Ariège

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Coordinates: 43°00′N 1°30′E / 43°N 1.5°E / 43; 1.5

Ariège
Coat of Arms of Ariège
Location
Administration
Department number:	09
Region:	Midi-Pyrénées
Prefecture:	Foix
Subprefectures:	Pamiers Saint-Girons
Arrondissements:	3
Cantons:	22
Communes:	332
President of the General Council:	Augustin Bonrepaux PS
Statistics
Population	Ranked 96th
-1999	137,205
Population density:	28/km2
Land area¹:	4890 km2
¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

Ariège (Occitan: Arièja) is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.

History

Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans.

Foix is the administrative capital of the Ariege and 2 other major towns are Pamiers and Mirepoix. Foix is an ancient medieval town with a fine fortress perched on a hill above the town, called Chateau de Foix. The fortress has been attacked many times, including by Simon de Montfort, without anyone succeeding to capture it and it has also been used as a prison. The names of English Prisoners of War can still be seen on the old cell walls. Another famous chateau is Montsegur, spectacularly located on a rocky outcrop at a height of 1200 metres (3900 ft). The present ruin at Montségur is not actually the work of the Cathars. During the siege of 1244 the chateau was largely destroyed and the fortress was largely rebuilt in the second half of the 13th century. The chateau has a painful past for after the fall of the chateau in 1244, more than 200 Cathar priests were burnt at the stake as heretics due to their alternative Christian (Cathar)faith.

Of the other towns in the Ariege, Pamiers offers a large commercial centre and 3 fine churches, Mirepoix is a beautiful medieval town, Saint-Girons is a fine agricultural centre with one of the best markets (on Saturdays) in south west France. Saint-Lizier is a very picturesque medieval hilltop town with winding streets and fine views. The cloisters in the church are definitely worth seeing.

Geography

The department is part of the current region of Midi-Pyrénées and is surrounded by the French departments of Haute-Garonne, Aude, and Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as Spain and Andorra on the south.

The geography is dominated by the Pyrenees mountains, which form the border between France and Spain. There are hundreds of miles of well marked paths which lead you to explore the magnificent Pyrenees mountains. The high mountains are easily accessible via good roads, cable cars or by foot. There are a number of lodges providing high level mountain accommodation that is comfortable, warm with good meals, at 2000 m!

There are also a number of fresh water lakes which provide a variety of activities including, walking, swimming, fishing, canoeing, sailboarding and also picnicing.

The Ariege has several of its own downhill ski resorts, the three largest being Ax-Bonascre, Les Monts D'Olmes and Guzet. There are many cross country ski-ing resorts, one of the best being at Plateau de Beille, near Les Cabannes.

The Pyrenees mountain range forms a fantastic backdrop to the entire Ariege Department, rising some 10000 feet (3000m) along the border with Andorra and Spain. The highest peaks are clearly visible visible from Toulouse in the Haute Garonne. It is one of the least populated and most unspoiled regions of France. The locals enjoy keeping old traditions alive, especially farming techniques. Consequently, as less insecticides, for example, have been used, the flora and fauna of the area are rich in diversity and number. Butterflies are seen in huge numbers, birds are numerous, particularly noticeable are the large birds of prey, including the magnificent Griffon vultures.

There are also many unspoiled villages and hamlets tucked away in the valleys close to the department's border with Spain, such as Seix, Cominac and Aulus Les Bain, and picturesque mountain villages, most notably Aleu which comes alive in the holiday season.

Climate

Mont Valier seen from the road to Port d'Aula in the Haut Couserans

Ariège stands on the eastern limit of oceanic dominance over rainfall, but other influences are felt:

• Mediterranean - particularly visible in the vegetation of the foothills, of the valley of the Ariège river towards Tarascon, and in the Pays de Sault;
• Continental - in the Pyrenean valleys, with many storms and big differences of temperature between day and night.

There is no great tendency to summer drought as the flow of air from the north-west brings rain throughout the year. Rainfall is moderate on the foothills and in some sheltered valleys, measuring 700 to 1,000 mm per year, but increases significantly in the higher valleys with levels between 1,000 mm and 1,800 mm. The slopes exposed to the north-west, such as Aulus and Orlu, are, as one would expect, the wettest, together with the frontal ridges that meet air flow from the southwest (giving rise to the Foehn effect). Snow cover is common over 1,000 metres, lasting several months above 1,500 to 2,000 metres. Some periglacial areas exist over 2,500 m but the only true glacier in Ariège is that of the Mont Valier, near Castillon-en-Couserans.

Temperatures are mild in the foothills: at Foix the average is 5° C in January and 19° C in July. However, they decline rapidly with altitude: at l'Hospitalet (1,430 m) it is 0° C in January and 14° C in July.

Demographics

The castle at Foix

Cathedral of Saint-Antonin at Pamiers

Covered shopfronts at Mirepoix

The inhabitants of the department are called Ariégeois.

The department has 151,477 inhabitants, or 146,289 as the population without double counting.

The populations of the arrondisements (double-counting) are :

• Foix – 53,595
• Pamiers – 69,664
• Saint Girons – 28,218

The populations of the principal towns (double-counting) are :

• Pamiers – 15,702
• Foix – 9,994
• Lavelanet – 7,068
• Saint Girons – 7,019^[1]

Economy

The Ariege department is a largely unknown department which is situated next to the Aude in the most southern part of the Midi-Pyrenees region and shares its borders with the Aude, Andorra, Haute Garonne and the Pyrenees Orientales. This is predominantly a farming area as the soil is rich and fertile and yet more than 50% of the Ariège is mountainous, with 490 965 hectares is covered by forests.

The Ariège Chamber of Commerce and Industry is situated at Foix. The department’s Economic Development Agency (ARIEGE EXPANSION) is at Verniolle.^[2] The department has established three ‘business incubators’ to support enterprise in Ariège.

Politics

The department has two parliamentary constituencies and twenty-two cantons. Broadly speaking, Ariège has been firmly held by the Socialist Party since the days of the Third Republic, although in recent years the right has managed to make some inroads.^[3]

Nevertheless, with both MPs coming from the Socialist Party and a General Council on which nineteen out of twenty-two members are socialist or allied, the political leaning of the department is clear. Gender is well balanced for Members of Parliament (Mme Frédérique Massat and M Henri Nayrou) but all of the twenty-two councillors are men.

Culture

The region was originally part of Aquitaine and has retained many hallmarks of the Gascon culture and Gascon language.

Tourism

According to the general census of the population of 8 March 1999, 26.5 % of available housing in the department consists of second homes.

The following table indicates the main communes of Ariège in which the number of second homes amounts to more than 10% of total dwellings.^{[4] [5]}

Famous people

• Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), philosopher and writer, born at Carla-Bayle (then known as Carla-le-Comte; the commune changed its name in his honour)
• Théophile Delcassé (1852-1923), politician, minister, ambassador, born at Pamiers
• Jacques Dupont (born in 1928), cyclist, holder of the Olympic record, born at Lézat-sur-Lèze
• Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), composer, born at Pamiers
• Jacques Fournier (1285-1342), bishop of Pamiers then of Mirepoix, pope under the name Benedict XII from 1336 to 1342 (Avignon), born at Canté near Saverdun
• Claude Piquemal (born in 1939), athlete and sprinter, Olympic medalist, born at Siguer

References

1. ^ Census 2009, French National Institute of Statistics
2. ^ http://www.ariege-expansion.com
3. ^ http://www.atlaspol.com/MDPY/ariege.htm Political atlas of Ariège (in French), consulted 30 June 2009
4. ^ Census site, INSEE,figures as at 8 March 1999
5. ^ Estimates of the intermediate census, INSEE, figures as at 1 July 2005

See also

• Cantons of the Ariège department
• Communes of the Ariège department
• Arrondissements of the Ariège department

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: :Category:Ariège

• (French)Conseil general website
• (French)Prefecture website
• (French)http://www.ariege.com/
• (French)Trekking in Ariege Pyrenees website