Nièvre

Nièvre
Department

Prefecture building of the Nièvre department, in Nevers

Coat of arms

Location of Nièvre in France
Coordinates: 47°05′N 03°30′E / 47.083°N 3.500°E / 47.083; 3.500Coordinates: 47°05′N 03°30′E / 47.083°N 3.500°E / 47.083; 3.500
Country France
Region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Prefecture Nevers
Subprefectures Château-Chinon
Clamecy
Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire
Government
 • President of the General Council Marcel Charmant
Area1
 • Total 6,817 km2 (2,632 sq mi)
Population (2013)
 • Total 215,221
 • Rank 87th
 • Density 32/km2 (82/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Department number 58
Arrondissements 4
Cantons 17
Communes 310
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Nièvre (IPA: [njɛvʁ]) is a department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in the centre of France named after the River Nièvre.

History

Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Nivernais.

Geography

Nièvre is part of the current region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, although historically it was not part of the province of Burgundy. It is surrounded by the departments of Yonne, Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Allier, Cher, and Loiret. The département is crossed by the river Loire, the longest river in France.

Demography

Nièvre is a rural department with about 32 inhabitants / km². The main cities are : Nevers, Cosne-sur-Loire, Varennes-Vauzelles, Marzy, Decize, Imphy, Clamecy and La Charité. Only three cities reach 10 000 inhabitants. It indicates the characteristic of the département, which is predominantly rural.

Wines

Nièvre is also well known for its white wine, Pouilly Fumé. The vineyards are scattered around villages including Pouilly-Sur-Loire, which lends its name to the appellation, Tracy sur Loire, Boisgibault, Saint Andelain. The word fumé is French for "smoky", and it is said the name comes from the smoky or flinty quality of these wines. The only grape allowed in the Pouilly-Fumé AC is Sauvignon blanc, which produces wines that are generally crisp, tart, and somewhat grassy.

Politics

In common with most French wine-producing departments, Nièvre is traditionally a left-wing department. The results of the second round of voting in presidential elections reflect this consistently:

Nièvre's best-known political representative was François Mitterrand who served as a Senator and a Deputy for the department, and as mayor of Chateau-Chinon for 22 years before his election to the presidency in 1981.

Tourism

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.