Calvados

Calvados
—  Department  —

Coat of arms
Location of Calvados in France
Coordinates:
Country France
Region Basse-Normandie
Prefecture Caen
Subprefectures Bayeux
Lisieux
Vire
Government
 - President of the General Council Anne d'Ornano (Miscellaneous Right-wing)
Area1
 - Total 5,548 km2 (2,142.1 sq mi)
Population (2007)
 - Total 673,667
 - Rank 31st
 - Density 121.4/km2 (314.5/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Department number 14
Arrondissements 4
Cantons 49
Communes 706
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the coast.

Contents

History

Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from a part of the former province of Normandy. The name "Orne inférieure" was originally proposed for the department, but it was ultimately decided to call the area Calvados.

Its etymology is most likely derived from the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-bains in 1588. However, others insist that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, in reference to two sparsely vegetated rocks off its shore.[1]

On June 6, 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of the Bay of the Seine in what became known as the Battle of Normandy.

Geography

Calvados belongs to the region of Basse-Normandie and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure, Orne and Manche. On the north is la Baie de Seine, part of the English Channel. On the east, the Seine River forms the boundary with Seine-Maritime. Calvados includes the Bessin area, the Pays d'Auge and the area known as the "Suisse normande" ("Norman Switzerland").

Calvados' most notable places include Deauville and the formerly elegant 19th-century casino resorts of the coast.

Economy

Agriculture dominates the economy of Calvados. The area is known for producing butter, cheese, cider and the apple-based spirit that shares its name (see Calvados (spirit)).

Politics

The President of the General Council is the centrist Anne d'Ornano. She is the wife of Michel d'Ornano, the former dominant figure of the right and centre in the department. The Conseil General of Calvados and Devon County Council signed a Twinning Charter in 1971 to develop links with the English county of Devon.[2]

Party seats
Socialist Party 18
• Miscellaneous Right 18
• Union for a Popular Movement 6
Left Radical Party 3
• New Centre 3
• MoDem 1

Demography

The inhabitants of Calvados are called "Calvadosiens" (male) and "Calvadosiennes" (female). In 1999, Calvados counted 648,299 inhabitants, making it the 30th most populated French department.

Age distribution in Calvados:

Culture

The Bayeux Tapestry is on display in Bayeux and makes the city one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Normandy. Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944. The cult of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux, where she lived in a Carmelite convent. Every September, Deauville hosts the Festival of the American Movie and the beach resort of Cabourg hosts the Festival of the Romantic Movie Annually, the city of Caen celebrates the festival of the electronical cultures called "Nordik Impakt" & The festival of Beauregard, just around Caen.

The local dialect of the Norman language is known as Augeron. It is spoken by a minority of the population.

Tourism

Calvados is one of the areas most visited in France because of its seaside resorts among the most prestigious of France with their luxurious hotels, casinos, green countryside, manors, castles, the quiet, the chalck cliff, the typical Norman houses, the history of William the Conqueror, Caen, Bayeux, Lisieux, the famous D-day beaches and all its museums about the Second World War. The culinary specialties from verdant countryside of Calvados are inescapable: cider, calvados, camembert and bridge l'évêque.

One of the advantage of Calvados is to be at proximity of the large urban centers (Paris, Ile de France). Calvados is therefor privileged for holidays and for weekends and sometimes considerated as the countryside of Paris .

Calvados, via the port of Ouistreham, is an entrance to the continent from Britain. There are two airports: Caen-Carpiquet and Deauville-Saint Gatien. The department of Calvados has several popular tourist areas: the Bessin, the Plaine of Caen, the Bocage Virois, the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie and the Pays d'Auge. Several beaches of Calvados are popular for water sports, including Cabourg and Merville-Franceville-Plage.

Tourist capacity (2001):

Municipalities with more than 10% of second homes.

This ranking takes into account all the municipalities over 10% of second homes in the departement of France. Calvados have many second homes. 80% of owners are from the Parisian area, 10% are English and 10% are local.

According to the general census of the population of 1 January 2006, 18.9% of housing available in the department were second homes.

City Municipal Population Number of homes Second home  % Second home
Villers-sur-Mer 0 02,541 0 09,280 0 07,857 84.67%
Cabourg 0 03,965 010,106 0 08,039 79.54%
Houlgate 0 01,902 0 04,658 0 03,665 78.67%
Tourgéville 0 0 0922 0 02,423 0 01,888 77.92%
Benerville-sur-Mer 0 0 0491 0 01,233 0 0 0924 74.93%
Varaville 0 0 0767 0 01,477 0 01,106 74.88%
Gonneville-sur-Mer 0 0 0581 0 0 0899 0 0 0651 72.41%
Colleville-sur-Mer 0 0 0167 0 0 0270 0 0 0195 72.22%
Blonville-sur-Mer 0 01,546 0 02,714 0 01,951 71.90%
Deauville 0 03,973 0 07,794 0 05,484 70.36%
Merville-Franceville-Plage 0 01,740 0 02,535 0 01,694 66.81%
Saint-Côme-de-Fresné 0 0 0219 0 0 0294 0 0 0196 66.64%
Danestal 0 0 0265 0 0 0325 0 0 0213 65.49%
Asnelles 0 0 0589 0 0 0836 0 0 0546 65.31%
Trouville-sur-Mer 0 04,992 0 08,110 0 05,159 63.61%
Saint-Arnoult 0 0 0910 0 0 0922 0 0 0576 62.48%
Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer 0 01,851 0 02,111 0 01,271 60.22%
Courseulles-sur-Mer 0 04,106 0 05,022 0 02,775 55.26%
Villerville 0 0 0750 0 0 0813 0 0 0425 52.23%
Grandcamp-Maisy 0 01,757 0 01,759 0 0 0829 47.13%
Équemauville 0 01,255 0 0 0880 0 0 0395 44.89%
Bernières-sur-Mer 0 02,373 0 01,854 0 0 0785 42.34%
Langrune-sur-Mer 0 01,690 0 01,236 0 0 0479 38.73%
Arromanches-les-Bains 0 0 0602 0 0 0488 0 0 0187 38.34%
Bonneville-la-Louvet 0 0 0768 0 0 0515 0 0 0195 37.92%
Ver-sur-Mer 0 01,508 0 01,042 0 0 0394 37.77%
Hermanville-sur-Mer 0 02,692 0 01,698 0 0 0586 34.53%
Colleville-Montgomery 0 02,254 0 01,339 0 0 0444 33.14%
Dives-sur-Mer 0 05,864 0 03,977 0 01,305 32.81%
Luc-sur-Mer 0 03,186 0 02,179 0 0 0705 32.35%
Saint-Gatien-des-Bois 0 01,312 0 0 0780 0 0 0251 32.18%
Ouistreham 0 09,252 0 06,519 0 02,023 31.04%
Lion-sur-Mer 0 02,568 0 01,538 0 0 0411 26.75%
Touques 0 03,848 0 02,643 0 0 0706 26.69%
Port-en-Bessin-Huppain 0 01,958 0 01,134 0 0 0207 18.24%
Honfleur 0 08,177 0 04,793 0 0 0661 13.79%

Sport

Aquatic sports are often played on the coasts and beaches, for example, kite surfing and beach volleyball. For the season 2007/2008, the soccer team of Caen will play in the Ligue 1 French championship (Elite).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Lepelley, René (1990). Calvados, qui es-tu, d'où viens-tu ou le nom énigmatique d'un département Français  : Critique d'une tradition, hypothèses diverses, proposition d'interprétation. C. Corlet. 
  2. ↑ "Twinning". Devon County Council. http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/councildemocracy/neighbourhoods-villages/twinning.htm. Retrieved 8 December 2009. 

External links