Lot (department)

Lot () is a French department in the Occitanie region of southern France named after the Lot river. Its prefecture and largest city is Cahors.
History.
Lot is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the old province of Quercy.
The new department had six districts: Cahors, Martel, Gourdon, Figeac, Montauban and Lazorte. The capital (now prefecture) was Cahors.
In 1808, some of the original southeastern cantons were separated from it to form the department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It originally extended much farther to the south and included the city of Montauban.
Geography.
Lot is part of the Occitanie region and has an area of .
The department borders with 6 other departments in 3 regions:
The Lot river crosses the department from east to west with numerous meanders. The Dordogne river flows through the northern part of the department.
There are seven natural regions in the department:
Climate.
The climate in Gourdon, in the north of the department at an altitude of above sea level, is an oceanic climate with relatively hot summers, mild winters and abundant rainfall, Cfb in the Köppen climate classification.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Gourdon is . The month with the most precipitation on average is May with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of . There are an average of 168.0 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in January with 17.0 days and the least precipitation occurring in July with 10.0 days.
The average temperature for the year in Gourdon 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 .
Administration.
The department is managed by the "Departamental Council of the Lot" in Cahors. Lot is part of the Occitanie region.
Administrative divisions.
There are 3 "arrondissements" (districts), 17 "cantons" and 326 "communes" (municipalities) in Lot.
The following is a list of the 17 cantons of the Lot department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Demographics.
The inhabitants of Lot are known, in French, as "Lotois" (women: "Lotoises").
Lot has a population, in 2014, of 173,648, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The "arrondissement" of Cahors, with 76,216 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Figeac and Gourdon, have respectively 54,060 and 43,372 inhabitants.
The city with more people living in it is the capital, Cahors (19,630). The subprefectures of Figeac and Gourdon have, respectively, 9,820 and 4,297 inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Lot
The cities in the department with more of 2,000 inhabitants are: