Landes

Landes (Gascon: "Lanas") is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. Landes is the plural of the French word "lande" (in English:"heathland"); it was named so because it was the most common habitat in the region.
It is well known for the "Côte d'Argent" beach that attracts many surfers to Mimizan and Hossegor each year.
History.
The department was formed during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with parts of the old provinces of Guyenne and Gascony. It was divided into four districts: Dax, Mont-de-Marsan, Saint-Sever and Tartas. The capital was Mont-de-Marsan.
The "arrondissement" of Dax, Mont-de-Marsan and Saint-Sever were established on 17 February 1800. The "arrondissement" of Saint-Sever was dissolved on 10 September 1926 and integrated into the "arrondissements" of Dax and Mont-de-Marsan.
Geography.
Landes is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southwestern France, and is, after Gironde, the second largest department of Metropolitan France with an area of .
The department is bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the north by the Gironde, to the northeast by Lot-et-Garonne and the south by the Pyrénées-Atlantiques; these three departments are, like Landes, of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. To the east, it borders with the Gers department of the Occitanie region.
The most important river is the Adour, which crosses the southern part of the department in an east-west direction; in Dax, the river turns to the southwest and is joined by the Gaves réunis before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean.
The forest of Landes is the largest forest in France. It covers about 67% of the department in its northern part, and also covers a large part of the Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne (arrondissement of Nérac). The main species of tree is the maritime pine ("Pinus pinaster").
Climate.
The climate in Mont-de-Marsan is Marine West Coast Climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb), with mild winters and warm summers.
The average temperature for the year in Mont-de-Marsan is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Mont-de-Marsan is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is August with an average of .
Administration.
The department is managed by the "Departmental Council of the Landes" in Mont-de-Marsan.
Administrative divisions.
There are 2 "arrondissements" (districts), 15 "cantons" and 330 "communes" (municipalities) in Landes.
The following is a list of the 15 cantons of the Landes department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Demographics.
The inhabitants of Landes are known, in French, as "Landais" (women: "Landaises").
The department of Landes has a population, in 2014, of 400,477, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The "arrondissement" of Dax has 220,656 inhabitants and the "arrondissement" of Mont-de-Marsan, where is the prefecture of the departement, has only 179,821 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Landes
The 10 main cities in the department are: