Ardèche

Ardeche () is a departement in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region of south-central France. It is named after the Ardeche river.
History
The department of Ardeche was created on 4 March 1790 with seven districts: Annonay, Aubenas, L'Argentiere, Privas, Tournon, Vernoux and Villeneuve-de-Berg. The capital was Privas alternating with Annonay, Aubenas, Le Bourg(-Saint-Andeol) and Tournon. In August of that year, the number of districts was reduced to three: Mezenc, Aubenas and Tanargue. In September, Privas became the only capital of the department.
In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the three districts were changed into three arrondissements: Privas, L'Argentiere and Tournon.
On 18 March 1988, Tournon changed its name to Tournon-sur-Rhone.
Geography
The Ardeche is part of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region. It has an area of .
The department is surrounded by 7 departments in 3 regions:
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region
Loire (north)
Isere (northeast)
Drome (east)
Haute-Loire (west)
Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region
Vaucluse (southeast)
Occitanie region
Gard (south)
Lozere (southwest)
The highest point in the department is Mont Mezenc (). It is high.; it is in the northwest of the department, on the border with the Haute-Loire department. The lowest point, above sea level, is where the Ardeche river flows into the Rhone (in the south east of the department).
The main rivers in Ardeche are:
Loire, that flows through the western part of the department and ends in the Atlantic Ocean.
Rhone, that makes the eastern border of the department and ends in the Mediterranean Sea.
Ardeche, a tributary of the Rhone.
The Allier river forms the border of the Lozere department and the Ardeche for about .
Climate
The Koppen climate classification type for the climate at Privas is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype Cfb. The southern part of the department has a Mediterranean climate of the subtype Csb.
Administration
Ardeche is managed by the Departmental Council of Ardeche in Privas. The department is part of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region.
Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 17 cantons and 339 communes (municipalities) in Ardeche.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Ardeche department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Annonay-1 (0701)
Annonay-2 (0702)
Aubenas-1 (0703)
Aubenas-2 (0704)
Bourg-Saint-Andeol (0705)
Le Cheylard (0706)
Guilherand-Granges (0707)
Lamastre (0708)
Le Pouzin (0709)
Privas (0710)
Sarras (0711)
Le Teil (0712)
Thueyts (0713)
Tournon-sur-Rhone (0714)
Vallon-Pont-d'Arc (0715)
Les Vans (0716)
La Voulte-sur-Rhone (0717)
Demographics
The inhabitants of Ardeche are known, in French, as Ardechois (women: Ardechoises).
Ardeche had a population, in 2014, of 322,381, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Tournon-sur-Rhone, with 135,786 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Allier
The communes in the department with more than 7,000 inhabitants are:
Gallery
Related pages
Cantons of the Ardeche department
Arrondissements of the Ardeche department
Communes of the Ardeche department
References
Other websites
Departmental Council website
Prefecture website