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**Bouches-du-Rhône**
Bouches-du-Rhône
	Coat of Arms of Bouches-du-Rhône
	Location
Administration
Department number:	13
Region:	Provence-Alpes-; Côte d'Azur
Prefecture:	Marseille
Subprefectures:	Aix-en-Provence; Arles; Istres
Arrondissements:	4
Cantons:	57
Communes:	119
President of the General Council:	Jean-Noël Guérini; PS
Statistics
Population	Ranked 3rd
-Jan 1, 2006 estimate; -March 8, 1999 census	1,937,405; 1,835,719
Population density:	377/km2
Land area¹:	5,087 km2
	¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

Coordinates: 43°30′N 5°5′E / 43.5°N 5.083°E / 43.5; 5.083

Istres, fourth largest town of Bouches-du-Rhône (40,000 inhabitants)

Guardian house in Camargue

Castle of Tarascon

Arles Amphitheatre

Bouches-du-Rhône (Occitan: Bocas de Ròse, lit. "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in the south of France named after the mouth of the Rhône River.

[edit] History

[edit] History of the department

Bouches-du-Rhône is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Provence and the principalities of Orange, Martigues, and Lambesc. It lost part of its territory in 1793, including Orange and Apt, when the Vaucluse department was created.

[edit] History of the area

The history of the area is closely linked to that of Provence. Marseille has been an important harbor since before Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. The Roman presence has left numerous monuments across the department.

[edit] Geography

The department is part of the current region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It is surrounded by the departments of Gard on the west, Vaucluse on the north, and Var on the east, and by the Mediterranean Sea on the south.

Marseille contains an important harbor.

Other cities include:

Rivers include:

Rhône, which forms the border with the Gard department
Rhône delta (the Camargue), in the southwestern part of the department
Durance
Arc
Huveaune

Lakes include:

Étang de Berre
Étang de Vaccarès, in Camargue

Mountains include:

Alpilles mountain range
Calanques between Marseille and La Ciotat
Corniche des Crêtes
Garlaban
Mont Puget
Montagnette hills
Sainte-Victoire mountain
Sainte-Baume massif

[edit] Politics

The President of the General Council is Jean-Noël Guérini of the Socialist Party. Although the department leans to the right in national elections, it remains a stronghold of the left at the local level due to the very strong PS machine in the department led today by Guérini and in the past by Gaston Defferre.

Party		seats
•	Socialist Party	33
	Union for a Popular Movement	13
•	French Communist Party	6
	Miscellaneous Right	5

[edit] Culture

The department is well represented in French art. Paul Cézanne painted numerous representations of the Mont Sainte-Victoire. Vincent van Gogh spent much of his life in Arles, painting many scenes in the area.

[edit] Tourism

Cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence
Roman and Romanesque monuments of Arles
The Camargue and the town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Alphonse Daudet's windmill in Fontvieille
Les Baux de Provence, medieval village
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and the ruins of the Roman city of Glanum
Tarascon, medieval castle and church
Salon, city of Nostradamus and one of the biggest citadels of Provence: Château de l'Empéri

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bouches-du-Rhône

Bouches-du-Rhone at the Open Directory Project

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