Haute-Marne

Haute-Marne
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Haute-Marne in France
Coordinates: 48°05′N 05°15′E / 48.083°N 5.25°E / 48.083; 5.25Coordinates: 48°05′N 05°15′E / 48.083°N 5.25°E / 48.083; 5.25
Country	France
Region	Champagne-Ardenne
Prefecture	Chaumont
Subprefectures	Langres Saint-Dizier
Government
• President of the General Council	Bruno Sido
Area1
• Total	6,211 km2 (2,398.1 sq mi)
Population (1999)
• Total	194,873
• Rank	87th
• Density	31.4/km2 (81.3/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	52
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	32
Communes	432
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Haute-Marne (French pronunciation: [ot.maʁn]) is a department in the northeast of France named after the Marne River.

History

Haute-Marne 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 Champagne, Burgundy, Lorraine and Franche-Comté^[1]

In March 1814 the departmental prefecture, Chaumont, was the unwitting witness to the end of the First Empire. On 1 March, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom and Austria signed an accord forbidding any individual peace deal with Napoleon I, and to fight until his final defeat.

During World War II, Haute-Marne was partitioned under German occupation. The canal which runs from the Marne to the Saône served as a border, dividing the department into east and west. The east was a "reserved zone", intended for the creation of a new German (Ripuarian) state, whereas to the west would be the traditional "occupied zone". Haute-Marne was finally liberated by the Allies, in the form of the division of General Leclerc, between August and September 1944.

Geography

Haute-Marne is part of the region of Champagne-Ardenne and is surrounded by the departments of Meuse, Vosges, Haute-Saône, Côte-d'Or, Aube, and Marne. The nearest big cities are Paris, Nancy, Strasbourg, Basel, and Dijon.

The highest mountain is Haut-du-Sac, in the Langres Plateau, in the southwest of the department, which rises to a height of 516 m (1,693 feet). The lowest points at 117m are found on the plains of Perthois and Der.^[1]

The department is named after the Marne River, whose source is near Langres. This river covers 120 kilometres within the department. The department is to the east of the Parisian basin, and is characterised by a concentric sequence of cliff faces of varying geological origin, oriented northeast/southwest.

Tourism

The fortified town of Langres, the Renaissance castle of Joinville, and the village of Colombey-les-deux-Églises are all major attractions.

See also

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

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Haute-Marne, Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia. Research Machines plc. September 8, 2005. accessed on October 19, 2006.

External links

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Haute-Marne at the Open Directory Project

• (French)/(English) Official Tourist Board website