Bouches-du-Rhône

Bouches-du-Rhône
—  Department  —

Coat of arms
Location of Bouches-du-Rhône in France
Coordinates:
Country France
Region Provence-Alpes-
Côte d'Azur
Prefecture Marseille
Subprefectures Aix-en-Provence
Arles
Istres
Government
 - President of the General Council Jean-Noël Guérini (PS)
Area1
 - Total 5,087 km2 (1,964.1 sq mi)
Population (2007)
 - Total 1,958,926
 - Rank 3rd
 - Density 385.1/km2 (997.4/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Department number 13
Arrondissements 4
Cantons 57
Communes 119
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2
Istres, fourth largest town of Bouches-du-Rhône (40,000 inhabitants)
Guardian house in Camargue
Castle of Tarascon
Arles Amphitheatre

Bouches-du-Rhône (Occitan: Bocas de Ròse, lit. "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River.

Contents

History

History of the department

Bouches-du-Rhône is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Provence and the principalities of Orange, Martigues, and Lambesc. It lost part of its territory in 1793, including Orange and Apt, when the Vaucluse department was created.

History of the area

The history of the area is closely linked to that of Provence. Marseille has been an important harbor since before Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. The Roman presence has left numerous monuments across the department.

Geography

The department is part of the current region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It is surrounded by the departments of Gard on the west, Vaucluse on the north, and Var on the east, and by the Mediterranean Sea on the south.

Marseille contains an important harbor.

Other cities include:

Rivers include:

Lakes include:

Mountains include:

Politics

The President of the General Council is Jean-Noël Guérini of the Socialist Party. Although the department leans to the right in national elections, it remains a stronghold of the left at the local level due to the very strong PS machine in the department led today by Guérini and in the past by Gaston Defferre.

Party seats
• Socialist Party 33
Union for a Popular Movement 13
• French Communist Party 6
Miscellaneous Right 5

Culture

The department is well represented in French art. Paul Cézanne painted numerous representations of the Mont Sainte-Victoire. Vincent van Gogh spent much of his life in Arles, painting many scenes in the area.

Tourism

See also

External links

Bouches-du-Rhone at the Open Directory Project