Drôme

Drome () is a French department in southeastern France in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region and named after the Drome river. Its prefecture is the city of Valence.
History
Drome is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790; it was made with part of the old French province of Dauphine. It was divided in 6 districts: Romans, Valence, Die, Buis, Montelimar,and Crest. The capital was Chabeuil but in the same year the capital was moved to Valence.
With the creation of the arrondissements, the 6 districts became four arrondissements: Valence, Die, Montelimar and Nyons. In 1926, the arrondissement of Montelimar was eliminated.
Geography
Drome is part of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, in southeastern France, with an area of .
The department borders with 5 other departments in 2 regions:
Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Hautes-Alpes (east)
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (southeast)
Vaucluse (south)
Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes
Ardeche (west)
Isere ( north and east)
There are 5 natural regions in Drome; they are, from north to south:
A region with hills.
The plain of Valence to the west.
The Vercors Massif to the east.
The central part of the department formed by the valley of the Drome river and the highest mountains in the department.
The Drome provencale to the south.
The highest point in the department is Rocher Rond, (). It is high it is on the border with the Hautes-Alpes department.
The main rivers of Drome are:
Rhone, in the western part of the department; in the department, it is only long.
Drome river, a tributary of the Rhone.
Isere river, another tributary of the Rhone.
Climate
The climate of the Drome department, in the city of Valence, is an oceanic climate, Cfb (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Koppen climate classification.
The average temperature for the year in Valence, at an altitude of , 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 Valence is . The month with the most precipitation on average is September with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .
Administration
Drome is part of the region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes. The department is managed by the Departamental Council of the Drome in Valence.
Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 23 cantons and 353 communes (municipalities) in Drome.
The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Drome department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Bourg-de-Peage (2601)
Crest (2602)
Dieulefit (2603)
Le Diois (2604)
Drome des collines (2605)
Grignan (2606)
Loriol-sur-Drome (2607)
Montelimar-1 (2608)
Montelimar-2 (2609)
Nyons et Baronnies (2610)
Romans-sur-Isere (2611)
Saint-Vallier (2612)
Tain-l'Hermitage (2613)
Le Tricastin (2614)
Valence-1 (2615)
Valence-2 (2616)
Valence-3 (2617)
Valence-4 (2618)
Vercors-Monts du Matin (2619)
Demographics
The inhabitants of Drome are known, in French, as Dromois (women: Dromoises).
Drome has a population, in 2014, of 499,159, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Valence, with 314,233 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Nyons and Die, have respectively 141,971 and 42,955 inhabitants.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Valence (62,150 inhabitants). The subprefectures of Nyons and Die have, respectively, 6,641 and 4,516 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Drome
The 10 most important cities in the department are:
Gallery
Related pages
Arrondissements of the Drome department
Communes of the Drome department
References
Other websites
Departamental Council website
Prefecture website
Drome Tourisme