Haute-Vienne
(
Occitan
:
Nauta-Viena or Nauta-Vinhana
) is a
department
of
France
in the
region
of
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
. It is named after the
Vienne
river that flows through the department.
Haute-Vienne is one of the 83 French departments made during the
French revolution
, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the old
province
of
Limousin
, its southern half, and of the county of Marche, its northern half, as well as some parts of
Angoumois
and
Poitou
.
The new department had six
districts
: Limoges, Le Dorat, Bellac, Saint-Junien, Saint-Yrieix and Saint-Leonard. The
capital
(now
prefecture
) was
Limoges
.
[4]
In 1800, with the creation of the
arrondissements
in France, the six districts were changed into four
arrondissements
: Limoges, Bellac, Rochechouart and Saint-Yrieix.
[4]
On 10 September 1926, the
arrondissement
of Saint-Yrieix was eliminated.
[4]
Haute-Vienne is part of the
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
region
. It has an area of 5,520.1 km
2
(2,131 sq mi).
[2]
The department is bordered by 6 departments of 2 regions:
Places next to Haute-Vienne
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The department is in the nortwestern border of the
Massif Central
. Its
altitude
is 160?750 m (525?2,461 ft) high; the lowest point is in the
valley
of the
Vienne
river and the highest is in the
mountains
near the
Vassiviere
lake
. The highest point in the department is
Puy de Crozat
(
45°47′30″N
1°50′45″E
/
45.79167°N 1.84583°E
/
45.79167; 1.84583
), that is 777 m (2,549 ft) high.
[5]
The main
rivers
in the department are the
Vienne
, that gives its name to this the deparment and to
Vienne
, and the
Gartempe
, a tributary of the
Creuse
river.
The climate of Limoges is an oceanic climate with template summers,
Cfb
(Marine West Coast Climate) in the
Koppen climate classification
.
[6]
The
average
amount of
precipitation
for the year in Limoges is 726.4 mm (28.6 in). The month with the most precipitation on average is October with 86.4 mm (3.4 in) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of 45.7 mm (1.8 in).
The average temperature for the year in Limoges is 11.4 °C (52.5 °F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 19.3 °C (66.7 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 4.2 °C (39.6 °F).
The department is managed by the
Departamental Council of the Haute-Vienne
in
Limoges
. Haute-Vienne is part of the region of
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
.
There are 3
arrondissements
(
districts
), 21
cantons
and 200
communes
(
municipalities
) in Haute-Vienne.
[7]
The following is a list of the 21
cantons
of the Haute-Vienne
department
, in
France
, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
[10]
The inhabitants of Haute-Vienne are known, in
French
, as
Haut-Viennois
(women:
Haut-Viennoises
).
[11]
Haute-Vienne has a population, in 2013, of 376,199,
[3]
for a population density of 68.2 inhabitants/km
2
. The
arrondissement
of Limoges, with 298,578 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Bellac and Rochechouart, have respectively 39,744 and 37,877 inhabitants.
[8]
Evolution of the population in Haute-Vienne
The 10 most important cities in the department are:
City
|
Population
(2014)
[8]
|
Arrondissement
|
Limoges
|
134,577
|
Limoges
|
Saint-Junien
|
11,196
|
Rochechouart
|
Panazol
|
10,734
|
Limoges
|
Couzeix
|
8,955
|
Limoges
|
Isle
|
7,520
|
Limoges
|
Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche
|
6,848
|
Limoges
|
Feytiat
|
6,147
|
Limoges
|
Le Palais-sur-Vienne
|
6,069
|
Limoges
|
Aixe-sur-Vienne
|
5,771
|
Limoges
|
Ambazac
|
5,628
|
Limoges
|