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85-587: Aude ( French: [od] ohd ; Occitan: [ˈawðe] ) is a department in Southern France , located in the Occitanie region and named after the river Aude . The departmental council also calls it " Cathar Country" ( French : Pays cathare ) after a group of religious dissidents active in the 12th to 14th centuries. Its prefecture is Carcassonne and its subprefectures are Limoux and Narbonne . As of 2019, it had

170-463: A county of the United States . At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,000 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a United States county, but less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England and Wales. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km (1500 to 3000 sq. mi.), and

255-545: A crusade against the Albigensians . The barons of the north united to form an army under the command of Simon de Montfort . Whereas the count of Toulouse Raymond VI received absolution, the Count of Carcassonne confronted the army alone. The city of Carcassonne became the refuge of numerous Cathars. In 1561, religious troubles again arose at Carcassonne in the form of a Protestant crisis. Duke Henri I de Montmorency ,

340-429: A discontinuity that may have a large influence on the mechanical behavior (strength, deformation, etc.) of rock masses in, for example, tunnel , foundation , or slope construction. A hazard may exist even in undisturbed terrain. On August 17, 1959, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake destabilized a mountain slope near Hebgen Lake , Montana, composed of schist. This caused a massive landslide that killed 26 people camping in

425-553: A schistose metasandstone (if the protolith is known to have been a sandstone ). If all that is known is that the protolith was a sedimentary rock, the schist will be described as a paraschist , while if the protolith was an igneous rock, the schist will be described as an orthoschist . Mineral qualifiers are important when naming a schist. For example, a quartz-feldspar-biotite schist is a schist of uncertain protolith that contains biotite mica, feldspar , and quartz in order of apparent decreasing abundance. Lineated schist has

510-625: A lake or motor launches with up to three people fishing in coastal waters. About 85% of small craft are intended for lake fishing as in the Étang de Thau . Viticulture is the main economic activity of the department due to its rich and varied soils. It was the Greeks who established vineyards in Aude and the Romans who determined the rights of exploitation. The first vines were planted in Minervois in

595-467: A law of AOC was adopted under the leadership of Jean Capus. The INAO was set up as a body to control the application of the new laws. After the Second World War , the vineyards were revitalized and the region saw a mass of viticulture. The wine was produced in large quantities and satisfied a very demanding population. The product was supplied in large quantities at very low prices. In 1970

680-500: A more uniform division into departments ( département ) and districts in late 1789. The process began on 4 August 1789 with the elimination of provincial privileges, and a 22 December 1789 decree (with letters patent in January 1790) provided for the termination of the provincial governments. The modern department system, as all-purpose units of the government, was decreed on 26 February 1790 (with letters patent on 4 March 1790) by

765-513: A population between 320,000 and 1 million. The largest in area is Gironde (10,000 km (3,900 sq mi).), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km (41 sq mi).). The most populous is Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous is Lozère (74,000). The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes , in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number plates . Initially

850-622: A population of 374,070. Aude is a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine , and mother of Eudo, brother of Saint Hubertus . Aude was the name of Roland's fiancée in the chansons de geste . Aude is located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees Mountains . It is part of the current region of Occitanie . It

935-416: A preferred direction in schist, often also forming very thin parallel layers. The ease with which the rock splits along the aligned grains accounts for the schistosity. Though not a defining characteristic, schists very often contain porphyroblasts (individual crystals of unusual size) of distinctive minerals, such as garnet , staurolite , kyanite , sillimanite , or cordierite . Because schists are

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1020-720: A project is under way to build a fast line to Spain as part of the Trans-European Rail network . Finally, Aude is crossed by the Canal du Midi which is a major waterway that allows tourists to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. It comes into the west of Aude at Seuil de Naurouze then joins the Mediterranean at Sète . The people of Aude expressed royalist opinions until

1105-412: A strong linear fabric in a rock which otherwise has well-developed schistosity. Schistosity is developed at elevated temperature when the rock is more strongly compressed in one direction than in other directions ( nonhydrostatic stress ). Nonhydrostatic stress is characteristic of regional metamorphism where mountain building is taking place (an orogenic belt ). The schistosity develops perpendicular to

1190-399: A three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates . Residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, for example inhabitants of Loiret may refer to their department as "the 45". More distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know

1275-408: A very large class of metamorphic rock, geologists will formally describe a rock as a schist only when the original type of the rock prior to metamorphism (the protolith ) is unknown and its mineral content is not yet determined. Otherwise, the modifier schistose will be applied to a more precise type name, such as schistose semipelite (when the rock is known to contain moderate amounts of mica) or

1360-504: Is a ground wind. It is a dry, somewhat violent wind and cold in winter. In the south-east blows the Autan, locally called the Marin , which is hot and wet and comes from the sea. These regular winds made it possible to install an industrial park of wind turbines , as in the area of Avignonet-Lauragais. The drainage system of Aude is dominated by its river of the same name. The river rises at

1445-533: Is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognised or used. Unlike the rest of the French possessions in Africa , Algeria was divided into departments just like Corsica or Normandy from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future. There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during

1530-522: Is discernible, the schist is usually given a name reflecting its protolith, such as schistose metasandstone . Otherwise, the names of the constituent minerals will be included in the rock name, such as quartz-felspar-biotite schist . Schist bedrock can pose a challenge for civil engineering because of its pronounced planes of weakness . The word schist is derived ultimately from the Greek word σχίζειν ( schízein ), meaning "to split", which refers to

1615-515: Is favorable to the culture of the vine and the olive-trees. Yet, the department has several contrasts in climate: In the north, the Montagne Noire and, in the south, the Pays de Sault, have a mountainous climate with temperatures sometimes very low in winter. In the west, the climate is under Aquitaine influence with heavier precipitation, while in the east the climate is purely Mediterranean. In

1700-411: Is known as the prefecture ( préfecture ) or chef-lieu de département and is generally a town of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for the prefecture to be accessible on horseback from any town in the department within 24 hours. The prefecture

1785-473: Is likely that Tautavel Man lived in all of this region. The Romans , led by the consul-general Domitius Ahenobarbus , first occupied the oppidum of Montlaurès in 118 BC, a few kilometres to the north of Narbonne . This became the provincial capital and a very active mercantile port. The position was strategically important since it stood at the crossroads of two Roman roads , the Via Aquitania and

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1870-562: Is not necessarily the largest city in the department: for instance, in Saône-et-Loire department the capital is Mâcon , but the largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône . Departments may be divided into arrondissements . The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture ( sous-préfecture ) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement . Each department is administered by a departmental council ( conseil départemental ), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage , with

1955-563: Is strong in the upper valley of the Aude. It has been especially prominent around Limoux since the late nineteenth century; and the Lafarge brick plant there is still booming. Since the 1970s, however, the Aude has seen a rapid decline in its traditional industries such as shoe and hat making. More recent activity is mostly centred around Narbonne , particularly dock facilities and oil depots in Port-la-Nouvelle . From 1889,

2040-465: Is surrounded by the departments of Pyrénées-Orientales , Ariège , Haute-Garonne , Tarn , and Hérault , with the Golfe du Lion on the east. The countryside in this department falls into several natural regions : Each natural region of the Aude has its own particular landscape. In the east, lagoons or coastal lakes separate land and sea. These were formed by accumulations of sediments carried down by

2125-467: Is the leading department in France for the number of wind turbines installed. There are 113 in operation. They produce some 91 megawatts , which is the domestic electricity consumption of about 100,000 people. With the proliferation of these machines, the prefecture is seeking to establish with stakeholders a charter of good conduct for wind turbines. Crafts are very well represented in Aude with 14.6% of

2210-482: Is the orientation of grains in the surrounding medium-grained rock. The composition of the rock must permit formation of abundant platy minerals. For example, the clay minerals in mudstone are metamorphosed to mica, producing a mica schist. Early stages of metamorphism convert mudstone to a very fine-grained metamorphic rock called slate , which with further metamorphism becomes fine-grained phyllite . Further recrystallization produces medium-grained mica schist. If

2295-595: Is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants: Hammers and worked tools have been found on the hill of Grazailles at Carcassonne, dating from between 690,000 and 300,000 years ago. Most interesting is the skull of Tautavel Man , discovered in 1971 by Henry de Lumley in the commune of Tautavel in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. It is the oldest-known skull in Europe. It dates from about 450,000 years BC. It

2380-418: Is uncommon but can form from metamorphosis of sedimentary beds containing abundant organic carbon . This may be of algal origin. Graphite schist is known to have experienced greenschist facies metamorphism , for example in the northern Andes . Metamorphosis of felsic volcanic rock , such as tuff, can produce quartz- muscovite schist. In geotechnical engineering a schistosity plane often forms

2465-654: The Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration. Before the French Revolution , France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the end of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces . During the Revolution they were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. The National Constituent Assembly decided to create

2550-671: The 1823 French intervention ending the trienio liberal ) and the 1833 territorial division of Spain , which forms the basis of the present day Provinces of Spain with minor modifications, are also based on the French model of departments of roughly equal size. Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the Official Geographical Code, allocated by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques ( Insée ). Overseas departments have

2635-530: The Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc . Administrative divisions were amended by the Act of 28 Pluviôse of Year 8, which created four arrondissements (reduced to three by Premier Raymond Poincaré in 1926) and reduced the number of cantons from 45 to 31. The Aude enjoyed strong wine production whilst at

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2720-532: The County of Razès was united by marriage to that of Carcassonne, never to be separated. In the 13th century, the region saw the development of Catharism : a dualistic Christian sect with similarities to Gnosticism . This religion was very quickly judged as heretical by the Catholic Church . Faced with its growing strength in the counties of Carcassonne and Toulouse, Pope Innocent III in 1209 declared

2805-617: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France: Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Holy Roman Empire : Electorate of the Palatinate Electorate of the Palatinate Kingdom of Prussia : Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805) Notes for Table 7: Schist Schist typically forms during regional metamorphism accompanying

2890-474: The ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments have three digits. Originally, the relationship between the departments and the central government was left somewhat ambiguous. While citizens in each department elected their own officials, the local governments were subordinated to the central government, becoming instruments of national integration. By 1793, however,

2975-528: The Massif Central . These ancient rocks are over 300 million years old and were deformed by the formation of the Hercynian chain. The Montagne d'Alaric ( Alaric 's Mountain) is an antiform fold in the shape of a vault and made of limestone . Aude is under the influence of a Mediterranean climate. The autumn is characterized by violent and short storms. The summer is often hot and dry, which

3060-597: The National Constituent Assembly . Their boundaries served two purposes: The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments. Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine . Savoy , during its temporary occupation, became the department of Mont-Blanc . The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791. The number of departments, initially 83, had been increased to 130 by 1809 with

3145-661: The President of the Departmental Council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the chief executive of the department was the prefect ( préfet ), who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed by the President of the French Republic . The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects ( sous-préfet ) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982,

3230-586: The Territoire de Belfort ; the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a new Meurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I , the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922 it became France's 90th department. Likewise the Lorraine departments were not changed back to their original boundaries, and a new Moselle department

3315-675: The UMP , said in December 2008 that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by Édouard Balladur and Gérard Longuet , members of the committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee. In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years. Nevertheless,

3400-609: The Via Domitia , as well as by the sea near the mouth of the river Aude . Carcassonne became Latin in 30 BC with the creation of numerous grain farms. For almost two centuries, Aude enjoyed peace and strong economic growth. The Visigoths invaded the area in 435 AD at a time when Flavius Aetius , the Roman senator, was busy suppressing the Bagaudes , who were brigands or lawless types in central and northern Gaul. Roman authority

3485-411: The administrative regions and the communes . There are ninety-six departments in metropolitan France , with an additional five overseas departments , which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333 arrondissements and 2,054 cantons (as of 2023). These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as the administrative basis for

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3570-715: The euproctis moth and horsetail of the woods. To the north and west, the Black Mountain country is made up of forests of oak and beech . The Lauragais is a wooded landscape where grain farming has shaped the hills. There are bodies of water like the Lac de la Ganguise . Finally, the high valley of the Aude, otherwise called the Razès, consists of a riparian forest made of beech, alder , poplar or ash . It includes some peatlands that are very rare in southern France. The landscapes of Aude can be explained by its geology. In

3655-404: The 1st century. But the grapes and wines were not consumer products or self-sufficient for many years. Cereals and olive trees dominated the fertile plains of Aude. It was at the beginning of the 19th century that the wine industry developed in Aude and the rest of Languedoc-Roussillon. Wine then became a consumer product. Higher output was needed and vineyards replaced cereals on the plains. There

3740-558: The 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services. The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories, which could have their own loyalties, or after their own administrative seats. The division of France into departments

3825-522: The Aude and the Corbières Massif . This landscape is the result of forest clearance, maintained by the raising of livestock. The flora is varied and characterized by many species of orchids . The Sault countryside is dominated by beech groves and fir plantations up to the mountains. These forests are known for their mushrooms , and have a rich flora and fauna, including the Pyrenean lily ,

3910-412: The Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of reducing the number of regions to 15. This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons. Each department has a coat of arms and a flag with which it

3995-805: The Governor of the Languedoc , joined the Reformed side in 1574. On the Catholic side, the Duke Anne de Joyeuse became head of the Catholic League. In September 1632, Henri II de Montmorency fought against the royal troops at the Battle of Castelnaudary and was defeated. He was condemned to death and executed at Toulouse. The present department is one of the original 83 departments created by

4080-405: The Mediterranean basin. At the last census, the population of Aude represented 0.5% of the French population and 14.1% of the population of Languedoc-Roussillon. It is predominantly rural with a density of 48 inhabitants per km, which is slightly less than half the national average. The two main cities, Carcassonne and Narbonne, are medium-sized cities comprising only one third of the inhabitants of

4165-843: The Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique and Réunion – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015 the Urban Community of Lyon was split from Rhône to form the Métropole de Lyon , a sui generis entity, with the powers of both an intercommunality and those of a department on its territory, formally classified as a "territorial collectivity with particular status" ( French : collectivité territoriale à statut particulier ) and as such not belonging to any department. As of 2019 Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have

4250-570: The Roc d'Aude and passes through the Matemale and Puyvalador dams on the Capcir plateau at 1500m, then crosses the department from south to north across Axat, Limoux, and Quillan following the upper valley of the Aude. At Carcassonne, the river changes direction toward the Mediterranean Sea to the east, where it empties near Fleury . The most populous commune is Narbonne ; the prefecture Carcassonne

4335-459: The Visigoth kings had established there: Elne , Agde , Narbonne , Lodève , Béziers , Maguelonne , and Nîmes . Septimania covered the Aude but also the whole region of Languedoc-Roussillon. In 817, Louis le Débonnaire detached Carcassès and Razès from Septimania to reunite them with the marquisate of Toulouse and the kingdom of Aquitaine . The first Count of Carcassonne was Oliba from

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4420-598: The centre, in the Limouxin, Carcassonnais and Razès areas, the climate is known as intermediary with significant exposure to winds. The winds are often present in Aude. It is one of the windiest French departments, with 300 to 350 days of wind per year. This phenomenon is due mostly to the variations in relief north and south which create a kind of corridor. In the north-west blows the Cers , called Tramontane in Provence, which

4505-414: The country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department. In continental France ( metropolitan France , excluding Corsica ), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of

4590-513: The department. In 2017, the department had 370,260 inhabitants. Two major roads cross the Aude. From west to east the A61 autoroute (Autoroute des Deux Mers) connects Narbonne and Toulouse via Carcassonne . From north to south, following the Mediterranean coast, the A9 autoroute links Montpellier with Spain . The rail network follows the same route as the road network. It is a low speed system, but

4675-456: The direction of greatest compression, also called the shortening direction, as platy minerals are rotated or recrystallized into parallel layers. While platy or elongated minerals are most obviously reoriented, even quartz or calcite may take up preferred orientations. At the microscopic level, schistosity is divided into internal schistosity , in which inclusions within porphyroblasts take a preferred orientation, and external schistosity , which

4760-425: The ease with which schists can be split along the plane in which the platy minerals lie. Before the mid-19th century, the terms slate , shale and schist were not sharply differentiated by those involved with mining. Geologists define schist as medium-grained metamorphic rock that shows well-developed schistosity. Schistosity is a thin layering of the rock produced by metamorphism (a foliation ) that permits

4845-802: The east are the wines of Corbieres and La Clape, in the centre are Minervois and Côtes de Malepère, and in the south Limoux wine . In Lauragais grain is predominant, whereas in the Montagne Noire only sheep farming is possible. More recently there has been an increase in cultivation of olive trees for their oil. Port-la-Nouvelle is the biggest fishing port in the department followed by Gruissan . In 1996 there were 127 vessels in Aude including 75 in Port-la-Nouvelle and 52 in Gruissan. These vessels were as follows: Small craft are recreational boats such as dinghies with one man fishing

4930-477: The end of the Bourbon Restoration . In 1830 republican ideas began to develop and made this department a bastion of the left . This growth is symbolized by two men, Armand Barbès and Theophile Marcou. Armand Barbès is a symbol of the struggle for a social democratic Republic. It was in Aude that François Mitterrand had his highest score in the 1981 presidential election with just over 63% of

5015-565: The family of the Counts of Barcelona . He established himself in 819. Razès was another county that was formed by an archbishop of Narbonne who had been chased from his town by the Saracens . He had transferred his episcopal seat to Razès and had procured the honours of the feudal title for the area. Narbonne formed a third county. Thus, in the ninth century, the département of Aude consisted of three counties: Carcassonne, Razès and Narbonne. In 880,

5100-537: The high valley of Aude became increasingly important in generating hydroelectric power. Aude was the first department in France to transmit such power, from its plants at Alet-les-Bains and Quillan . Joachim Estrade established the first electricity company in France, the Southern Power Transmission Company (SMTF), in 1901. Its plant at Axat -Saint-Georges supplied the cities of Carcassonne and Narbonne at 20 kilovolts . Today Aude

5185-450: The local organisation of police, fire departments as well as, in certain cases, elections. Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council ( sg. conseil départemental , pl. conseils départementaux ). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils ( sg. conseil général , pl. conseils généraux ). Each council has a president. Their main areas of responsibility include

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5270-411: The management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school ( collège ) buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents the government; however, regions have gained importance since

5355-506: The mark of wine from Aude. The rich and varied soil of Aude together with abundant sunshine abounds enables Aude to produce quality wines. Many wines emanate from the department, ranging in quality from table wines to AOCs , passing through vins de pays and VDQS . There are seven main areas of production: These areas produce different wines such as Blanquette de Limoux , Chardonnay and sparkling wine from Limoux, La Clape , Corbières , Fitou , and Cabardès . Industrial activity

5440-494: The market evolved replacing demand for quantity with demand for quality and causing a second wine crisis. Many events, negotiations, and attacks paralyzed the region and the economy. Emile Pouytès and the CRS Joel le Gof died at Montredon-des-Corbières on 4 March 1976 during this crisis. A large change in the Aude viticulture business started with a reorganization of the profession and the wine-growing region. Quality had to become

5525-527: The metamorphism proceeds further, the mica schist experiences dehydration reactions that convert platy minerals to granular minerals such as feldspars, decreasing schistosity and turning the rock into a gneiss. Other platy minerals found in schists include chlorite, talc, and graphite. Chlorite schist is typically formed by metamorphism of ultramafic igneous rocks, as is talc schist. Talc schist also forms from metamorphosis of talc-bearing carbonate rocks formed by hydrothermal alteration . Graphite schist

5610-659: The new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of the Var department. The 89 departments were given numbers based on the alphabetical order of their names. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe , Moselle , Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871 following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . A small part of Haut-Rhin, however, remained French and became known as

5695-407: The numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names and some have been divided, so the correspondence became less exact. Alphanumeric codes 2A and 2B were used for Corsica while it was split but it has since reverted to 20. The two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco . Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form

5780-442: The numbers of all the departments. In 2014, President François Hollande proposed abolishing departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and transferring their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been scrapped. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for

5865-510: The other two divisions being gneiss , which has poorly developed schistosity and thicker layering, and granofels , which has no discernible schistosity. Schists are defined by their texture without reference to their composition, and while most are a result of medium-grade metamorphism, they can vary greatly in mineral makeup. However, schistosity normally develops only when the rock contains abundant platy minerals, such as mica or chlorite . Grains of these minerals are strongly oriented in

5950-445: The population involved. Some 5,400 businesses operating in 250 craft professions achieved in the late 1990s an annual turnover of 3 billion francs (400 million Euros). The inhabitants of Aude are known as Audois . The 1990 census confirmed a growth in population since the 1960s with about 700 people more per year. This growth is explained by the return of pensioners aged over 60 years to their place of origin and to immigration from

6035-429: The prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils. In practice, their role has been largely limited to preventing local policy from conflicting with national policy. The departments are further divided into communes , governed by municipal councils . As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In the overseas territories , some communes play a role at departmental level. Paris ,

6120-400: The process of mountain building ( orogeny ) and usually reflects a medium grade of metamorphism. Schist can form from many different kinds of rocks, including sedimentary rocks such as mudstones and igneous rocks such as tuffs . Schist metamorphosed from mudstone is particularly common and is often very rich in mica (a mica schist ). Where the type of the original rock (the protolith )

6205-464: The revolutionary government had turned the departments into transmission belts for policies enacted in Paris. With few exceptions, the departments had this role until the early 1960s. These maps cannot be used as a useful resource of voter preferences, because Departmental Councils are elected on a two-round system, which drastically limits the chances of fringe parties, if they are not supported on one of

6290-402: The rivers Aude, Orb and Hérault . There are many such lakes of brackish water. This environment is demanding for flora and fauna, as it suffers from the rigours of sea, sun, dryness and floods. Halophile (i.e., salt-loving) plants grow there. The area is also noted for the pink flamingo and the white stilt . Inland to the west, shrub and scrub dominate the landscape of the drylands of

6375-424: The rock to easily be split into flakes or slabs less than 5 to 10 millimeters (0.2 to 0.4 in) thick. The mineral grains in a schist are typically from 0.25 to 2 millimeters (0.01 to 0.08 in) in size and so are easily seen with a 10× hand lens . Typically, over half the mineral grains in a schist show a preferred orientation. Schists make up one of the three divisions of metamorphic rock by texture , with

6460-427: The same time the grain farmers of Lauragais faced great difficulties. However, the department suffered from overproduction and a slump in sales of wine. In 1907 the crisis produced a winemakers' revolt . This led to the establishment of many Winemaking cooperatives in Aude from 1909. Gules, a cross of Toulouse Or within a bordure embattled argent. Aude is an agricultural area dominated by vineyards. In

6545-522: The south, there are sedimentary rocks folded during the formation of the Pyrenees. To the north and centre of Aude, the sedimentary rocks are less folded. At the extreme east, near the Mediterranean, the rocks are carved by normal collapse faults which are due to the opening of the Golfe du Lion. In the north, the Black Mountain and Minervois consist of schist and marble , forming the southern edge of

6630-428: The status of departmental " territorial collectivities ": region and department functions have been managed by a " single territorial collectivity " since 2018. Despite the intention to avoid the old nomenclature, often the names of pre-1790 provinces remained in use. For example, the name of Berry , though no longer having an official status, remains in widespread use in daily life. The departmental seat of government

6715-541: The territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire . Following the defeats of Napoleon in 1814–1815 the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size and the number of departments was reduced to 86 (three of the original departments having been split). In 1860 France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy , which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from

6800-455: The two rounds by a moderate party. After the 1992 election, the left had a majority in only 21 of the 100 departments; after the 2011 election, the left dominated 61 of the 100 departments. (Mayotte only became a department after the election.) Key to the parties: The removal of one or more levels of local government has been discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the departmental level. Frédéric Lefebvre , spokesman for

6885-423: The vote. Only affluent coastal areas surrounding Narbonne and the department's prefecture, Carcassonne give consideration to the right. Departments of France In the administrative divisions of France , the department ( French : département , pronounced [depaʁtəmɑ̃] ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities "), between

6970-490: Was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader the Abbé Sieyès , although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1665 in the writings of d'Argenson . They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. The 1822 territorial division of Spain (reverted due to

7055-447: Was an initial period of prosperity to 1850 before phylloxera appeared towards 1870. At the end of the 19th century, Aude experienced a second period of prosperity but there was a wine crisis triggered in 1901 because of over-production, fraud, and slumping sales. It reached its peak during the winemakers revolt in 1907. The wine growers regrouped themselves into winemaking cooperatives to prevent fraud and deception. In 1919 then in 1935,

7140-472: Was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name. The reorganisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division of Corsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when the overseas collectivity of Mayotte became a department, joining the earlier overseas departments of

7225-591: Was restored until 462. In 507, the victory of Clovis I at the battle of Vouillé permitted him to conquer Toulouse and Aquitaine . However, he could not recover the Aude territory, which, thanks to the help of the King of the Ostrogoths , remained in the hands of the Visigoths. His troops defeated Clovis's son in 508. The region was part of Septimania , so called because it was composed of seven bishoprics that

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