| Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Department — | |||
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| Location of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence in France | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | ||
| Prefecture | Digne-les-Bains | ||
| Subprefectures | Barcelonnette Castellane Forcalquier |
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| Government | |||
| • President of the General Council | Jean-Louis Bianco (PS) | ||
| Area1 | |||
| • Total | 6,925 km2 (2,673.8 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| • Total | 156,067 | ||
| • Rank | 94th | ||
| • Density | 22.5/km2 (58.4/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Department number | 04 | ||
| Arrondissements | 4 | ||
| Cantons | 30 | ||
| Communes | 200 | ||
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |||
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (French pronunciation: [alp.də.ot.pʁɔ.vɑ̃s]; Occitan: Aups d'Auta Provença) is a French department in the south of France, it was formerly part of the province of Provence.
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Nord-de-Provence was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was renamed Haute-Provence and Basses-Alpes.
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 to Vaucluse at this point. Seventeen years later, in 1810, the canton of Barcillonnette was transferred over to Hautes-Alpes.
On 13 April 1970, the department of Basses-Alpes was renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is a mountainous region with peaks over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) close to the Italian border. The climate is very dry and arid but irrigation allows for a prosperous fruit-growing industry.
It is surrounded by the French departments of Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Vaucluse, and Drôme, as well as Italy.
Rivers include: Durance, Verdon, Bléone, Ubaye, Var, Buëch, Jabron, Largue.
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is subdivided into 4 arrondissements, 30 cantons and 200 communes.
| Arrondissement | Canton | # of communes |
|---|---|---|
| Barcelonnette | Barcelonnette | 11 |
| Le Lauzet-Ubaye | 5 | |
| Castellane | Allos-Colmars | 6 |
| Annot | 7 | |
| Castellane | 7 | |
| Entrevaux | 6 | |
| Saint-André-les-Alpes | 6 | |
| Digne-les-Bains | Barrême | 8 |
| Digne-les-Bains-Est | 4 | |
| Digne-les-Bains-Ouest | 10 | |
| La Javie | 6 | |
| Les Mées | 6 | |
| Mézel | 8 | |
| Moustiers-Sainte-Marie | 3 | |
| Riez | 9 | |
| Seyne | 8 | |
| Valensole | 4 | |
| Forcalquier | Banon | 9 |
| Forcalquier | 10 | |
| Manosque-Nord | 3 | |
| Manosque-Sud-Est | 3 | |
| Manosque-Sud-Ouest | 3 | |
| La Motte-du-Caire | 13 | |
| Noyers-sur-Jabron | 7 | |
| Peyruis | 4 | |
| Reillanne | 8 | |
| Saint-Étienne-les-Orgues | 8 | |
| Sisteron | 5 | |
| Turriers | 7 | |
| Volonne | 9 |
See also: Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department
Inhabitants of this department are called Bas-Alpins.
The population was once distributed fairly evenly across the department, both in the mountainous regions and the agricultural ones. However, near the end of the 19th century it markedly decreased due to rural exodus to the cities. It fell from about 150,000 to below 100,000 after World War I. It was not until 1960, that the population began to grow again, from 84,335 in 1968 to 139,561 in 1999. However, although the population figures are about what they were before, the distribution is very different. The population is now centered around the larger towns, Manosque and Digne-les-Bains, and the mountainous regions are very sparsely populated.
The arrondissements of Barcelonette and Castellane are the two least heavily populated of France, the only ones with under 10,000 inhabitants. The town of Castellane is the smallest subprefecture of France.
The President of the General Council is the Socialist Jean-Louis Bianco.
| Party | seats | |
|---|---|---|
| • | Socialist Party | 12 |
| • | Miscellaneous Left | 6 |
| Miscellaneous Right | 6 | |
| • | French Communist Party | 3 |
| • | Citizen and Republican Movement | 1 |
| Union for a Popular Movement | 2 | |
The beautiful scenery provides the background to many activities and sights. Eleven villages have been classified as having special architectural character. In particular there are:
In summer many aerial sports use the surrounding mountains such as gliding, hang gliding and paragliding. In winter there is extensive skiing at eleven ski resorts.