| Main | Births etc |
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| Gironde | |||
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| — Department — | |||
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| Coordinates: Coordinates: | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Aquitaine | ||
| Prefecture | Bordeaux | ||
| Subprefectures | Arcachon Blaye Langon Lesparre-Médoc Libourne |
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| Government | |||
| • President of the General Council | Philippe Madrelle | ||
| Area1 | |||
| • Total | 10,000 km2 (4,000 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| • Total | 1,409,345 | ||
| • Rank | 8th | ||
| • Density | 140/km2 (370/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| 33000 | |||
| Department number | 33 | ||
| Arrondissements | 6 | ||
| Cantons | 63 | ||
| Communes | 542 | ||
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |||
Gironde (French pronunciation: [ʒiʁɔ̃d]; in Gascon Gironda) is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France. The Bordeaux wine region is in the Gironde.
History[]
Gironde is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.
From 1793 to 1795, the department's name was changed to Bec-d'Ambès to avoid the association with the revolutionary party, the Girondists.
Geography[]
Gironde is part of the current region of Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Charente-Maritime and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. With an area of 10,000 km², Gironde is the largest department in metropolitan France. If overseas departments are included, however, Gironde's land area is dwarfed by the 83,846 km² of Guyane.
Gironde is well known for the Côte d'Argent beach which is Europe's longest, attracting many surfers to Lacanau each year. It is also the birthplace of Jacques-Yves Cousteau who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.
The Great Dune of Pyla in Arcachon Bay near Bordeaux is the tallest sand dune in Europe.[1]
Politics[]
The President of the General Council is Philippe Madrelle of the Socialist Party.
| Party | seats | |
|---|---|---|
| • | Socialist Party | 45 |
| Union for a Popular Movement | 12 | |
| • | French Communist Party | 3 |
| Miscellaneous Right | 1 | |
| MoDem | 1 | |
| Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition | 1 | |
Tourism[]
See also[]
- Cantons of the Gironde department
- Communes of the Gironde department
- Arrondissements of the Gironde department
- Bordeaux wine regions
References[]
- ^ C.G. (14 August 2009). Les Adresses de Mathilde Seigner et Fabien Onteniente. Le Figaro Magazine. (French)
External links[]
- (French) General Council website
- (French) Prefecture website
- (English) Gironde at the Open Directory Project
- (French) Tourism Office website
| This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Gironde. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License. |