Occitanie

Occitanie (Occitan: Occitània, Catalan: Occitània) is an administrative region of France. It was created on 1 January 2016 from the former French regions Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées.

Occitanie Occitània  (Occitan)
Region of France
Flag Coat of arms
Country	France
Prefecture	Toulouse
Departments	13 Ariège (09) Aude (11) Aveyron (12) Gard (30) Gers (32) Haute-Garonne (31) Hautes-Pyrénées (65) Hérault (34) Lot (46) Lozère (48) Pyrénées-Orientales (66) Tarn (81) Tarn-et-Garonne (82)
Government
• President of the Regional Council	Carole Delga (PS)
Area
• Total	72,724 km2 (28,079 sq mi)
Population  (2015)
• Total	5,774,185
• Density	79/km2 (210/sq mi)
Demonym	Occitans
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	FR-OCC
GDP ()	Ranked
Total	€ billion (US$ bn)
Per capita	€ (US$)

The name in French, Occitanie, was approved as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016.^[1]

The new Occitanie Region is the main part of a wider cultural entity known as Occitania. This wider region once included part of Spain (Aran Valley), and Monaco, and parts of Italy (the Occitan Valleys and Guardia Piemontese). This wider area used to speak Occitan as their first language.

Geography

The Occitanie region is the third largest region of France, after Nouvelle-Aquitaine and French Guiana, and the second of Metropolitan France with an area of 72,723.5 km² (28,079 sq mi). It is in southern France (the Midi) and borders to the south with Spain and Andorra; it also borders three French regions: Nouvelle-Aquitaine to the west, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes to the north, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur to the east. The Mediterranean Sea is to the southeast.

Its capital, Toulouse, is at 590 km (367 mi) to the southwest of Paris, the national capital, at 405 km (252 mi) to the west of Marseille, at 245 km (152 mi) to the southeast of Bordeaux and at 395 km (245 mi) to the north of Barcelona (Spain).

Rivers

There are two main drainage basin in the region; some rivers in those basins are:

• Atlantic basin
• Garonne river is 522 km (324 mi) long but, in the region it is 250 km (160 mi) long, more than half its total length.^[2]
  • • Tarn 381 km (237 mi)
      • Aveyron 290.9 km (180.8 mi)
      • Agout 194 km (121 mi)
    • Lot 485 km (301 mi)
    • Ariège 163.1 km (101.3 mi)
    • Gers 175.4 km (109.0 mi)

• Mediterranean basin
  • Tech 84.1 km (52.3 mi)
  • Têt 115.8 km (72.0 mi)
  • Agly 81.7 km (50.8 mi)
  • Aude 224 km (139 mi)
  • Rhône 812 km (505 mi)

Mountains

The Pic Vignemale (42°46′26″N 0°8′51″E), at 3,299 m (10,823 ft), is the highest mountain of the Occitanie region; it is on the border with Spain.^[3] It is in the Pyrénées National Park.

The highest point of the different departments of the Occitanie region are:^[4]

Department	Mountain	Elevation
Ariège	Pica d'Estats	3,142 m (10,308 ft)
Aude	Pic de Madrès	2,469 m (8,100 ft)
Aveyron	Signal de Mailhe-Biau	1,463 m (4,800 ft)
Gard	Mont Aigoual	1,565 m (5,135 ft)
Haute-Garonne	Perdiguero	3,221 m (10,568 ft)
Gers	Mont de Chapelle Saint Roch	377 m (1,237 ft)
Hérault	Valbonne	1,151 m (3,776 ft)
Lot	Signal de Labastide-du-Haut-Mont	783 m (2,569 ft)
Lozère	Mont Lozère	1,699 m (5,574 ft)
Hautes-Pyrénées	Pic Vignemale	3,299 m (10,823 ft)
Pyrénées-Orientales	Pic Carlit	2,921 m (9,583 ft)
Tarn	Puech de Rascas	1,270 m (4,170 ft)
Tarn-et-Garonne	Puech des Carts-Sommet Nord	504 m (1,654 ft)

Departments

The Occitanie region is formed by 13 departments:

ISO 3166-2	Shield	Department	Prefecture	Arr.	Cant.	Comm.	Population (2014)[5]	Area (km²)	Density (Inh./km²)
FR-09		Ariège	Foix	3	13	332	152,574	4,889.9	31.2
FR-11		Aude	Carcassonne	3	19	436	365,478	6,139.0	59.5
FR-12		Aveyron	Rodez	3	23	286	278,644	8,735.1	31.9
FR-30		Gard	Nîmes	3	23	353	736,029	5,852.8	125.8
FR-31		Haute-Garonne	Toulouse	3	27	589	1,317,668	6,309.3	208.8
FR-32		Gers	Auch	3	17	462	190,625	6,256.8	30.5
FR-34		Hérault	Montpellier	3	25	343	1,107,398	6,101.0	181.5
FR-46		Lot	Cahors	3	17	326	173,648	5,216.5	33.3
FR-48		Lozère	Mende	2	13	176	76,360	5,166.9	14.8
FR-65		Hautes-Pyrénées	Tarbes	3	17	470	228,950	4,464.0	51.3
FR-66		Pyrénées-Orientales	Perpignan	3	17	226	466,327	4,116.0	113.3
FR-81		Tarn	Albi	2	23	320	384,474	5,757.9	66.8
FR-82		Tarn-et-Garonne	Montauban	2	30	195	252,578	3,718.3	67.9
Total of the Region				36	264	4,514	5,730,753	72,723.5	78.8

Arr. = Arrondissements          Cant. = Cantons          Comm. = Communes

Demographics

The Occitanie region had a population, in 2014, of 5,730,753, for a population density of 78.8 inhabitants/km².

Le Capitole, Toulouse

The important cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants (2014) in the region are:

INSEE code	City	Department	Population (2014)
31555	Toulouse	Haute-Garonne	466,297
34172	Montpellier	Hérault	275,318
30189	Nîmes	Gard	151,075
66136	Perpignan	Pyrénées-Orientales	120,605
34032	Béziers	Hérault	75,701
82121	Montauban	Tarn-et-Garonne	58,826
11262	Narbonne	Aude	52,855
81004	Albi	Tarn	49,531
11069	Carcassonne	Aude	45,941
34301	Sète	Hérault	44,136
81065	Castres	Tarn	41,382
65440	Tarbes	Hautes-Pyrénées	40,900
30007	Alès	Gard	39,993
31149	Colomiers	Haute-Garonne	38,541
31557	Tournefeuille	Haute-Garonne	26,674
34003	Agde	Hérault	26,111
31395	Muret	Haute-Garonne	24,975
34145	Lunel	Hérault	24,873
12202	Rodez	Aveyron	24,088
31069	Blagnac	Haute-Garonne	23,416
34108	Frontignan	Hérault	22,896
12145	Millau	Aveyron	22,064
32013	Auch	Gers	21,807

Gallery

• 
  Massif of Tabe, Ariège
• 
  The Garonne river in Toulouse
• 
  The canyon of the Tarn
• 
  Middle Lake of Bastan, Hautes-Pyrénées
• 
  Lot river in Lot
• 
  The Thau lagoon seen from Sète
• 
  Albi, Tarn
• 
  Montauban, Tarn-et-Garonne
• 
  The Canigou mountain and peaches with flowers.

Related pages

• Languedoc-Roussillon
• Midi-Pyrénées
• Regions of France