Corrèze

Corrèze
Department

Prefecture building of the Corrèze department, in Tulle

Coat of arms

Location of Corrèze in France
Coordinates: 45°20′N 1°50′E / 45.333°N 1.833°E / 45.333; 1.833Coordinates: 45°20′N 1°50′E / 45.333°N 1.833°E / 45.333; 1.833
Country France
Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Prefecture Tulle
Subprefectures Brive-la-Gaillarde
Ussel
Government
 • President of the General Council Gérard Bonnet (PS)
Area1
 • Total 5,857 km2 (2,261 sq mi)
Population (2013)
 • Total 240,781
 • Rank 82nd
 • Density 41/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Department number 19
Arrondissements 3
Cantons 19
Communes 283
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Corrèze (French pronunciation: ​[kɔʁɛz]; Occitan: Corresa) is a department in south-western France, named after the river Corrèze which runs though it. Its capital is Tulle and its most populated town is Brive-la-Gaillarde

The inhabitants of the department are called Corréziens.

History

Corrèze is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It includes part of the former province of Limousin (the Bas-Limousin).

The 1851 census recorded a population of 320,866: this remained relatively constant for the rest of the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, however, Corrèze shared the experience of many of the country's rural departments as the population fell steadily.

Within Corrèze the nineteenth-century railway planners, influenced in part by the department's topography, endowed Brive-la-Gaillarde with good connections and a major junction from which railway lines fanned out in six different directions. The railways arrived in 1860, at an opportune moment, directly after phylloxera had destroyed the local wine industry. The new railways enabled the farms in the area surrounding Brive to specialise in fruits and vegetables which they could now transport rapidly to the larger population centres of central and southern France. Locally, the new agriculture triggered the development, in the Brive basin, of related businesses and industries such as the manufacture of jams and liquors, as well as timber/paper-based packaging businesses.

Geography

The department is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is surrounded by the departments of Creuse, Haute-Vienne, Cantal, Puy-de-Dôme, Lot, and Dordogne. Tulle is the prefecture of Corrèze and Brive-la-Gaillarde the largest city.

Politics

The President of the General Council was François Hollande of the Socialist Party until 2012 when he was elected President of the Republic. Jacques Chirac also served as a Deputy of the National Assembly from here for many years.

Party seats
Union for a Popular Movement 18
• Socialist Party 16
• French Communist Party 2
• Miscellaneous Left 1

Tourism

People

People who were born or have significantly lived in Corrèze include:

See also

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