Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

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Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is a French département in the south of France, it was formerly part of the province of Provence.

History

Nord-de-Provence was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was renamed Haute-Provence and Basses-Alpes. On December 8, 1793, the department of Vaucluse was created from parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes.

On April 13, 1970, the department of Basses-Alpes was renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

Geography

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is a mountainous region with peaks over 8,000 feet. The climate is very dry and arid and 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.

Arrondissements and cantons

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence is subdivided into 4 arrondissements, 30 cantons and 200 communes.

Arrondissement	Canton	# of communes
Barcelonnette	Barcelonnette	11
Barcelonnette	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

Demographics

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.

Tourism

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:

The town of Sisteron with its ancient citadel and narrow streets
The Gorge of Verdon (Europe's Grand Canyon)
Dignes-les-Baines Hot-spa town
Moustiers-Sainte-Marie Pottery

In summer many aerial sports use the surrounding mountains such as gliding, hang gliding and paragliding. In winter there is extensive ski-ing at eleven ski resorts.

External links