Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; , ; ) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the Garonne River, which flows through the department. its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. In 2016, it had a population of 1,348,183. History. Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former provinces of Languedoc and Guyenne/Gascony. The department was originally larger. The reduction in its area resulted from an imperial decree dated 21 November 1808 and which established the  neighbouring department of Tarn-et-Garonne, to the north. The new department, created in response to the pleadings of various locally powerful politicians, took territory from five surrounding departments including Haute-Garonne. The districts lost to Tarn-et-Garonne in 1808 were those of Montech and Castelsarrasin. Geography. Haute-Garonne is part of the current region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers, Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn, Aude, and Ariège. It also borders Spain in the south (province of Lleida and province of Huesca). According to the Köppen climate classification, the Haute-Garonne department has  Oceanic climate, Subarctic climate and Polar climate. The department is crossed by the upper course of the Garonne river (hence the name) for nearly . The borders of the department follow the river. The Garonne enters France from Spain at the town of Fos, and goes through Toulouse and leaves the department. The extreme south of the department lies in the Pyrenees mountain range and is very mountainous. The highest elevation is the Peak of Perdiguère, at above sea level. Politics. This department was the political base of former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne. The Departmental Council  of Haute-Garonne comprises 54 seats. In the 2015 departmental elections, the Socialist Party (PS) won 48 seats. The Republicans secured the remaining 6 seats. The President of the Departmental Council has been Georges Méric (PS) since 2015. Members of the National Assembly. Haute-Garonne elected the following members of the National Assembly during the 2017 legislative election: Demographics. The inhabitants of the department are called "Haut-Garonnais". The greatest population concentration is around Toulouse. The south of the department is quite sparsely populated. More than a million people inhabited the department at the last census in 1999. Young people  are well represented with 55% of the population under the age of 40 and of those, 16% are between the ages of 20 and 29. This is because Toulouse is a university town. The largest and most populous towns are: Tourism. Main sights. Haute-Garonne's main sights include: Winter sports. The department has four ski resorts: