The empty diagonal (french: diagonale du vide) is a band of low-density population that stretches from the
French department of the
Landes in the southwest to the
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
in the northeast. The diagonal's
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
is very low compared to the rest of France.
Description
The low population density (less than 30/km², or 78/mi²) is caused largely by the
rural exodus
Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective.
In industrializing economies like Britain in the eighteenth century or East Asia in the ...
and urbanisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some commentators prefer to speak of a "low-density diagonal" () and regard the term "empty diagonal" as both pejorative and exaggerated. Still,
DATAR
DATAR, short for ''Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving'', was a pioneering computerized battlefield information system. DATAR combined the data from all of the sensors in a naval task force into a single "overall view" that was then transmi ...
used the term and it remains the most common term.
The pattern is more readily apparent at the
departmental
''Departmental'' is a 1980 Australian TV movie based on a play by Mervyn Rutherford. It was part of the ABC's Australian Theatre Festival.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p43 Reviews were poor ...
level than at the
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
level. It is part of a broader pattern of low population density that extends into
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and is known as the
continental diagonal.
History and evolution
Before the emergence of the empty diagonal, an earlier demographic feature was the
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast.
The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...
-
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
line that ran from the northwest to the southeast and divided the industrial northeast from the agrarian southwest.
Charles Dupin
Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873, Paris, France) was a French Catholic mathematician, engineer, economist and politician, particularly known for work in the field of mathematics, where the ...
identified it in his 1837 treatise .
In 1947, the geographer
Jean-François Gravier
Jean-François Gravier was a French geographer famous for his work ''Paris and the French Desert'' published in 1947, and republished in 1953 and 1972. He denounces the extreme concentration of France in Paris, and the monopoly of that city over Fr ...
wrote of a "French desert" that corresponds, more or less, to the modern notion of the empty diagonal.
Hervé Le Bras and
Emmanuel Todd
Emmanuel Todd (, born 16 May 1951) is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) in Paris. His research examines the different family structures a ...
argue that the concept is no longer valid in the 21st century because of growth that is observed in some departments like
Indre and
Gers. According to their analysis, the zone of negligible or negative population growth extends only from the
Massif Central
The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France.
Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,0 ...
to
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...
. However, an analysis at the level of cantons and communes indicates that the zone of decline extends beyond the Massif–Lorraine axis and that the growth observed by Le Bras and Todd is fragile and driven by a temporary influx of retirees.
Literature
''La diagonale du vide'' is the title of a 2009 novel by
Pierre Péju in which an urban businessman seeks solitude in a cottage in
Ardèche.
From 2015 to 2016, the author and blogger Mathieu Mouillet spent 18 months exploring the empty diagonal and meeting its inhabitants. His "exotic voyage" is presented by notes and photographs on his blog.
Gallery
Image:DepartementsFranceDensitePopulation.svg, Map of population density by department, showing the empty diagonal in blue.
Image:Estimations carroyees de population.png, Detailed map of population density, with the least populated areas in white.
References
{{Reflist
Regions of Europe
Demographics of France
Geography of France