Orne

Orne
Coat of arms of the Orne department
Location
Administration
Department number:	61
Region:	Basse-Normandie
Prefecture:	Alençon
Subprefectures:	Argentan Mortagne-au-Perche
Arrondissements:	3
Cantons:	40
Communes:	505
President of the General Council:	Alain Lambert UMP
Statistics
Population	Ranked 73rd
-1999	292,337
Population density:	48/km2
Land area¹:	6103 km2
¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

Orne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the Orne River.

History

Orne 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 Normandy and Perche.

Geography

Orne is in the region of Basse-Normandie neighbouring Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, Mayenne, and Calvados. It is the only department of Basse Normandie and Haute Normandie to be landlocked.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Ornais.

Culture

Camembert, the village where Camembert cheese was first made, is located in Orne.

The local dialect is known as Augeron.

See also

• Cantons of the Orne department
• Communes of the Orne department
• Arrondissements of the Orne department
• Orne River
• St. Andre sur Orne

External links

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Orne at the Open Directory Project

• (English) Orne Tourism

Coordinates: 48°42′N 00°00′W / 48.7°N 0°E / 48.7; 0