Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the

region 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 an ...

of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Populations légales 2019: 30 Gard
INSEE its prefecture is

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

. The department is named after the river Gardon; the Occitan name of the river, Gard (), has been replacing the French name in recent decades, both administratively and among French speakers.

History

The Gard area was settled by the Romans in classical times. It was crossed by the

Via Domitia The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now Southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and ...

, which was constructed in 118 BC. Gard is one of the original 83 departments created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on 4 March 1790. It was created from the ancient province of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. It was originally intended to include the canton of

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

in the department which would have been geographically logical, but Ganges was transferred to the neighbouring department of

Hérault Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Aigues Mortes which gave the department its own outlet to the Gulf of Lion. 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: however, many of the department's viticulturalists were ruined by the arrival in 1872 of phylloxera.

Geography

Gard is part of the

of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitan ...

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Ardèche. It also have a short coastline within the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

in the south. The highest point in the department is the

Mont Aigoual Mont Aigoual (; oc, Mont Augal, elevation 1567m / 5141 ft) is the highest point of the Gard ''department'', France. It is part of the Massif Central, and it is located within the Cévennes National Park. Its southern slopes are the source ...

. Serious

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing has occurred in the department in recent years, and, due to its geographic setting, it has been the site of some of the highest recorded temperatures in France's history.

Demographics

Population development since 1791: The inhabitants of Gard are called "Gardois". The most populous commune is

, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 8 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:

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 Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

of the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement (french: link=no, Union pour un mouvement populaire, ; UMP, ) was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Soci ...

party received 24.86% of the vote, while

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

candidate

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of the Socialist P ...

received 24.11% of the vote share.

Departmental Council

The President of the Departmental Council has been Françoise Laurent-Perrigot of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(PS) since 2021.

Members of the National Assembly

In the 2017 legislative election, Gard elected the following representatives to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

Tourism

Gard contains a part of 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 ...

. There are important Roman architectural remains in

, as well as the famous

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported min ...

, the

Pont du Gard The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built in the first century AD to carry water over to the Roman colony of ''Nemausus'' ( Nîmes). It crosses the river Gardon near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France. The Po ...

. Gard is also home to the source of

Perrier Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of natural bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier was part of th ...

, 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. File:Aiguèze.jpg,

Aiguèze Aiguèze (; oc, Aiguesa) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2016, it had a population of 217. Since 2005, Aiguèze has been a member of ''Les Plus Beaux Villages de France'' ("The most beautiful v ...

File:Chateau d'Uzès 12.JPG, Uzès File:Cascades Sautadet.jpg,

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 mountains ...