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Pyrénées-Orientales Pirineus Orientals (Catalan) Pirenèus Orientals (Occitan)
Department of France
Prefecture building of the Pyrénées-Orientales department, in Perpignan
Flag
Location of Pyrénées-Orientales in France
Coordinates: 42°30′N 2°45′E / 42.500°N 2.750°E / 42.500; 2.750
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Prefecture	Perpignan
Subprefectures	Céret Prades
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Hermeline Malherbe-Laurent (PS)
Area
• Total	4,116 km (1,589 sq mi)
Population
• Total	487,307
• Rank	54th
• Density	120/km (310/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	66
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	17
Communes	226
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km

Pyrénées-Orientales (French: [piʁene ɔʁjɑ̃tal] ; Catalan: Pirineus Orientals [piɾiˈnɛwz uɾiənˈtals]; Occitan: Pirenèus Orientals [piɾeˈnɛwz uɾjenˈtals]; lit. 'Eastern Pyrenees'), also known as Northern Catalonia, are a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It borders the departments of Ariège to the northwest and Aude to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east and the Spanish province of Girona in Catalonia to the south and the country of Andorra to the west. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish exclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain. In 2019, it had a population of 479,979. Some parts of the Pyrénées-Orientales (like the Cerdagne) are part of the Iberian Peninsula. It is named after the Pyrenees mountain range.

History

Prior to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, within the Crown of Aragon, therefore part of the Monarchy of Spain, so the majority of it has historically been Catalan-speaking, and it is still referred to as Northern Catalonia.

The modern department was created early during the French Revolution on 9 February 1790 under the name of Roussillon, also the name of the pre-Revolutionary province of Roussillon to which it almost exactly corresponds, although the department also includes Fenouillèdes, a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc. The name therefore changed, on 26 February 1790, to Pyrénées-Orientales.

Invaded by Spain in April 1793, the area was recaptured thirteen months later during the War of the Roussillon.

During the nineteenth century, Pyrénées-Orientales proved one of the most consistently republican departments in France. The intellectual and republican politician François Arago, who, during the early months of the short-lived Second Republic in 1848, was briefly de facto Head of state, came from Estagel in the east of the department.

Geography

Pyrénées-Orientales has an area of 4,115 km. It consists of three river valleys in the Pyrenees mountain range –from north to south, those of the Agly, Têt and Tech – and the eastern Plain of Roussillon into which they converge. Most of the population and agricultural production are concentrated in the plain, with only 30% of the area. There is one water reservoir at Lac de Matemale. There is also a lake, Casteilla.

It is one of the rare French departments (with the Alpes-Maritimes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Aude and Corsica) which allow their inhabitants and tourists to enjoy both the mountains and the sea.

The upper Têt valley comprises the departments westernmost third, with just over a tenth of the total population. To the south-east, the Tech valley and the Côte Vermeille contain nearly 100,000 inhabitants. The Agly basin in the north-east has much in common with neighboring areas of Aude. Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain, that forms a Spanish exclave surrounded by French territory.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Perpignan, the prefecture, home to about a quarter of the inhabitants of Pyrénées-Orientales. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:

They are followed in decreasing order by Pia, Elne, Rivesaltes, Thuir, Céret, Le Soler, Bompas, Toulouges, Canohès and Prades, each of 6–10,000 inhabitants.

Economy

Pyrénées-Orientales is a wine-growing area and a tourist destination.

Demographics

Catalan / Valencian cultural domain
History History of Andorra History of Aragon History of the Balearic Islands History of Catalonia History of Roussillon History of Sardinia History of Valencia Crown of Aragon Principality of Catalonia Kingdom of Majorca Kingdom of Valencia Catalan constitutions Furs of Valencia Treaty of the Pyrenees Nueva Planta decrees
People Andorrans Aragonese Balearics Ibizans Majorcans Minorcans Catalans Sardinians Alguerese Valencians
Language History Literature Dialects and varieties Grammar Pronunciation Phonetic history IPA guide Spelling-to-sound charts Orthography Alphabet Braille Morpho-syntax Nouns Personal pronouns Verbs (Conjugation) Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (AVL) Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) Institut and Fundació Ramon Llull (IRL & FRL)
Geo-political divisions Andorra Aragon (La Franja) Balearic Islands Ibiza Majorca Minorca Catalonia Murcia (El Carxe) Pyrénées-Orientales (Northern Catalonia) L'Alguer Valencia See Catalan Countries
Government and politics General Council of Andorra (Politics) Courts of Aragon (Politics) Government of the Balearic Islands (Politics) Generalitat of Catalonia (Politics) General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales (Politics) Generalitat of Valencia (Politics) See Catalan and Valencian nationalism, Catalanophobia
Traditions Myths and legends Traditions Caganer Castells Correfoc Falles Fogueres de Sant Joan Gegants i capgrossos Moros i cristians Muixeranga Saint George's Day Sardana Tió de Nadal
Cuisine Catalan cuisine Coca Ensaïmada Pa amb tomàquet Paella
Art Catalan art Antoni Gaudí Antoni Tàpies Joan Miró Joaquim Sorolla Salvador Dalí
Literature Literature Segle d'or Decadència Renaixença Modernisme Noucentisme
Music and performing arts Music Nova cançó Rock català Rumba catalana
SportSport in Catalonia
Symbols National symbols of Catalonia Flags Andorra Balearic Islands Catalonia Valencia Coats of Arms Andorra Balearic Islands Catalonia Valencia Anthems El Gran Carlemany Els Segadors La Balanguera Himne de l'Exposició
v t e

The city of Perpignan (122,000 inhabitants) brings together more than a quarter of it alone, and more than half with its suburbs. It is the only important town, and only the towns of Canet-en-Roussillon, Saint-Estève, Saint-Cyprien, Argelès-sur-Mer, Cabestany and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque exceed 10,000 inhabitants. Other important towns are Rivesaltes, Bompas, Pia, Thuir, Céret, Elne, Le Soler, Prades and Toulouges, each with between 6,500 and 10,000 inhabitants. The arrondissement of Perpignan, with 289,110 inhabitants in 2020, is the one with the most inhabitants in the department. Indeed, the other two, the arrondissements of Céret and Prades, have respectively 133,405 inhabitants and 60,250 inhabitants.

The distribution by age groups shows a relatively high number of people aged 60 and over (29% of the population compared to 21.3% for the whole of France).

This aging of the population results in a mortality rate higher than that of births. However, the population has been increasing steadily for several decades thanks to a clearly positive migratory balance. The department particularly attracts retirees thanks to its pleasant climate, which contributes to both the increase in the population and its aging.

Population development since 1793:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 105,171 —     1801 110,732 +0.65% 1806 126,692 +2.73% 1821 143,054 +0.81% 1831 157,052 +0.94% 1841 173,592 +1.01% 1851 181,955 +0.47% 1861 181,763 −0.01% 1872 191,856 +0.49% 1881 208,855 +0.95% 1891 210,125 +0.06% 1901 212,121 +0.09% 1911 212,986 +0.04% 1921 217,503 +0.21%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 238,647 +0.93% 1936 233,347 −0.45% 1946 228,776 −0.20% 1954 230,285 +0.08% 1962 251,231 +1.09% 1968 281,976 +1.94% 1975 299,506 +0.87% 1982 334,557 +1.59% 1990 363,796 +1.05% 1999 392,803 +0.86% 2006 432,116 +1.37% 2011 457,000 +1.13% 2016 474,369 +0.75%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Sources:

French is spoken by almost the entire population. Minority languages in the region are Catalan and Occitan, which between them are estimated to be spoken by 34% of the population and understood by an additional 21%.

On 10 December 2007, the Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales recognized Catalan as a regional language of the department, though French is still the only official language in France, according to the Constitution.

The area is traditionally divided into comarques, of which five (French Cerdagne, Capcir, Conflent, Roussillon and Vallespir) are historically Catalan-speaking and one (Fenouillèdes) is historically Occitan-speaking. The five Catalan-speaking comarques were historically part of the Kingdom of Majorca.

Administration

Politics of Pyrénées-Orientales
Local government Council President: Hermeline Malherbe-Laurent Perpignan (prefecture) Subprefectures Céret Prades Elections Political parties
Departments of France Politics of France Politics of the European Union
Other countries
v t e

The département is managed by the Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales in Perpignan. The Pyrénées-Orientales is part of the region of Occitanie. The Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales is more and more involved with the European Union to create, together with the Generalitat of Catalonia and Andorra, a Eurodistrict.

Politics

Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales

The Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales has 34 seats. In the 2015 departmental elections, the Socialist Party (PS) won 17 seats, The Republicans (LR) won 12 seats and the French Communist Party (PCF) won 5 seats. Hermeline Malherbe-Laurent (PS) has been President of the Departmental Council since 2010.

Members of the National Assembly

Pyrénées-Orientales elected the following members of the National Assembly during the 2022 legislative election:

Cuisine

The cuisine of Pyrénées-Orientales draws naturally from the historical Catalan presence in the area, so dishes like paella, caragols a la llauna and calçots are prevalent in the restaurants, especially at important dates such as the various saints' feast days and cultural festivals.

The area is famous for its wine with the predominantly red grape varieties grown all over the department, regional specialities such as muscat de Rivesaltes and Banyuls are sold everywhere in the department.

The geography of the area leads to a distinct divide in the cuisine of P-O. The mountainous area to the south has dishes using ingredients that grow naturally there, products such as olives and goat's cheese.

Fish are also very popular in the region, with Collioure being famous for its anchovies. However, fishing has declined due to the overall reduction of the fish stock in the Mediterranean sea.

Culture

Places of interest include:

• Banyuls-sur-Mer, famous for its Grenache-based Banyuls wine, birthplace of Aristide Maillol.
• Céret, considered to be one of the birthplaces of cubism, hosts several museums among which the Musée d'Art Moderne.
• Collioure, considered to be one of the famous places of fauvism.
• Força Réal, ruined mountaintop fortress.
• Prades, site of the Catalan Summer University (Universitat Catalana d'Estiu).
• Prats de Mollo, important defensive castle of the 17th century facing south to the Pyrenees.
• Salses, important defensive castle of the 16th century, on the ancient frontier with Spain.

Pyrénées-Orientales has two notable sports teams: USA Perpignan (rugby union) and Catalans Dragons (rugby league).

• Perpignan
• Château Royal de Collioure
• Fort de Salses
• Saint-Martin-du-Canigou abbey
• Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa abbey
• The "organ" of Ille-sur-Têt

See also

• Intercommunalities of the Pyrénées-Orientales department
• Saint-Felix of Ropidera Church
• Megalithic sites in Pyrénées-Orientales
• The Siureda dolmen

Bibliography

• Mann, Jane; Hareng, Kate (2010). Absolutely Almost all you need to know about the Pyrénées-Orientales. Saint-Estève (Pyrénées-Orientales): Presses littéraires. ISBN 978-2-35073-368-5. OCLC 667612113.
• Cárdenas, Fabricio (2014). 66 petites histoires du Pays Catalan [66 Little Stories of Catalan Country] (in French). Perpignan: Ultima Necat. ISBN 978-2-36771-006-8. OCLC 893847466.

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 4 May 2022.
2. "Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. McPhee, Peter (1980). "A Case-Study of Internal Colonization: The Francisation of Northern Catalonia". Review (Fernand Braudel Center). 3 (3): 398–428. JSTOR 40240842.
4. ^ Xic667 (2014-05-05), Français : Panneau bilingue catalan-français "Département des Pyrénées orientales"/"Benvinguts a Catalunya Nord" sur la route (française) nationale 22 direction Andorre, entre l'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre (département de l'Ariège, France) et le Pas-de-la-Case (Andorre)., retrieved 2018-10-26{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
5. "Le catalan en Catalogne Nord et dans les Pays Catalans, Même pas mort !". www.lcdpu.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-10-26.
6. ^ Populations légales 2019: 66 Pyrénées-Orientales, INSEE
7. Cárdenas, Fabricio (2014). 66 petites histoires du Pays Catalan [66 Little Stories of Catalan Country] (in French). Perpignan: Ultima Necat. ISBN 978-2-36771-006-8. OCLC 893847466.
8. "Historique des Pyrénées-Orientales". Le SPLAF.
9. "Évolution et structure de la population en 2016". INSEE.
10. See Article 1 of the "Charter of the Catalan Language" Archived 2012-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
11. Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.
12. Elizabeth Zadora-Rio, Vilarnau en Roussillon (Pyrénées Orientales, France) / In Archaeology of medieval europe : Volume 2: twelfth to sixteenth centuries ad, Aarhus university press (published 2012), 2008, ISBN 978-87-7934-291-0
13. Jeff Koehler (21 September 2006), La Paella Deliciously Authentic Rice Dishes from Spain's Mediterranean CoastHardcover, Chronicle Books (published 2006), ISBN 978-0-8118-5251-7
14. Andrews, Colman (1989), Cocina Catalana : el ultimo secreto culinario de Europa, Ediciones Martinez Roca, ISBN 978-84-270-1385-8

External links

• (in French) Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales
• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Photography Panoramics 360° website
• (in English) News and tourist information website

v t e Pays of the Pyrénées-Orientales department
Albères Aspres Capcir Upper Cerdagne Conflent Corbières catalanes Côte Vermeille Fenouillèdes Ribéral Roussillon Salanque Vallespir

v t e Departments of France
Metropolitan	01 Ain 02 Aisne 03 Allier 04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 05 Hautes-Alpes 06 Alpes-Maritimes 07 Ardèche 08 Ardennes 09 Ariège 10 Aube 11 Aude 12 Aveyron 13 Bouches-du-Rhône 14 Calvados 15 Cantal 16 Charente 17 Charente-Maritime 18 Cher 19 Corrèze 2A Corse-du-Sud 2B Haute-Corse 21 Côte-d'Or 22 Côtes-d'Armor 23 Creuse 24 Dordogne 25 Doubs 26 Drôme 27 Eure 28 Eure-et-Loir 29 Finistère 30 Gard 31 Haute-Garonne 32 Gers 33 Gironde 34 Hérault 35 Ille-et-Vilaine 36 Indre 37 Indre-et-Loire 38 Isère 39 Jura 40 Landes 41 Loir-et-Cher 42 Loire 43 Haute-Loire 44 Loire-Atlantique 45 Loiret 46 Lot 47 Lot-et-Garonne 48 Lozère 49 Maine-et-Loire 50 Manche 51 Marne 52 Haute-Marne 53 Mayenne 54 Meurthe-et-Moselle 55 Meuse 56 Morbihan 57 Moselle 58 Nièvre 59 Nord 60 Oise 61 Orne 62 Pas-de-Calais 63 Puy-de-Dôme 64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques 65 Hautes-Pyrénées 66 Pyrénées-Orientales 67 Bas-Rhin 68 Haut-Rhin 69D Rhône 70 Haute-Saône 71 Saône-et-Loire 72 Sarthe 73 Savoie 74 Haute-Savoie 76 Seine-Maritime 77 Seine-et-Marne 78 Yvelines 79 Deux-Sèvres 80 Somme 81 Tarn 82 Tarn-et-Garonne 83 Var 84 Vaucluse 85 Vendée 86 Vienne 87 Haute-Vienne 88 Vosges 89 Yonne 90 Territoire de Belfort 91 Essonne 92 Hauts-de-Seine 93 Seine-Saint-Denis 94 Val-de-Marne 95 Val-d'Oise
Overseas	971 Guadeloupe 972 Martinique (territorial collectivity) 973 French Guiana (territorial collectivity) 974 Réunion 976 Mayotte
Special	69M Lyon (collectivity with special status) 75 Paris (collectivity with special status)
Former	975 Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Overseas collectivity)

• Pyrénées-Orientales
• Northern Catalonia
• France–Spain relations
• 1790 establishments in France
• Departments of Occitania (administrative region)
• States and territories established in 1790