Landes (department)

For other uses, see Landes (disambiguation).

Landes Lanas (Occitan) Landak (Basque)
Department of France
Prefecture building in Mont-de-Marsan
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Landes in France
Coordinates: 44°0′N 0°50′W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Prefecture	Mont-de-Marsan
Subprefecture	Dax
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Xavier Fortinon (PS)
Area 1
• Total	9,243 km2 (3,569 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	422,976
• Rank	59th
• Density	46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	40
Arrondissements	2
Cantons	15
Communes	327
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Landes (French pronunciation: [lɑ̃d] ; Gascon and Occitan: Lanas [ˈlanəs]; Basque: Landak) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Southwestern France, with a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It also borders Gers to the east, Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the south, Lot-et-Garonne to the north-east, and Gironde to the north. Located on the Atlantic coast, it had a population of 413,690 as of 2019. Its prefecture is Mont-de-Marsan.

The department is the second-largest department in France and it covers the Forest of Landes. The southwestern part of the department is part of the wider conurbation of Biarritz and Bayonne across the Pyrénées-Atlantique border.

History

Landes is one of the original 83 departments that were created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.

During the first part of the 19th century, large parts of the department were covered with poorly drained heathland (French: lande); this is the origin of the department's name. The vegetation covered rich soil and was periodically burned off, leaving excellent pasturage for sheep, which around 1850 are thought to have numbered between 900,000 and 1,000,000 in this area. The sheep were managed by shepherds who moved around on stilts and became proficient at covering long distances thus supported. Most of the sheep departed during the second half of the nineteenth century when systematic development of large pine plantations transformed the landscape and the local economy.

One of the most famous citizens of the Landes was the 19th-century French economist Frédéric Bastiat.

The Nobel Prize–winning novelist François Mauriac set his novels in the Landes.

Geography

The Landes is part of the current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. With an area stretching over more than 9000 km², Landes is, after Gironde, the second largest department of the metropolitan French territory.

It is well known for the Côte d'Argent beach. Côte d'Argent is Europe's longest beach, and attracts many surfers to Mimizan and Soorts-Hossegor each year. It is also home to a château called Château de Gaujacq that was built in 1686.

• 
  A view of Soorts-Hossegor
• 
  The Landes forest in Contis

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 224,272 —     1806 240,146 +1.38% 1821 256,311 +0.44% 1831 281,504 +0.94% 1841 288,077 +0.23% 1851 302,196 +0.48% 1861 300,839 −0.04% 1872 300,528 −0.01% 1881 301,143 +0.02% 1891 297,842 −0.11% 1901 291,586 −0.21% 1911 288,902 −0.09% 1921 263,937 −0.90%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 257,186 −0.26% 1936 251,436 −0.45% 1946 248,395 −0.12% 1954 248,943 +0.03% 1962 260,495 +0.57% 1968 277,381 +1.05% 1975 288,323 +0.55% 1982 297,424 +0.44% 1990 311,461 +0.58% 1999 327,334 +0.55% 2006 362,827 +1.48% 2011 387,929 +1.35% 2016 405,010 +0.87%
Sources:

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Mont-de-Marsan, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:

Commune	Population (2019)
Mont-de-Marsan	29,807
Dax	20,843
Biscarrosse	13,947
Saint-Paul-lès-Dax	13,381
Tarnos	12,634

Politics

Departmental Council of Landes

The president of the Departmental Council has been Xavier Fortinon of the Socialist Party since 2017. He succeeded former president of the National Assembly Henri Emmanuelli upon his death.

Party		Seats
•	Socialist Party	17
•	Left Front	3
	Union of the Republican Right and Independents	10

National representation

In the 2024 legislative election, Landes elected the following members of the National Assembly:

Constituency		Member	Party
	Landes's 1st constituency	Fabien Lainé	MoDem
	Landes's 2nd constituency	Lionel Causse	Renaissance
	Landes's 3rd constituency	Boris Vallaud	Socialist Party

In the Senate, Landes is represented by two members: Éric Kerrouche and Monique Lubin. Both have served since the 2017 Senate election.

Economy

Agriculture

Landes is known for its large pine forest which is the raw material for a timber and resin industries in the region. The forest was planted in the early nineteenth century to prevent erosion of the region's sandy soil by the sea.

Tourism

Landes is famous for its seaside resorts and natural spots, such as:

• 
  Mont-de-Marsan
• 
  Surfer in Soorts-Hossegor
• 
  Beach in Messanges
• 
  Labastide-d'Armagnac
• 
  Landes forest, the largest maritime-pine forest in Europe

See also

• Cantons of the Landes department
• Communes of the Landes department
• Arrondissements of the Landes department
• Château de Belhade
• Château de Castillon
• Château de Lacaze
• Château de Ravignan
• Château du Prada

External links

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website