Puy-de-Dôme
| Puy-de-Dôme | |||
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| Coordinates: 45°42′N 03°13′E / 45.7°N 3.217°ECoordinates: 45°42′N 03°13′E / 45.7°N 3.217°E | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Auvergne | ||
| Prefecture | Clermont-Ferrand | ||
| Subprefectures | Ambert Issoire Riom Thiers |
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| Government | |||
| • President of the General Council | Jean-Yves Gouttebel | ||
| Area1 | |||
| • Total | 7,970 km2 (3,077.2 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2007) | |||
| • Total | 626,639 | ||
| • Rank | 36th | ||
| • Density | 78.6/km2 (203.6/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Department number | 63 | ||
| Arrondissements | 5 | ||
| Cantons | 61 | ||
| Communes | 470 | ||
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |||
Puy-de-Dôme (French pronunciation: [pɥi də dom]; lo Puèi de Doma / lo Puèi Domat in the Auvergnat dialect of the Occitan language) is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.
Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005. With effect from Spring 2006, in response to a letter writing campaign, the name used for the inhabitants was change by the departmental General Council to Puydômois, and this is the name that has since then been used in all official documents and publications.
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[edit] History
Puy-de-Dôme is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former province of Auvergne. Originally, the department was to be called Mont-d'Or ("Golden Mountain"), but this was changed to Puy-de-Dôme following the intervention of Jean-François Gaultier de Biauzat, a local deputy, because of a concern that the name originally chosen risked attracting excessive unwelcome attention from the national taxation authorities.
[edit] Geography
Puy-de-Dôme is part of the current region of Auvergne and is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Haute-Loire, Cantal, Corrèze, Allier, and Creuse.
The department is in the Massif Central and boasts more than 80 volcanic craters. It is three hours from Paris and an hour from Lyon by highways A71 and A72. The A75 links it to the Mediterranean Sea.
Its main cities are Clermont-Ferrand, Thiers, Riom, Issoire, Ambert, and Cournon-d'Auvergne. Parts of the department belong to the Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez.
[edit] Economy
The Prefecture, Clermont-Ferrand, is home to one of the country's best known manufacturing businesses and brands, Michelin. Thiers is the oldest industry place in Auvergne with its cutlery tradition from the 14th century.
The countryside lends itself to tourism and Puy-de-Dôme is a popular weekend destination for city dwellers. The 1999 census found that 11.7% of the usable homes in the department were being kept as second homes.
[edit] See also
- Cantons of the Puy-de-Dôme department
- Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department
- Arrondissements of the Puy-de-Dôme department
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Puy-de-Dôme |
- (French) Prefecture website
- (French) General Council website
- (English) Puy-de-Dome at the Open Directory Project
