Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

**Alpes-de-Haute-Provence** () is a department in the south of France, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its prefecture is Digne-les-Bains.

Until 1970, the department was named as *Basses-Alpes*.

## History
The department of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, with the name of *Nord-de-Provence* was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 but soon its name was changed to *Haute-Provence* and then to  *Basses-Alpes*.

It was divided in five districts: Barcelonnette, Castellane, Digne, Forcalquier and Sisteron. with Digne as its capital.

On 12 August 1793, the department of Vaucluse was created from parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes. Basses-Alpes lost the canton of Sault of Vaucluse. Seventeen years later, in 1810, the canton of Barcillonnette was transferred over to Hautes-Alpes.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the five districts were changed into five *arrondissements*: Barcelonnette, Castellane, Digne, Forcalquier and Sisteron.
 
The name of the capital, Digne, was changed to Digne-les-Bains in 1988 and on 13 April 1970 the department of Basses-Alpes was renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

## Geography
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It has an area of . Other high mountains in the department are *Brec de Chambeyron* (), *Pics de la Font Sancte* (), *Grand Bérard*, () and *Tête de Siguret* ().

The main river in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is the Durance, a tributary of the Rhône river and that flows through the west of the department. Its main tributaries are the Bléone and Verdon.

The Var river flows through the eastern part of the department.

### Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at the Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban airport is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban 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
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is managed by the *Departamental Council of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence* in Digne-les-Bains. The department is part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

### Administrative divisions
There are 4 *arrondissements* (districts), 15 *cantons* and 198 *communes* (municipalities) in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

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

# Barcelonnette (0401)
# Castellane (0402)
# Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban (0403)
# Digne-les-Bains-1 (0404)
# Digne-les-Bains-2 (0405)
# Forcalquier (0406)
# Manosque-1 (0407)
# Manosque-2 (0408)
# Manosque-3 (0409)
# Oraison (0410)
# Reillanne (0411)
# Riez (0412)
# Seyne (0413)
# Sisteron (0414)
# Valensole (0415)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence are known, in French, as *Bas-Alpins* (women: *Bas-Alpines*), referring to the department of *Basses-Alpes* which was the former name of the department until 13 April 1970.

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence had a population, in 2014, of 161,588, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Forcalquier, with 88,333 inhabitants, is the *arrondissement* with more inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence**

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 bar:1968 from:0 till: 104813
 bar:1975 from:0 till: 112178
 bar:1982 from:0 till: 119068
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 bar:1999 from:0 till: 139561
 bar:2006 from:0 till: 154501
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 bar:1975 at: 112178 fontsize:S text: 112,178 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1982 at: 119068 fontsize:S text: 119,068 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1990 at: 130883 fontsize:S text: 130,883 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:1999 at: 139561 fontsize:S text: 139,561 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2006 at: 154501 fontsize:S text: 154,501 shift:(-18,10)
 bar:2014 at: 161588 fontsize:S text: 161,588 shift:(-18,5)

The 10 *communes* in the department with more inhabitants are:

## Gallery

File:Digne Gassendi et cathédrale Saint-Jérôme.jpg|Digne-les-Bains
File:Vue forcalquier 2402.JPG|Forcalquier
File:Sisteron (2452199561).jpg|Sisteron
File:Gorges du Verdon 2010.jpg|Verdon river gorge
File:Chambeyron-lac du marinet.jpg|The Aiguille de Chambeyron

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department
* Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department

## References
## Other websites
* Departmental Council website  
* Prefecture website  
* Alpes-de-Haute-Provence tourism 
* Provenceweb tourist guide