (3312)
# L'Estuaire (3313)
# Gujan-Mestras (3314)
# Les Landes des Graves (3315)
# Le Libournais-Fronsadais (3316)
# Lormont (3317)
# Mérignac-1 (3318)
# Mérignac-2 (3319)
# Le Nord-Gironde (3320)
# Le Nord-Libournais (3321)
# Le Nord-Médoc (3322)
# Pessac-1 (3323)
# Pessac-2 (3324)
# Les Portes du Médoc (3325)
# La Presqu'île (3326)
# Le Réolais et Les Bastides (3327)
# Saint-Médard-en-Jalles (3328)
# Le Sud-Gironde (3329)
# Le Sud-Médoc (3330)
# Talence (3331)
# La Teste-de-Buch (3332)
# Villenave-d'Ornon (3333)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Gironde are known, in French, as *Girondins* (women: *Girondines*).

The department of Gironde has a population, in 2014, of 1,526,016, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Bordeaux, with 921,668 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The *arrondissements* of Blaye and Lesparre-Médoc are those with less people, with 88,115 and 86,560 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Gironde**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 1009390
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 1061480
 bar:1982 from:0 till: 1127546
 bar:1990 from:0 till: 1213499
 bar:1999 from:0 till: 1287334
 bar:2008 from:0 till: 1421276
 bar:2014 from:0 till: 1526016

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 bar:1975 at: 1061480 fontsize:S text: 1,061,480 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:1982 at: 1127546 fontsize:S text: 1,127,546 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:1990 at: 1213499 fontsize:S text: 1,213,499 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:1999 at: 1287334 fontsize:S text: 1,287,334 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:2008 at: 1421276 fontsize:S text: 1,421,276 shift:(-22,5)
 bar:2014 at: 1526016 fontsize:S text: 1,526,016 shift:(-22,5)

The main cities in the department are:

## Gallery

Place-Bourse Bordeaux-boosted-colours.jpg|Bordeaux
Cave Blanc Château de Rochemorin.JPG|Bordeaux wine
Dune du pyla 2009.JPG|The Great Dune of Pyla
Arcachon tchanquée.JPG|Arcachon Bay
Bourg-sur-Gironde2.jpg|Bourg-sur-Gironde
Château de La Brède en Gironde.jpg|*Château de la Brède*, birthplace of Montesquieu

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

## References
## Other websites
* Departmental Council of Gironde  
* Prefecture official website  
* Agence de Développement Touristique de la Gironde