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A Percheron draft horse

Perche is a former province of northern France extending over the départements of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe.

[edit] Geography

Perche is bounded by Normandy to the north and west, Maine to the south-west, Vendomois and Dunois to the south, Beauce to the east and Thimerais to the north-east.

The greater part of the district is occupied by a semicircle of heights (from 650 to 1000 ft. in height) stretching from Moulins-la-Marche on the northwest to Montmirail on the south; within the basin formed thereby the shape of which is defined by the Huisne, an affluent of the Sarthe, lie the chief towns of Mortagne-au-Perche, Nogent-le-Rotrou and Bellême.

[edit] Economy

Coat of arms of Perche.

Stock-raising and dairy-farming are flourishing in the Perche, which is famous for the production of a breed of large and powerful horses, called Percherons. Cider-apples and pears are grown throughout the district.

[edit] History

In the Middle Ages, the Perche constituted a county of which Corbon, Mortagne and Nogent-le-Rotrou were successively the capitals. Under the ancient regime it formed, together with Maine, a government of which Mortagne was the capital. It had its own customary law "coûtume du Perche" until the French Revolution.

[edit] A Source of Emigrants

In the 17th century, a large number of immigrants to New France came from Perche. Many were recruited in the 1630s and 1650s to work for the Church missonaries and the nobles who were establishing estates on the St Lawrence River. While the total number of emigrants were few, Perche had a much higher rate of emigration to New France than most other regions of France. Nearly all French Canadians have some ancestors who came from the villages of Perche.