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Haute Garonne

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Country
  
France

Subprefectures
  
Saint-GaudensMuret

Department number
  
31

Area
  
6,309 km²

Capital
  
Region
  
Occitanie

Time zone
  
CET (UTC+1)

Arrondissements
  
3

Prefecture
  
Population
  
1.318 million (2014)

Haute-Garonne wwwterrafrancemewpcontentuploads201503haut

Colleges and Universities
  
Toulouse 1 University Capitole

Destinations
  
Toulouse, Bagnères‑de‑Luchon, Peyragudes, Revel, Saint‑Gaudens - Haute‑Garonne

Points of interest
  
Garonne, Cité de l'espace, Musée des Augustins, Basilica of Saint‑Sernin - Toulouse, Capitole de Toulouse

House for sale in haute garonne near st gaudens toulouse gers announcement real estate


Haute-Garonne ([ot ɡaʁɔn]; Occitan: Nauta Garona; English: Upper Garonne) is a department in the southwest of France named after the Garonne river. Its main city and capital is Toulouse.

Contents

Map of Haute-Garonne, France

History

Haute-Garonne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Languedoc.

The department was originally larger. The reduction in its area resulted from an imperial decree dated 21 November 1808 and which established the neighbouring department of Tarn-et-Garonne, to the north. The new department, created in response to the pleadings of various locally powerful politicians, took territory from five surrounding departments including Haute-Garonne. The districts lost to Tarn-et-Garonne in 1808 were those of Montech and Castelsarrasin.

Geography

Haute-Garonne is part of the current region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers, Tarn-et-Garonne, Tarn, Aude, and Ariège. It also borders Spain in the south (province of Lleida and province of Huesca).

The department is crossed by the upper course of the Garonne River (hence the name) for nearly 200 kilometers (120 mi). The borders of the department follow the river. The Garonne enters France from Spain at the town of Fos, and goes through Toulouse and leaves the department. The extreme south of the department lies in the Pyrenees mountain range and is very mountainous. The highest elevation is the Peak of Perdiguère, at 3,222 meters (10,571 feet) above sea level.

Politics

This department was the political base of former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

The President of the General Council is Pierre Izard of the Socialist Party.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Haut-Garonnais. The greatest population concentration is around Toulouse. The south of the department is quite sparsely populated. More than a million people inhabited the department at the last census in 1999. Young people are well represented with 55% of the population under the age of 40 and of those, 16% are between the ages of 20 and 29. This is because Toulouse is a university town.

The largest towns are:

Winter Sports

The department has four ski resorts.

  • Peyragudes (1600 m -2450 m), 55 km of slopes
  • Luchon-Superbagnères (1440 m - 2260 m), 30 km of slopes
  • Le Mourtis (1380 m - 1816 m), 22 km of slopes
  • Bourg-d'Oueil (1350 m - 1500 m)
  • References

    Haute-Garonne Wikipedia


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