Department of France
Department of France in Occitanie
Gers (French pronunciation: [ʒɛʁ(s)] ; Occitan : Gers or Gerç , [dʒɛɾs] ) is a department in the region of Occitania , Southwestern France . Gers becoming the largest producer of foie gras in France, known for its rural scene and bastides . Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the south, Haute-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne to the east, Lot-et-Garonne to the north and Landes to the west.[3] Named after the Gers River , its inhabitants are called the Gersois and Gersoises in French . In 2019, it had a population of 191,377.[4]
History
In the Middle Ages , the Lordship of L'Isle-Jourdain was nearby.
Gers 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 . In 1808 it lost Lavit on its north-eastern side to the newly created department of Tarn-et-Garonne .[5]
Culture
The culture is largely agricultural, with great emphasis on the local gastronomical specialties such as:
Also, some prominent cultivated crops are corn , colza , sunflowers and grain .
The Gascon language is a dialect of Occitan , but it is not widely spoken. The department is characterised by sleepy bastide villages and rolling hills with the Pyrenees visible to the south. Alexandre Dumas, père created the famous Gersois d'Artagnan , the fourth musketeer of The Three Musketeers . A museum to d'Artagnan is found in the Gersois village of Lupiac .
A horse race at the Auteuil Hippodrome has been named after André Boingnères, a notable local race-horse owner and the successful Mayor of Termes-d'Armagnac between 1951 and 1976.
Politics
Departmental Council of Gers
The President of the Departmental Council of Gers is Philippe Dupouy of the Socialist Party since 2022.[1] He succeeded Philippe Martin , who had been in office since 2014. The assembly comprises 34 seats, allocated as follow since the 2015 departmental elections :
Members of the National Assembly
Gers elected the following members of the National Assembly during the 2017 legislative election :
Demography
Historical population Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 257,609 — 1806 287,021 +2.19% 1821 301,336 +0.32% 1831 312,160 +0.35% 1841 311,447 −0.02% 1851 307,479 −0.13% 1861 298,931 −0.28% 1872 284,717 −0.44% 1881 281,532 −0.12% 1891 261,084 −0.75% 1901 238,448 −0.90% 1911 221,994 −0.71% 1921 194,406 −1.32%
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 193,134 −0.07% 1936 192,451 −0.07% 1946 190,431 −0.11% 1954 185,111 −0.35% 1962 182,264 −0.19% 1968 181,577 −0.06% 1975 175,366 −0.50% 1982 174,154 −0.10% 1990 174,587 +0.03% 1999 172,335 −0.14% 2006 181,375 +0.73% 2011 188,893 +0.82% 2016 190,664 +0.19%
source:[7] [8]
Located in Southwestern France, Gers is often referred to as amongst the least densely populated (30.5 people/km2 in 2016),[8] least urban, or most rural, areas in all of Western Europe . List of the 10 most populous communes of the department:[4]
Commune
Population (2019)
Auch
22,173
L'Isle-Jourdain
9,072
Condom
6,493
Fleurance
5,924
Eauze
3,975
Lectoure
3,672
Vic-Fezensac
3,546
Mirande
3,450
Gimont
3,016
Pavie
2,501
Climate
The annual rain varies from more than 900 mm in the south-west of the department, to less than 700 mm in the North-East (Auch , Condom , Lectoure ).
The winters vary, with only occasional freezing temperatures, but the climate remains mild and dry. The amount of sunshine is about 1950 hours/years.
The summers are hot and dry. Auch is, together with Toulouse , Nîmes , Carpentras , Ajaccio , Marseille , Toulon and Perpignan , one of the hottest cities in France.
Tourism
According to recent data tourism represents annually:
610 000 tourists,
5.900.000 nights,
22.100 commercial beds,
2 400 paid employment related to tourism,
the tourist represent an equivalent of 17.100 permanent inhabitants,
their estimated expenditure is €141.000.000 .
See also
References
External links