Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label=

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

, Camarga) is a region of France located south of

Arles Arles (, , ; oc, label=Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province ...

, between 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 the ...

and the two arms of the

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''Petit Rhône''. Administratively it lies within the department of

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 l ...

, (Mouths of the Rhône), and covers parts of the territory of the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

of Arles, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

. A further expanse of marshy plain, the ''Petite Camargue'' (little Camargue), just to the west of the ''Petit Rhône'', lies in the department of Gard. Camargue was designated a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) ** Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

of International Importance" on 1 December 1986.

Geography

With an area of over , the Camargue is western Europe's largest

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...

. It is a vast plain comprising large

brine Brine is a high-concentration Solution (chemistry), solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of ...

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

s or ''étangs'', cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes. These are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the ''

Étang de Vaccarès Étang de Vaccarès is a lake, or, more accurately, a salt water lagoon (french: étang), in the wetlands of the Camargue in the delta of the River Rhône in southern France. Description The lake has an area of 65 km², and the depth is l ...

'' has been protected as a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distri ...

since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. In 2008, it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue.

Flora and fauna

The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds and has been identified as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. Its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the

greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

. The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious

mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning "gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "lit ...

s to be found anywhere in France.

Camargue horse The Camargue horse is an ancient breed of horse indigenous to the Camargue area in southern France. Its origins remain relatively unknown, although it is generally considered one of the oldest breeds of horses in the world. For centuries, ...

s (Camarguais) roam the extensive marshlands, along with

Camargue cattle The Camargue is a breed of domestic cattle native to the Camargue marshlands of the river delta of the Rhône in southern France. It is used for the traditional sport of ''course camarguaise'', a kind of bloodless bull-fight, but not for the ' ...

(see

below Below may refer to: *Earth * Ground (disambiguation) * Soil * Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) * Less than *Temperatures below freezing * Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fr ...

). The native flora of the Camargue have adapted to the saline conditions. Sea lavender and

glasswort The glassworts are various succulent, annual halophytic plants, that is, plants that thrive in saline environments, such as seacoasts and salt marshes. The original English glasswort plants belong to the genus '' Salicornia'', but today the glas ...

flourish, along with

tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Ta ...

s and reeds.

Regional park

Officially established as a regional park and nature reserve in 1970, the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue covers . This territory is some of the most natural and most protected in all of Europe. A roadside museum provides background on flora, fauna, and the history of the area.

Human influence

Humans have lived in the Camargue for millennia, greatly affecting it with drainage schemes, dykes,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

paddies and

salt pans Salt pans can refer to: * Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually found in deserts ** Sabkha, a phonetic translation of the Arabic word for a salt pan (geology) * Salt evaporation pond, a method o ...

. Much of the outer Camargue has been drained for agricultural purposes. The Camargue has an eponymous horse breed, the white Camarguais. Camargue horses are ridden by the '' gardians'' (cowboys), who rear the region's cattle for fighting bulls for regional use and for export to Spain, as well as sheep. Many of these animals are raised in semi-feral conditions, allowed to roam through the Camargue within a

manade A manade (prov. ''menada'', originally from lat. ''manus'' = hand) is a term used mainly in the Camargue area in France for a semi-feral group of Camargue cattle or horses led by a gardian, or herder. In French, the word ''manade'' dates from 18 ...

, or free-running herd. They are periodically rounded up for culling, medical treatment, or other events. Gardian house

Few towns of any size have developed in the Camargue. Its "capital" is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. The only other towns of note are along the sea front or near it: Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, about to the southwest and the medieval fortress-town of

Aigues-Mortes Aigues-Mortes (; oc, Aigas Mòrtas) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitania region of southern France. The medieval city walls surrounding the city are well preserved. Situated on the junction of the Canal du Rhône à Sèt ...

on the far western edge, in the ''Petite Camargue''. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the destination of the annual

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah. The Camargue was exploited in the Middle Ages by

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

and

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

monks. In the 16th–17th centuries, big estates, known locally as ''

mas Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

'', were founded by rich landlords from

. At the end of the 18th century, they had the Rhône diked to protect the town and their properties from flooding. In 1858, the building of the ''digue à la mer'' (dyke to the sea) achieved temporary protection of the delta from erosion, but it is a changing landform, always affected by waters and weather. The north of the Camargue is agricultural land. The main crops are cereals, grapevine and rice. Near the seashore, prehistoric man started extracting salt, a practice that continues today. Salt was a source of wealth for the Cistercian "salt abbeys" of Ulmet, Franquevaux and Psalmody in the Middle Ages. Industrial salt collection started in the 19th century, and big chemical companies such as

Péchiney Pechiney SA was a major aluminium conglomerate based in France. The company was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan Corporation, headquartered in Canada. In 2007, Alcan itself was taken over by mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan. Prior to its acquisitio ...

and Solvay founded the 'mining' city of Salin-de-Giraud. The boundaries of the Camargue are constantly revised by the Rhône as it transports huge quantities of mud downstream – as much as 20 million m³ annually. Some of the ''étangs'' are the remnants of old arms and legs of the river. The general trend is for the coastline to move outwards as new earth is deposited in the delta at the river's mouth.

, originally built as a port on the coast, is now some inland. The pace of change has been modified in recent years by man-made barriers, such as dams on the Rhône and sea dykes, but flooding remains a problem across the region.

References

External links

* or the "Camargue Nation" {{Authority control Landforms of Bouches-du-Rhône Arles Marshes of France Ramsar sites in Metropolitan France Biosphere reserves of France River deltas of Europe Birdwatching sites in France Important Bird Areas of France Natural regions of France Landforms of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur