A moderate republican political party of Revolutionary France (1791-93).
[After Gironde, a department of southwest France.]
Girondist Gi·rond'ist n.
Gironde
Dictionary:
Gi·ronde2 (jə-rŏnd', zhĭ-)  |
n.
A moderate republican political party of Revolutionary France (1791-93).
A moderate republican political party of Revolutionary France (1791-93).
| 5min Related Video: Gironde |
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Gironde |
Gironde (zhērôNd'), department (1990 pop. 1,223,600), SW France, on the Bay of Biscay. Bordeaux is the capital.
| Wine Lover's Companion: Gironde |
[zhee-RAWND] French département in southwestern France that essentially covers the same geographic territory as the bordeaux region. Gironde is also the name of the tidal estuary that starts north of the city of Bordeaux where the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers join as they make their way through this area to the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the better médoc wine estates sit on the Gironde's west bank.
| Wikipedia: Gironde |
| Gironde | |
|---|---|
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| Coat of Arms of Gironde | |
| Location | |
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| Administration | |
| Department number: | 33 |
| Region: | Aquitaine |
| Prefecture: | Bordeaux |
| Subprefectures: | Arcachon Blaye Langon Lesparre-Médoc Libourne |
| Arrondissements: | 6 |
| Cantons: | 63 |
| Communes: | 542 |
| President of the General Council: | Philippe Madrelle |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 9th |
| -2006 | 1,393,758 |
| Population density: | 139/km2 |
| Land area¹: | 10,000 km2 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2. | |
Gironde (Occitan: Gironda) is a common name for the Gironde Estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.
Contents |
History
Gironde is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascogne.
From 1793 to 1795, the department's name was changed to Bec-d'Ambès to avoid the association with the revolutionary party, the Girondists.
Geography
Gironde is part of the current region of Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Charente-Maritime and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. With 10,000 km², Gironde is the largest department of metropolitan France.
It is well known for the Côte d'Argent beach which is Europe's longest, attracting many surfers to Lacanau each year. It is also the birth place of Jacques-Yves Cousteau who studied the sea and all forms of life in water.
Politics
The President of the General Council is Philippe Madrelle of the Socialist Party.
| Party | seats | |
|---|---|---|
| • | Socialist Party | 45 |
| Union for a Popular Movement | 12 | |
| • | French Communist Party | 3 |
| Miscellaneous Right | 1 | |
| MoDem | 1 | |
| Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition | 1 | |
See also
- Cantons of the Gironde department
- Communes of the Gironde department
- Arrondissements of the Gironde department
- Bordeaux wine regions
External links
- (French) General Council website
- (French) Prefecture website
- (English) Gironde at the Open Directory Project
- (French) Tourism Office website
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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| Dordogne |
| Saint Émilion |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Wine Lover's Companion. Wine Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gironde". Read more |
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