Puy-de-Dôme (
lo Puèi de Doma /
lo Puèi Domat in the
Auvergnat dialect of the
OccitanOccitan , known also as Lenga d'òc in Occitan or Langue d'oc in French is a Romance language spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, Monaco and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
language) is a department in the center of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
named after the famous dormant volcano, the
Puy-de-DômePuy-de-Dôme is a large lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region of Massif Central in south-central France. Curiously, this chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes, and maars is located far from the edge of any tectonic plate. Puy-de-Dôme is...
.
Puy-de-Dôme is one of the original 83 departments created during the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
on March 4, 1790. It was created from the
former provinceThe Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces...
of
AuvergneAuvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne...
. Originally, the department was to be called
Mont d'Or ("golden mountain"), but this was judged not to be a very egalitarian name.
Puy-de-Dôme is part of the current
regionFrance is administratively divided into 25 regions , of which 21 are on mainland France, and four are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
of
AuvergneAuvergne is one of the 26 administrative regions of France.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not part of Auvergne...
and is surrounded by the departments of
LoireLoire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when the original department of Rhône-et-Loire was split....
,
Haute-LoireHaute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
,
CantalCantal is a department in south-central France. It is named after the Cantal mountain range, a group of extinct, eroded volcanic peaks, which covers much of the department.- History :...
,
CorrèzeCorrèze is a department in south central France, named after the Corrèze River.-History:Corrèze is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It includes part of the former province of Limousin .-Geography:The department is part of the current region...
,
AllierAllier is a department in south-central France named after the Allier River.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
and
CreuseCreuse is a department in central France named after the Creuse River.-History:Creuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
.
The department is in the
Massif CentralThe Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus....
and boasts more than 80 volcanic craters.
It is three hours from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and an hour from
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
by
highwaysThe Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of 12,000 km worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an...
A71The A71 autoroute is a motorway in central France. It is also called the l'Arverne. It starts at Orléans and ends at Clermont-Ferrand.-Orléans to Bourges:...
and
A72The A72 is an autoroute in France.The motorway is operated by Autoroutes du Sud de la France and links Clermont-Ferrand to Saint-Étienne on one of the steepest and meandrous motorways in France...
.
Puy-de-Dôme (
lo Puèi de Doma /
lo Puèi Domat in the
Auvergnat dialect of the
OccitanOccitan , known also as Lenga d'òc in Occitan or Langue d'oc in French is a Romance language spoken in Occitania, that is, Southern France, the Occitan Valleys of Italy, Monaco and in the Aran Valley of Spain...
language) is a department in the center of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
named after the famous dormant volcano, the
Puy-de-DômePuy-de-Dôme is a large lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the Chaîne des Puys region of Massif Central in south-central France. Curiously, this chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes, and maars is located far from the edge of any tectonic plate. Puy-de-Dôme is...
.
History
Puy-de-Dôme is one of the original 83 departments created during the
French RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
on March 4, 1790. It was created from the
former provinceThe Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces...
of
AuvergneAuvergne was a historic province in south central France. It was originally the feudal domain of the Counts of Auvergne...
. Originally, the department was to be called
Mont d'Or ("golden mountain"), but this was judged not to be a very egalitarian name.
Geography
Puy-de-Dôme is part of the current
regionFrance is administratively divided into 25 regions , of which 21 are on mainland France, and four are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
of
AuvergneAuvergne is one of the 26 administrative regions of France.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not part of Auvergne...
and is surrounded by the departments of
LoireLoire is an administrative department in the east-central part of France occupying the River Loire's upper reaches.-History:Loire was created in 1793 when the original department of Rhône-et-Loire was split....
,
Haute-LoireHaute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
,
CantalCantal is a department in south-central France. It is named after the Cantal mountain range, a group of extinct, eroded volcanic peaks, which covers much of the department.- History :...
,
CorrèzeCorrèze is a department in south central France, named after the Corrèze River.-History:Corrèze is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It includes part of the former province of Limousin .-Geography:The department is part of the current region...
,
AllierAllier is a department in south-central France named after the Allier River.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
and
CreuseCreuse is a department in central France named after the Creuse River.-History:Creuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
.
The department is in the
Massif CentralThe Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus....
and boasts more than 80 volcanic craters.
It is three hours from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and an hour from
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
by
highwaysThe Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of 12,000 km worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an...
A71The A71 autoroute is a motorway in central France. It is also called the l'Arverne. It starts at Orléans and ends at Clermont-Ferrand.-Orléans to Bourges:...
and
A72The A72 is an autoroute in France.The motorway is operated by Autoroutes du Sud de la France and links Clermont-Ferrand to Saint-Étienne on one of the steepest and meandrous motorways in France...
. The
A75The A75 is an autoroute in France.Known also as la Méridienne, it is a developmental project with the aim of speeding up and reducing the cost of car travel from Paris southwards, and apart from the Millau Viaduct, it is entirely free for the 340 km between Clermont-Ferrand and Pézenas, with...
links it to the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
.
Main cities are
Clermont-FerrandClermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census....
,
ThiersThiers is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. The town was featured in François Truffaut's 1976 film Small Change .-References:* Thiers from the French Wikipedia* -External links:...
,
RiomRiom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-History:Until the French Revolution, Riom was the capital of the province of Auvergne, and the seat of the dukes of Auvergne. The city was of Gaulish origin, the Roman Ricomagus...
,
IssoireIssoire is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-Geography:Issoire is located on the Couze River, near its junction with the Allier, SSE of Clermont-Ferrand on the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway to Nîmes...
,
AmbertAmbert is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-Administration:Ambert is the seat of the canton of Ambert and the arrondissement of Ambert. It is a sub-prefecture of the department...
and
Cournon-d'AuvergneCournon-d'Auvergne is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
.
See also
- Cantons of the Puy-de-Dôme department
- Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department
- Arrondissements of the Puy-de-Dôme department
External links
Prefecture website General Council website