The Cévennes ( , ; oc, Cevenas) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the '' départements'' of

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geographical, natural, and cultural significance, portions of the region are protected within the

Cévennes National Park Cévennes National Park (french: Parc national des Cévennes) is a French national park located in Southern France, in the mountainous area of Cévennes. Created in 1970, the park has its administrative seat in Florac at Florac Castle. It is l ...

, the Cévennes Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO), as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape. The area has been inhabited since 400,000 BCE and has numerous megaliths which were erected beginning around 2500 BCE. As an agriculturally-rich area, but not a suitable location for cities, the Cévennes developed a wide diversity of pastoral systems, including transhumance. The irrigation and road networks put in place in the early Middle Ages for these pastoral systems are still in use today. The name ''Cévennes'' comes from the Gaulish ''Cebenna.'' As of 1999, there were 165,707 inhabitants in the region, with 20,847 living inside the UNESCO protected zone. Inhabitants of the region are known as Cévenols, from the adjective Cévenol (fem. Cévenole). The mountain range also gives its name to a meteorological effect when cold air from the Atlantic coast meets warm air of southern winds from the Mediterranean and causes heavy autumnal downpours, often leading to floods. These are called ''épisodes cévenols''.

Defining the Cévennes

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Cévennes'' is

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, coming from the Gaulish ''Cebenna'', which was Latinized by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

to ''Cevenna''. The Cévennes are named Cemmenon (''Κέμμενων'') in Strabo's ''

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (Ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά ''Geōgraphiká''), or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Ancient Greek, Greek and attributed to Strabo, an educated citizen ...

''. The word in Gaulish probably meant ''ridgeline'' and is related to the Breton word ' meaning back. The ''-'' part of the name is likely related to the Gaelic word ' meaning mountain or hill. There are several popular false etymologies, one of which is that the name is derived for the words ''seven veins'' (''sept veines'' in French) which is supposed to be a reference to the seven rivers (veins) flowing through the region. Historical references to the name that predate the French Language itself, preclude this possibility. Another false etymology suggests that the name comes from the Occitan word ' (also written ') which means "onion", which is supposed to reference the layered structure of slate which makes up the mountains. But this is not possible as the Occitan ' derives from Latin ' which does not phonetically fit the references to the region in Latin and Greek Literature. Additionally, the suffix ''-enna'', originally

, was brought over into Latin, and was never used for words of Latin origin.

Geography

Extent

In the larger sense, the Cévennes include nine départements : le Tarn, l'

Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...

, l' Hérault, l' Aveyron, le

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Lozère, l'

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Rhône et la Loire. More strictly the Cévennes encompasses the Lozère and the Gard. The Parc national des Cévennes is almost entirely within Lozère.S. Souchay, ''Du paysage à sa dénomination, une contrée cévenole'', maîtrise de géographie Toulouse Mirail, 2005. The principal towns and villages of the Cévennes are Alès, Le Vigan,

Sumène Sumène (; oc, Sumena) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Geography Climate Sumène has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa'') closely bordering on a warm-summer Mediterranean climate ...

Valleraugue Valleraugue (; oc, Valarauga) is a former commune in the Gard department in southern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Val-d'Aigoual.Ganges, Hérault,

Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort (; oc, Sent Ipolit) is a commune in the Gard department, Occitania, southern France. The town has a silk museum and barracks. Population In literature A book titled 'Divided Loyalties' described life in the commune and ...

, Sauve, Lasalle,

Saint-André-de-Valborgne Saint-André-de-Valborgne (; oc, Sant Andrieu de Valbornha) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Gard department This is a list of the 351 Communes of France, communes of the Gard De ...

, Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Anduze, Florac,

Saint-Germain-de-Calberte Saint-Germain-de-Calberte (; oc, Sent German de Calbèrta) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson stayed at an inn in the village on the night of 1 October 1878, as recounted in hi ...

, le Pont-de-Montvert, Villefort,

Génolhac Génolhac is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. Geography Climate Génolhac has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification ''Csa''). The average annual temperature in Génolhac is . The average annual r ...

, Bessèges, Saint-Ambroix, Gagnières, Les Vans, Mende.

Description

Cevennes Florac Mimente depuis Causse Mejean

The Cévennes mountains run from southwest ( Cause Noire) to northeast (Monts du Vivarais), with the highest point being the Mont Lozère (1702m). The Mont Aigoual (1567m) is on the border of two departments. The Loire and

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

flowing towards the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the

Ardèche Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.Chassezac The Chassezac (; oc, Chassesac) is an long river in the Lozère, Gard and Ardèche departments in southern France. It is a right tributary of the Ardèche (river), Ardèche. Its source is in the commune of Saint-Frézal-d'Albuges, northeast of ...

Cèze The Cèze (; oc, Céser) is a karstic French river, a right tributary of the Rhône. It runs through the departments of Lozère and Gard in the Occitanie region. It is long, and its basin area is . Its source is in the Cévennes mountai ...

, the different rivers Gardons to the Rhône, Vidourle, Hérault and Dourbie that flow to the Mediterranean Sea, have their headwaters in the Cévennes.

was created in the region in 1970 and the Parc Naturel Régional des Monts d'Ardèche also preserves some of the natural areas. Two canyons are near the region: the

Gorges de la Jonte Gorges, the plural of the French word for "throat", usually refers to a canyon. Gorges may also refer to: Places * Gorges, Loire-Atlantique, France * Gorges, Manche, France * Gorges, Somme, France * Cognin-les-Gorges, Isère, France * Three Gorges ...

(the

Jonte Jonte may refer to: * Jonte (river), a tributary of the Tarn in Southern France ;People * Jonté Buhl (born 1982), a professional Canadian football cornerback free agent * Jonte Willis (born 1983), an American heavyweight boxer * Antonio Álvarez Jo ...

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

) and the Gorges du Tarn (the Tarn gorge). This is a socio-economic marginal region, while bio-geographically, there is altitudinal stratification and a gradient between the mountainous centre and the mediterranean littoral ecologies. Les Cévennes depuis un flanc du Mont Aigoual

Les Cévennes depuis un flanc du Mont Aigoual

Geology

The Cévennes form the south eastern fragment of the Massif Central, separated from the related

Montagne Noire The Montagne Noire ( oc, Montanha Negra, known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude departm ...

by the limestone Causses. The basement rocks of granites and schists were uplifted by the Variscan orogeny forming a discontinuity, with the subsequent erosion infilling the lower voids for much of Permian and Triassic period (280–195 Ma), while changing sea levels added a thick limestone covering, with only the tops of the Cévennes protruding as islands in the Jurassic sea. This in turn was eroded, The Cévennes forms the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In late Cretaceous and early Tertiary times further mountain building occurred. The Alpine orogeny lifted and deformed the Alps and the Pyrenees though the Massif Central acted as a rigid block, and the cover rocks remained mostly horizontal. Some have been folded through later faulting at the time of the opening of the western Mediterranean in Tertiary times. The principal rivers of the region have cut deeply into the limestone forming deep gorges: Gorges du Tarn,

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

, Gorges de l'Ardèche,

etc.

Population and history

Prehistory

Transhumance is most likely the beginning of human activity in the Cévennes but little trace has been found of humans from the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

era except in the southern portion around Ganges and

which contains a large quantity of caves rich with archeological evidence such as "La Roque Aynier" (Ganges), and "Baume Dolente" (

Vebron Vebron is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. See also *Communes of the Lozère department *Causse Méjean Causse Méjean is a limestone plateau in the Lozère department, in southern France. It is a part of The Causses an ...

) which suggest the presence of

Magdalenian The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madele ...

peoples (17,000–12,000 BCE). By the Neolithic epoch, which lasted from about 12,000 BCE to around 2,300 BCE in France (), transhumance and hunting were prevalent throughout the entire Cévennes with developments such as pottery moving from south to north in the region. Sheep were common in Mediterranean France before 7000 BCE and numerous prehistoric pots and tools have been recovered dating from as early as 4000 BCE. Around this time many

Megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

constructions such as stone circles,

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

, and menhirs appeared in the area, with the second largest megalithic site in Europe, the stone rows of , being created around 3,000–2,500 BCE, and important sites such as the stone circles around Blandas in the south appearing between 3,500–2,500 BCE.

Ancient

The Celts arrived in the area sometime in the Iron Age between 800–400 BCE, and most of what is known about their presence in the area is from Latin historians. In the 3rd century BCE, the Arverne Confederation was formed of several tribes who used the Cévennes as a defensive feature to prevent the Romans from taking their territories. By the time the Romans successfully conquered the area in 121 BC, several tribes of celtic Gauls were living around the Cévennes: the Ruteni in the west, the Gabali in the north, the Volcae Arecomici in the south, the Helvii in the southeast and the Vellavi in the northeast. The Volcae Arecomici voluntarily surrendered their territory to the Romans, and the

Arverni The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the ne ...

gave up much territory in a treaty that nevertheless preserved their independence. Under Roman control, Le Vigan was part of the Roman "Provincia," (hence Provence) called

Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...

crossed the Cévennes mountains in the winter of 52 BCE, having his soldiers clear paths in up to six feet of snow, to attack the Averne Confederation. The Visigoths took control of the western half of Gallia Narbonensis in 462 CE, a part known as

Septimania Septimania (french: Septimanie ; oc, Septimània ) is a historical region in modern-day Southern France. It referred to the western part of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis that passed to the control of the Visigoths in 462, when Septima ...

which included Le Vigan, and they retained control despite attempts in 586 and 589 BCE when the Frankish, Merovingian King Guntram attempted to conquer the area from the north.

Middle Ages

In 587 the region came under Catholic rule with the conversion of the Visigoth king

Reccared I Reccared I (or Recared; la, Flavius Reccaredus; es, Flavio Recaredo; 559 – December 601; reigned 586–601) was Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania. His reign marked a climactic shift in history, with the king's renunciation of Arianis ...

. In 719, the Moor Al-Samh conquered Septimania as part of the Umayyad invasion of Gaul and the Franks struggled to take it back over the next several decades. By 780, Charlemagne had conquered the entire territory.

The "Desert" period and the Camisards War

French

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, also called the Huguenots, were established in the Cévennes by the beginning of the 16th century. They were often persecuted and lacked the freedom to worship openly, so they kept away from cities. They worshiped in deserted wilderness areas: forests, caves, and gullies. The Edict of Nantes in 1598 gave some relief and freedom of worship to Protestants but also concentrated the power of the Catholic Church in France. The Edict of Fontainebleau, on October 1685, revoked the Edict of Nantes, and forbade Protestant worship services. It called for the destruction of temples, exiling pastors, and forced Catholic instruction on the children. The borders were closed in response to the exodus of Huguenots from the area and the resulting economic losses. The Huguenots who stayed resisted and, known as Camisards in the Cévennes, they took up arms to fight for their religious freedom. As many as 3,000 Protestants fought against 30,000 royal troops from 1702 till 1704. Sporadic fighting continued until 1715. The Edict of Versailles in 1787, and the French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, finally brought a political solution to the struggles and gave non-Catholics the right to practice their religion openly.

Modern

In the 21st century, the region still has a large community of French

. They identify as Huguenots, descendants of peoples who have inhabited the mountains since before the 16th century. During the reign of Louis XIV, much of the Huguenot population fled France, particularly following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The Protestant community in the Cévennes largely remained in place, protected from attack by the hilly terrain. This area became a refuge from persecution for other Huguenots during the time. In 1702, this Huguenot population, dubbed the Camisards, rose up against the monarchy to protect their religious freedom. The two sides agreed to peace in 1715, which enabled the local Protestant Huguenot population to continue living in the Cévennes. Their descendants have continued to live there to the present day. Other descendants reportedly include: Davy Crockett, Johnny Depp, the Rockefeller and Courtauld families, and Laurence Olivier. During World War II, a network of families in the Cévennes sheltered a number of Jews from capture by the Nazis. These efforts, organized by local Protestant pastors, ultimately protected hundreds from capture and likely death.

Popular culture

* Vincent d'Indy, a composer of Ardèche origin, wrote the ''Symphonie Cévenole'' (known in English as his '' Symphony on a French Mountain Air''). * Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish writer, visited the Cévennes in 1878 and wrote '' Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes'' (1879) about his experiences.

Transport

3-hour TGV from Paris, 1h30 flight from London (Luton) to Nîmes (Garons), the closest international airport and 3h30 drive from Barcelona.

By car

* A75

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

– Clermont-Ferrand – Paris * A9 (la Languedocienne) Barcelona (Espagne) – Montpellier

Tourism

* The Corniche des Cévennes (the D 907) is a spectacular road between St-Jean-Gard and Florac. It was constructed at the beginning of the 18th century to enable the movement of Louis XIV's troops during his conflict with the Camisards.

References

External links

, by Sabine Baring-Gould
Regordane Info – The independent portal for The Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail
(in English and French)
Cévennes mediterranenan tourismCévennes tourism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cevennes Geographical, historical and cultural regions of France Massif Central Landforms of Ardèche Landforms of Gard Landforms of Haute-Loire Landforms of Lozère Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain ranges of Occitania (administrative region) Mountain passes of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Gallia Narbonensis