Deux-Sèvres

**Deux-Sèvres** is a department in western France, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

*Deux-Sèvres* means literally "Two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise; these are two rivers which flow through the department.

## History
Deux-Sèvres is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790.

The new department had six districts: Melle, Niort, Saint-Maixent, Parthenay, Thouars and Châtillon (today Mauléon). The capital (now prefecture) was Niort alternating Saint-Maixent and Parthenay but soon only Niort was the only capital.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the six districts were changed into four *arrondissements*: Melle, Niort, Parthenay and Thouars. Thouars was changed by Bressuire in 1804.

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

The average temperature for the year in Niort 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 Deux-Sèvres* in Niort.

The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Deux-Sèvres department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# Autize-Egray (7901)
# Bressuire (7902)
# Celles-sur-Belle (7903)
# Cerizay (7904)
# Frontenay-Rohan-Rohan (7905)
# La Gâtine (7906)
# Mauléon (7907)
# Melle (7908)
# Mignon-et-Boutonne (7909)
# Niort-1 (7910)
# Niort-2 (7911)
# Niort-3 (7912)
# Parthenay (7913)
# La Plaine Niortaise (7914)
# Saint-Maixent-l'École (7915)
# Thouars (7916)
# Le Val de Thouet (7917)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Deux-Sèvres are known, in French, as *Deux-Sévriens* (women: *Deux-Sévriennes*).

Deux-Sèvres has a population, in 2014, of 373,553, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Niort, with 212,425 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Bressuire and Parthenay, have respectively 96,703 and 64,425 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Deux-Sèvres**

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 bar:1990 at: 345965 fontsize:S text: 345,965 shift:(-18,5)
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 bar:2008 at: 365059 fontsize:S text: 365,059 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 373553 fontsize:S text: 373,553 shift:(-18,5)

The 10 main cities in the department are:

## Economy
The department is still a very rural area, with a large proportion of the land of the department used for farming. Wheat and oats are the main products grown, as well as potatoes, apples, and walnuts. There are many vineyards in the north.

## Gallery

File:Parthenay Citadel from Saint-Paul Bridge 2.jpg|Parthenay
File:Thouars - Hotel de Ville 02.jpg|Thouars
File:Bressuire (13).JPG|Bressuire
File:Coulon-Eglise.jpg|Coulon

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Deux-Sèvres department
* Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department

## References
## Other websites
* Departamental Council website  
* Prefecture website