Gironde
Coat of arms of the Gironde department
Location
Administration
Department number:	33
Region:	Aquitaine
Prefecture:	Bordeaux
Subprefectures:	Arcachon Blaye Langon Lesparre-Médoc Libourne
Arrondissements:	6
Cantons:	63
Communes:	542
President of the General Council:	Philippe Madrelle
Statistics
Population	Ranked 9th
-Jan.1, 2006 estimate  -March 8, 1999 census	1,386,996 1,287,334
Population density:	139/km²
Land area¹:	10,000 km²
¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km².

Gironde (Occitan: Gironda) is a common name for the Gironde Estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.

History

Gironde is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascogne.

From 1793 to 1795, the department's name was changed to Bec-d'Ambès to avoid the association with the revolutionary party, the Girondists.

Geography

Gironde is part of the current region of Aquitaine and is surrounded by the departments of Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne and Charente-Maritime and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. With 10,000 km², Gironde is the largest department of metropolitan France.

It is well known for the Côte d'Argent beach which is Europe's longest, attracting many surfers to Lacanau each year.

See also

• Cantons of the Gironde department
• Communes of the Gironde department
• Arrondissements of the Gironde department
• Bordeaux wine regions

External links

• (French) General Council website
• (French) Prefecture website
• (English) Gironde at the Open Directory Project

• (French) Tourism Office website

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