Pyrénées-Orientales

Pyrénées-Orientales (English: "Eastern Pyrenees"; ; ) is a department in the region of Occitanie in southern France; it is next to the northern Spanish border and the Mediterranean Sea.
The department is formed by the historically Catalan-speaking area of Rosillon (with its different parts: Roussillon (modern), Haute Cerdagne (or simply Cerdagne), Conflent, Vallespir and Capcir) and Fenouillèdes, an historically Occitan-speaking area.
History.
Before 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, within the Kingdom of Spain, so historically most of it has been Catalan-speaking, and it is still sometimes referred to as Northern Catalonia.
Pyrénées-Orientales was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Pyrénées-Orientales was formed by the province of Roussillon and Fenouillèdes (), a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc.
Geography.
Pyrénées-Orientales has an area of . It has the department of Aude to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, Spain to the south, and Andorra and the department of Ariège to the west.
The department is dominated by the Pyrenees mountain range. The highest mountain is Pic Carlit () that is high. The best known mountain in the department is Le Canigou () that is high.
There are three main rivers in the department: from north to south, Agly, Têt (the largest river of the department) and Tech; the Agly has its source in the Corbières hills, in the southern part of the Aude department. The other two river has their sources in the Pyrenees. The three rivers flow into the eastern Plain of Roussillon before they flow into the Mediterranean Sea.
Most of the population and agricultural production are concentrated in the Plain of Roussillon, with only 30% of the area.
Llívia is a town of Cerdanya, province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain, that forms a Spanish exclave surrounded by French territory.
Climate.
In the department, there are three subtypes of the group C in the Köppen climate classification:
Administration.
The département is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales" in Perpignan. The Pyrénées-Orientales is part of the region of Occitanie.
Administrative divisions.
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.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 17 "cantons" and 226 "communes" (municipalities) in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Pyrénées-Orientales department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Demographics.
Pyrénées-Orientales has a population, in 2014, of 466,327, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The "arrondissement" of Perpignan, with 349,959 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Ceret and Prades, have respectively 73,192 and 43,176 inhabitants.
The only important city is Perpignan with 120,605 people living there in 2012. The subprefectures Céret and Prades have 7,663 and 5,927, respectively.
Evolution of the population in Pyrénées-Orientales
The cities with more than 6,000 inhabitants in the department are:
The inhabitants of Pyrénées-Orientales are known, in French, as "Pyrénaliens" (women: "Pyrénaliennes") or "Catalans" (women: "Catalanes").
French is spoken by almost all the population. Minority languages in the region are Catalan and Occitan, which between them are estimated to be spoken by rather more than a quarter of the population and understood by more than 40%.
On 10 December 2007, the "Departamental Council of the 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.
Economy.
Pyrénées-Orientales is a wine-growing area and a tourist destination.
The area is famous for its wine with the predominately red grape varieties grown all over the department.
Places of interest.
Some places of interest are: