Haute-Loire

Haute-Loire
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Haute-Loire in France
Coordinates: 45°0′N 4°0′E / 45°N 4°E / 45; 4Coordinates: 45°0′N 4°0′E / 45°N 4°E / 45; 4
Country	France
Region	Auvergne
Prefecture	Le Puy-en-Velay
Subprefectures	Brioude Yssingeaux
Government
• President of the General Council	Gérard Roche
Area1
• Total	4,977 km2 (1,921.6 sq mi)
Population (1999)
• Total	209,113
• Rank	85th
• Density	42/km2 (108.8/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	43
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	35
Communes	260
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Haute-Loire (French pronunciation: [ot lwaʁ]; Occitan: Naut Léger) is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.

History

Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne, Languedoc, and Lyonnais.

Geography

Haute-Loire is part of the current region of Auvergne and is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Cantal, and Puy-de-Dôme.

The department covers the upper reaches of the Loire. Parts of the department belong to Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez.

Demography

The inhabitants of the department are called Altiligériens.

Notable residents

• Claude-Jean Allouez, born in Saint-Didier-en-Velay, Jesuit missionary to North America^[1]

The de Polignac family has its historic seat there, and various descendants of Lafayette were senators for this region in the nineteenth century.

See also

• Cantons of the Haute-Loire department
• Communes of the Haute-Loire department
• Arrondissements of the Haute-Loire department

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Haute-Loire

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) Regional council website
• (English) Haute-Loire at the Open Directory Project

• (English) Tourist website
• (English) The Haut-Allier Website concerned with the western half of the Haute Loire which follows the relatively unknown Allier valley and gorges
• (English) (French) Regordane Info Independent portal for the Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail. (The Regordane Way crosses The Haute-Loire, commencing from Le Puy southwards)