1.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the largest administrative region in France, located in the southwest of the country. The region was created by the reform of French Regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions, Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,061 km2 – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has approximately 5,800,000 inhabitants, the new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015. It is the largest region in France by area, with a slightly larger than that of Austria. Its largest city, Bordeaux, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the 7th-largest metropolitan area of France, with 850,000 inhabitants. The region has 25 major urban areas, among which the most important after Bordeaux are Bayonne, Limoges, Poitiers, Pau, after Île-de-France, New Aquitaine is the premier French region in research and innovation, with five universities and several Grandes Ecoles. Many companies specializing in surfing and related sports have located along the coast, in terms of culture, the new region includes major parts of Southern France, marked by Basque, Occitan and Oïl cultures. Historically, it is the successor to medieval Aquitaine. In June 2016, a group headed by historian Anne-Marie Cocula. The decision came after the favorite, Aquitaine, faced resistance by regional politicians from Limousin. The other popular favorite, Grande Aquitaine, was rejected for its connotation with a feeling of superiority, alain Rousset, president of the region, concurred with the working groups conclusion, reaffirming that he considered the acronym ALPC no choice at all. On 27 June 2016, just a few days ahead of the 1 July deadline, frances Conseil dÉtat approved New-Aquitaine as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, effective 30 September 2016. Nouvelle-Aquitaine is delimited by four other French regions, three communities in Spain to the south, and the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its largest city and only metropolis is Bordeaux, in the heart of an agglomeration of nearly one million inhabitants. Taking into consideration the area, the new region is home to six of the fifty largest metropolitan areas of French territory. It is part of five watersheds facing the Atlantic Ocean, Loire, Charente, Garonne and Dordogne and Adour, giving rivers bordering land dedicated mostly to viticulture and to agriculture. This diverse area is the area of the oyster, mussel, the Landes forest, by far the most extensive, covering almost one million hectares, making it the largest artificial forest of Western Europe. The Landes forest is included in the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park
2.
Aubusson, Creuse
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Aubusson is a commune in the Creuse department region in central France. Aubusson is situated in the part of the département, at the confluence of the Creuse River. The route nationale N141 goes through the town, the Camp des Châtres, within the town’s boundaries, for a long time considered a Roman fort, actually dates back a little further, to the Iron Age. The town was known as Albuciensis in 936 and under the name Albuconis in 1070, the name possibly originates from a name of a man, Albucius Other scholars claim the name is from a Celtic word meaning craggy. In the Middle Ages the town was ruled by viscounts, the vicecomital family also produced a troubadour named Joan dAubusson. Aubusson is well known for its tapestry and carpets, which have been throughout the world since the 14th century. Its origins were born with the arrival of weavers from Flanders, there is a famous collection of Aubusson tapestries at Vallon-Pont-dArc. The style of the tapestries produced has changed through the centuries, in the 17th Century, the Aubusson and Felletin workshops were given Royal Appointment status. A downturn in fortunes came after the French revolution and the arrival of wallpaper, Aubusson tapestry still thrives today, preserving a range of traditional skills. In 1983, l’Atelier Raymond Picaud chose Burhan Doğançays Ribbon Series as a tapestry subject, coventry cathedrals famous Christ in Glory tapestry, designed by artist Graham Sutherland, was woven in nearby Felletin. Installed in 1962, this was the worlds largest vertical tapestry up until the 1990s, created in 1981, the museum exhibits nearly 600 years of tapestry creation and production. This rich collection is composed of 17th, 18th and 19th Century tapestries, as well as works from its own collection, there are also regular exhibitions of tapestries from around the world, showcasing works right up to the present day. This is a permanent exhibition that is staged in an ancient Creusois house in Aubusson, the interior tells the history and traditions of tapestry as well as showing furniture of the period. The Clock Tower The old town Sainte-Croix church Ruins of the chateau The Vallenet House In the medieval period and its rulers were, Ranulf I. -934 Robert I 934-942 Renaud I 942-958 Ranulf II Cabridel 958-1031 Ranulf III 1031-1060 Renaud III 1060-1069 William I 1069-1106 Renaud IV 1106-. Renaud V The Leper. -1185 Guy I 1185-,1265 William II1263, lord of La Borne, La Feuillade, Monteil-au-Vicomte, Poux, Pintarion and Damoiseau, started a noble line that continued with his son Renaud VIII and his successors. Around 1263/1266 the vice-county was sold to the count of La Marche, jules Sandeau, member of the Académie française Alfred Assollant, Children’s author – “The Adventures of Captain Corcoran”. He was an opponent of Napoleon III. Camille Benassy, mayor of Aubusson but also a national politician, jean-Joseph Sanfourche has made tapestries, one conducted in Aubusson with its forms, even the most unusual
3.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
4.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
5.
House of Lusignan
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It also had great influence in England and France. The family originated in Poitou, near Lusignan in western France, by the end of the 11th century, the family had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan. In the late 12th century, through marriages and inheritance, a branch of the family came to control the kingdoms of Jerusalem. In the early 13th century, the main branch succeeded in the Counties of La Marche, as Crusader kings in the Latin East, they soon had connections with the Hethumid rulers of the Kingdom of Cilicia, which they inherited through marriage in the mid-14th century. The Armenian branch fled to France, and eventually Russia, after the Mamluk conquest of their kingdom, the claim was taken by the Cypriot branch, until their line failed. This kingdom was annexed by the Republic of Venice in the late 15th century, the Château de Lusignan, near Poitiers, was the principal seat of the Lusignans. It was later destroyed during the Wars of Religion, and only its foundations remain in Lusignan, according to legend, the earliest castle was built by the folklore water-spirit Melusine. The lords of the castle at Lusignan were counts of La Marche, Hugh I Hugh II Hugh III Hugh IV Hugh V Hugh VI inherited by collateral succession the County of La Marche as a descendant of Almodis. Hugh VI Hugh VII Hugh VIII Hugh IX Raoul I Raoul II Marie Hugh IXs son, Hugh X, married Isabelle of Angoulême, thus securing Angoulême. Hugh X Hugh XI Hugh XII Hugh XIII Guy Yolande Yolande sold the fiefs of Lusignan, La Marche, Angoulême and they became a part of the French royal demesne and a common appanage of the crown. In the 1170s, Amalric de Lusignan arrived in Jerusalem, having been expelled by Richard Lionheart from his realm, Amalric married Eschiva, the daughter of Baldwin of Ibelin, and entered court circles. He had also obtained the patronage of Agnes of Courtenay, the mother of King Baldwin IV. He was appointed Agnes constable in Jaffa, and later as constable of the kingdom, hostile rumours alleged he was Agnes lover, but this is questionable. Amalrics younger brother, Guy de Lusignan, arrived at some date before Easter 1180, when he arrived is quite unknown, although Ernoul said that he arrived at that time on Amalrics advice. Many modern historians believe that Guy was already established in Jerusalem by 1180. But, Amalric of Lusignans success certainly facilitated the social and political advancement of his brother Guy, Agnes was said to have foiled these plans by advising her son to have Sibylla married to Guy. As the new King of France, Philip II, was still a minor and he owed the Pope a penitential pilgrimage on account of the Thomas Becket affair. Guy was a vassal of Richard of Poitou and Henry II, Guy and Sibylla were hastily married at Eastertide 1180, apparently preventing a coup by Raymonds faction to marry her to Baldwin of Ibelin, the father-in-law of Almaric
6.
Philip IV of France
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Philip IV, called the Fair or the Iron King, was King of France from 1285 until his death. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also Philip I, Philip relied on skillful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom rather than on his barons. Philip and his advisors were instrumental in the transformation of France from a country to a centralized state. Philip, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and his ambitions made him highly influential in European affairs. His goal was to place his relatives on foreign thrones, princes from his house ruled in Naples and Hungary. He tried and failed to make relative the Holy Roman Emperor. He began the advance of France eastward by taking control of scattered fiefs. To further strengthen the monarchy, he tried to control the French clergy and this conflict led to the transfer of the papal court to the enclave of Avignon in 1309. In 1306, Philip the Fair expelled the Jews from France and, in 1307, Friday 13th, Philip was in debt to both groups and saw them as a state within the state. His final year saw a scandal amongst the family, known as the Tour de Nesle Affair. His three sons were kings of France, Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born in the fortress of Fontainebleau to the future Philip III. He was the second of four born to the couple. His father was the heir apparent of France at that time, in August 1270, when Philip was two years old, his grandfather died while on Crusade, his father became king, and his elder brother Louis became heir apparent. Only five months later, in January 1271, Philips mother died after falling from a horse, a few months later, one of Philips younger brothers, Robert, also died. Philips father was crowned king at Rhiems on 15 August 1271. Six days later, he married again, Philips step-mother was Marie, in May 1276, Philips elder brother Louis died, and the eight year old Philip became crown prince. It was suspected that Louis had been poisoned, and that his stepmother, one reason for these rumours was the fact that the queen gave birth to her own eldest son in the same month as the death of the crown prince
7.
Charles IV of France
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Charles IV, called the Fair in France and the Bald in Navarre, was the last direct Capetian King of France and King of Navarre from 1322 to his death. Charles was the son of Philip IV, like his father. Beginning in 1323 Charles was confronted with a peasant revolt in Flanders, as duke of Guyenne, King Edward II of England was a vassal of Charles, but he was reluctant to pay homage to another king. In retaliation, Charles conquered the Duchy of Guyenne in a known as the War of Saint-Sardos. In a peace agreement, Edward II accepted to swear allegiance to Charles, in exchange, Guyenne was returned to Edward but with a much-reduced territory. When Charles IV died without heir, the senior lineage of the House of Capet ended. He was succeeded by his cousin Philip of Valois, but the legitimacy was one factor of the Hundred Years War. By virtue of the birthright of his mother, Joan I of Navarre, Charles claimed the title Charles I, King of Navarre. From 1314 to his accession to the throne, he held the title of Count of La Marche and was crowned King of France in 1322 at the cathedral in Reims. Charles married his first wife, Blanche of Burgundy, the daughter of Otto IV, Count of Burgundy, in 1308, after Charles assumed the throne he refused to release Blanche, their marriage was annulled, and Blanche retreated to a nunnery. His second wife, Marie of Luxembourg, the daughter of Henry VII, Charles married again in 1325, this time to Jeanne dÉvreux, she was his first cousin, and the marriage required approval from Pope John XXII. Jeanne was crowned queen in 1326, in one of the better recorded French coronation ceremonies, the coronation was also the first appearance of the latterly famous medieval cook, Guillaume Tirel, then only a junior servant. During the first half of his reign Charles relied heavily on his uncle, Charles of Valois, for advice, Charles of Valois would have been aware that if Charles died without male heirs, he and his male heirs would have a good claim to the crown. Charles undertook rapid steps to assert his own control, executing the Count of LIsle-Jourdain, a troublesome southern noble, Charles, a relatively well educated king, also founded a famous library at Fontainebleau. During his six-year reign Charles administration became increasingly unpopular and he debased the coinage to his own benefit, sold offices, increased taxation, exacted burdensome duties, and confiscated estates from enemies or those he disliked. He was also involved in Jewish issues during the period. Charles father, Philip IV, had confiscated the estates of numerous Jews in 1306, and Charles took vigorous, finally, Charles at least acquiesced, or at worst actively ordered, in the expulsion of many Jews from France following the leper scare. Charles inherited a long-running period of tension between England and France, once Charles took up the throne, Edward attempted to avoid payment again
8.
House of Bourbon
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The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre
9.
Francis I of France
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Francis I was the first King of France from the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois, reigning from 1515 until his death. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and he succeeded his cousin and father-in-law Louis XII, who died without a male heir. Francis reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire. For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres. He was also known as François au Grand Nez, the Grand Colas, following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time. Francis was born on 12 September 1494 at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, which at that time lay in the province of Saintonge, today the town lies in the department of Charente. Francis was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was still young at the time of his birth, as was his fathers cousin the Duke of Orléans, later King Louis XII. However, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, the Salic Law prevailed in France, thus females were ineligible to inherit the throne. Therefore, the four-year-old Francis became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois. In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and Francis be married immediately, Claude was heiress to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Annes death, the took place on 18 May 1514. Louis died shortly afterwards and Francis inherited the throne and he was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his queen consort. As Francis was receiving his education, ideas emerging from the Italian Renaissance were influential in France, some of his tutors, such as François Desmoulins de Rochefort and Christophe de Longueil, were attracted by these new ways of thinking and attempted to influence Francis. His academic education had been in arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, reading, spelling, Francis came to learn chivalry, dancing, and music and he loved archery, falconry, horseback riding, hunting, jousting, real tennis and wrestling. He ended up reading philosophy and theology and he was fascinated with art, literature, poetry and his mother, who had a high admiration for Italian Renaissance art, passed this interest on to her son
10.
Haute-Vienne
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Haute-Vienne is a French department named after the river Vienne. It is one of the 12 departments that constitute the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The neighbouring departments are, Creuse, Corrèze, Dordogne, Charente, Vienne, the chief and largest city in the department is Limoges, the other towns in the department each having fewer than twenty thousand inhabitants. Haute-Vienne is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and it is bordered by six departments, Creuse lies to the east, Corrèze to the south, Dordogne to the southwest, Charente to the west, Vienne to the northwest and Indre to the north. The department has two rivers which cross it from east to west, the Vienne, on which the two main cities, Limoges and Saint-Junien, are situated, and the Gartempe, a tributary of the Creuse. To the southeast of the department lies the Massif Central, the source of the Charente is in the department, in the commune of Chéronnac, near Rochechouart. Artefacts from the Bronze Age include axe heads found at Châlus, with the coming of the Romans, trade was opened up and gold and tin were mined. Agriculture developed and grapes were grown, amphorae for storing wine were found at Saint-Gence, during the reign of Augustus, the city of Augustoritum was founded at a strategic ford across the Vienne. The Romans built roads from here to Brittany, Lyon and the Mediterranean, the city declined in the 3rd Century when barbarian invasions of the region took place. The domination of the Visigoths was short-lived and Clovis I seized control of Limousin after the battle of Vouillé in 507, by 674, the region was attached to the duchy of Aquitaine, and the Viscount of Limoges was created. There followed a period with various powers vying for control. In 1199, Richard Cœur de Lion was mortally wounded during the siege of the Château de Châlus-Chabrol, the region was much involved in the Hundred Years War and at the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360, France granted England a large area of territory comprising much of Limousin. Limoges city rebelled and gave its allegiance to the French crown, after a revolt by the peasants, Henri IV brought peace and prosperity to the region of Limousin. He visited Limoges in 1607 and was greeted enthusiastically, the Counter-Reformation led to the creation of numerous convents and religious orders, especially in Limoges. In 1761, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot was appointed intendent of Limoges and he negotiated a reduction in taxes payable by the region and developed fairer methods of collecting taxes, as well as improving the road system and encouraging agricultural development. Around 1765, kaolin was discovered near Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche in the south of the department, at first it was given the number 81, but in the nineteenth century, the number was changed to the 87th department, when further land to the east and northeast was added. It takes its name from the reaches of the Vienne which flows through it. In 1998, the southwest part of the department, together with the part of the region of Périgord was designated as the Parc Naturel Régional Périgord-Limousin
11.
Allier
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Allier (French pronunciation, , is a French department located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France named after the river Allier. Moulins is the prefecture and the INSEE and Post Code is 03, the inhabitants of the department are known as Elavérins or Elavérines Allier department is composed of almost all of the former Duchy of Bourbonnais. It is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and borders the departments of Cher, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Loire, Puy-de-Dome, and Creuse. The Bourbonnais Bocage To the north and just over 500 metres above sea level, almost all of the southern area consists of Combrailles which is sometimes called High Bourbonnais, in an area that goes beyond the departmental boundaries of Creuse and Puy-de-Dôme. This area of the department rises to 778 metres at Bosse, the rivers Sioule, Bouble, and Cher have carved the most picturesque gorges in Allier. Limogne, together with Sioule and Allier, is part of the Gannat / Escurolles / Saint-Pourçain triangle while Forterre covers the Canton of Varennes-sur-Allier ending near Jaligny, as noted Atlantic winds are dominant from the west, northwest, or southwest. The influence of topography, especially in the valleys of Cher and Allier, the history of Allier corresponds to the Duchy of Bourbon with which it shares almost the entire territory. Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 and it was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais. In 1940, the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain chose the town of Vichy as its capital, Vichy also became the departments second sub-prefecture in 1940, since the department now found itself split by the demarcation line between the occupied and free zones of France. On 1 January 1997 the population of Allier was estimated at 357,100 inhabitants which represented an average density of 50 people/km², many areas have a density less than 20 people/km². Since the early 1980s Allier has faced many demographic handicaps, the ratio of older people is important and with low fertility rates the natural growth is negative. Meanwhile, net migration has become very negative, at 1 January 2009 the legal population was 343,046 inhabitants. Allier has three cities, Montlucon, Vichy, and Moulins by size. The rest of the department includes some towns and villages scattered mainly along the rivers. The few villages are far from other and it is generally a sparsely populated department. Until the end of the 19th century, however, the population was increasing through the development of its cities compensated by the rural exodus, the department then passed 420,000 inhabitants. After the population losses of the First World War the population stabilized, since then, due to the continuing rural exodus and especially the decline of old industries, the population has decreased and aged steadily from 386,533 inhabitants in 1968 to 343,046 in 2009. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the censuses conducted in the communes of the department since 1793
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