Gard

For other uses, see Gard (disambiguation).

Gard
Department of France
From top down, left to right: Pont du Gard, prefecture building in Nîmes, Cévennes and Arena of Nîmes
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Gard in France
Coordinates: 44°7′41″N 4°4′54″E
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Prefecture	Nîmes
Subprefectures	Alès Le Vigan
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Françoise Laurent-Perrigot (PS)
Area 1
• Total	5,853 km2 (2,260 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	756,543
• Rank	32nd
• Density	130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	30
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	23
Communes	351
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Gard (French pronunciation: [ɡaʁ] ) is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019; its prefecture is Nîmes.

The department is named after the river Gardon. In recent decades of the 21st century, local administration and French speakers have returned to the original Occitan name of the river, Gard (Occitan pronunciation: [gaɾ]). It is part of a revival of Occitan culture.

History

In classical times the Gard area was settled by Romans and their allies. They built the Via Domitia across the region in 118 BC. Centuries later, on 4 March 1790, Gard was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution. It comprised the ancient province of Languedoc.

Originally this department was to include the canton of Ganges, but Ganges was transferred to the neighbouring department of Hérault. In return, Gard was assigned the fishing port of Aigues Mortes, which gave the department its own outlet to the Gulf of Lion on the Mediterranean Sea.

During the middle of the nineteenth century the prefecture, traditionally a centre of commerce with a manufacturing sector focused on textiles, was an early beneficiary of railway development, becoming an important railway junction. Several luxurious hotels were built, and the improved market access provided by the railways also encouraged, initially, a rapid growth in wine growing. But many winegrowers were ruined when the vineyards were infected with phylloxera in 1872.

Geography

Gard is part of the region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hérault, Lozère, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Ardèche. It has a short coastline to the south on the Mediterranean Sea. The highest point in the department is Mont Aigoual.

In the first quarter of the 21st century, the department has suffered serious flooding. The region has also been subject to some of the highest recorded temperatures in France's history as climate change alters summer heat.

Demographics

Population development since 1791:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1791 313,464 —     1801 300,144 −0.43% 1806 322,144 +1.42% 1821 334,164 +0.24% 1831 357,283 +0.67% 1841 376,062 +0.51% 1851 408,163 +0.82% 1861 422,107 +0.34% 1872 420,131 −0.04% 1881 415,629 −0.12% 1891 419,388 +0.09% 1901 420,836 +0.03% 1911 413,458 −0.18% 1921 396,169 −0.43%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 406,815 +0.27% 1936 395,299 −0.57% 1946 380,837 −0.37% 1954 396,742 +0.51% 1962 435,107 +1.16% 1968 478,544 +1.60% 1975 494,575 +0.47% 1982 530,478 +1.01% 1990 585,049 +1.23% 1999 623,125 +0.70% 2006 684,306 +1.35% 2011 718,357 +0.98% 2016 742,006 +0.65%
source:

The inhabitants of Gard are called "Gardois". The most populous commune is Nîmes, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are eight communes that have more than 10,000 inhabitants each:

Commune	Population (2019)
Nîmes	148,561
Alès	41,837
Bagnols-sur-Cèze	18,091
Beaucaire	15,906
Saint-Gilles	13,931
Villeneuve-lès-Avignon	12,216
Vauvert	11,492
Pont-Saint-Esprit	10,369

Politics

In the closely contested first round of the 2012 presidential election, Gard was the only department to vote for the National Front candidate Marine Le Pen by a slim plurality, with 25.51% of the vote. The incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement party received 24.86% of the vote, while Socialist candidate François Hollande received 24.11% of the vote share.

Departmental Council

The President of the Departmental Council has been Françoise Laurent-Perrigot of the Socialist Party (PS) since 2021.

Party		Seats
	The Republicans (LR)	12
•	Socialist Party (PS)	10
	Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI)	7
•	French Communist Party (PCF)	6
•	Miscellaneous left (DVG)	4
	National Rally (FN)	4
•	Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV)	2
	Miscellaneous right (DVD)	1

Members of the National Assembly

In the 2022 legislative election, Gard elected the following representatives to the National Assembly:

Constituency		Member	Party
	Gard's 1st constituency	Yoann Gillet	National Rally
	Gard's 2nd constituency	Nicolas Meizonnet	National Rally
	Gard's 3rd constituency	Pascale Bordes	National Rally
	Gard's 4th constituency	Pierre Meurin	National Rally
	Gard's 5th constituency	Michel Sala	La France Insoumise
	Gard's 6th constituency	Philippe Berta	MoDem

Tourism

Gard contains a part of the Cévennes National Park. There are important Roman architectural remains in Nîmes, as well as the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard.

Gard is also home to the source of Perrier, a carbonated mineral water sold both in France and internationally on a large scale. The spring and facility are located just south-east of the commune of Vergèze.

• 
  Aiguèze
• 
  Uzès
• 
  Cèze

See also

• Arrondissements of the Gard department
• Cantons of the Gard department
• Communes of the Gard department

External links

• "Gard" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). 1911.
• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in French) Welcome to the Gard
• (in English) Welcome to the Gard
• (in French) Guide Gard