Gap, Hautes-Alpes

Gap (, ) is the prefecture of the department of Hautes-Alpes, in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southeastern France. In 2019, the commune had a population of 40,631, making it the most populated city in Hautes-Alpes. At a height of 750 metres above sea level, to the south of the Écrins Massif, it is also France's highest prefecture.

Together with other Alpine towns, Gap engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Gap was awarded Alpine Town of the Year in 2002. In 2013 Gap was named the sportiest city in France by the national sports newspaper ''L'Équipe''.

Toponymy

The first attestation of the name of the city is located in the ancient texts as ''Vappincum'', later reduced to ''Vappum'', the form of Gap is found in the 13th century.

The toponym ''Vappincum'' is analyzed on the basis of a radical ''Vapp-'' unknown meaning, and the suffix ''-incu'' of Ligurian origin found in Provence and the Massif central to the Alps (cf. Arlanc, Nonenque, Moirans and ''Morencum'' in the 10th century and Lemenc, a district of Chambéry, formerly ''Lemencum''). The Gap form actually began as the short form ''Vappum'', well attested, by the final drop.

The v- has been radically treated as a w- Germanic, where ''*Wap'', then Gap (see for this type of evolution the wasp, Latin ''vespa'', treats words as ''*wespa''; mistletoe, Latin ''viscum'', treated as ''*wiscum'', etc.,However, these terms have not been of Germanic influence in the other Romance languages, including Provençal : Latin ''vespa'' > Provençal ''vespa'', Latin ''viscum'' > Provençal ''vesc''. depending on the phonetic path > w> . This phonetic evolution would be more specifically made under the influence of the Gothic language.

The name in Provençal (Alpine) is also ''Gap''.

History

Prehistory

The first settlement of Gap dates back to the Neolithic.Société d'études des Hautes-Alpes, Histoire de la ville de Gap, p. 4. The culture of these first inhabitants belonged to the southern Chasséen.

Very rare testimonies of the pre-Roman era are formed by the remains of an oppidum located at the summit of the hill of ''Saint-Mens'' with few visible traces of a dolmen uncovered in 1866 and an ancient cemetery in the hamlet of Pré Camargue; but no remains were kept of these last two findings. Gallic money was also found. Gap was the capital of the Celto- Ligurian tribe. These peoples, probably belonging to the Caturiges tribe, spoke the Celtic language.

The Roman period

The was then part of the territory of the Tricorii, a Gallic people who were Romanised during the conquest of Gallia Narbonensis in 125-124 BC, and whose capitals were Luc-en-Diois and Vaison.

Around 20 BC, Cottius, a leader of tribes of the Valley of Suze, allied to Rome, and urged by Augustus, undertook the building of a route of communication in the Valley of the Durance. He had get the submission of the peoples of the area who were eager to maintain their independence. This route, built between 14 and 6 BC, and which received the name of ''Via Cottia per Alpem'', linked Turin to Sisteron and consisted of six stations. Then known as ''Vapincum'', the town of Gap was founded from one of these stations. In 22 AD, Gap became the start of a Roman road to Valence.Société d'études des Hautes-Alpes, Histoire de la ville de Gap, pages 7 à 9.

At this time, the location of the future city was a Roman camp. The camp was protected by a terraced wall surrounded by a ditch. It was the largest between Montgenèvre and Sisteron. The garrison that occupied it could be estimated at 360 men. They came from the surrounding peoples. They were assigned to protect users of the Roman roads against brigands. Later, an axis towards the was created. The Gap site took importance by becoming a hub of communications.

The economy was mainly pastoral and the first crops grew on the slopes of ''Puymaure''. Some houses were built on stilts as shown by excavations.

During the first centuries, the population increased significantly. Towards the end of the 3rd century and 4th century, fortifications were built to protect the central core of the town. These completely surrounded the enclosure with walls and eleven towers. With an enclosed area of the center of the town formed a big village.

Middle Ages

From 28 December 986, the Bishop of Gap had sovereign rights over the city due to concerns about future Muslim invasions. The bishops kept this power until Revolutionary reforms in 1801 despite Gap being annexed by the French crown in 1512.

Gap and its area became part of the County of Provence which was established at the end of the 10th century. The County of Forcalquier was separated in the 12th century. Although the bishops of Gap were the temporal lords of the city their control was long disputed by officers of the Counts of Forcalquier notably during the episcopacy of Arnoux who later became the bishop of the city. On the death of the last Count of Forcalquier in 1209, the Embrun and Gap areas were passed to the Dauphiné while those of Forcalquier and Sisteron returned to the County of Provence. It is for this reason that the current coat of arms of the Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur is the coat of arms of the Dauphiné. In 1349 the Dauphin of Viennois Humbert II passed on his Principality to the eldest son of Philippe VI of France, the future King of France Charles V. From 1349 to 1457 Dauphiné remained a Principality separated from France, whose prince was the eldest son of the King of France. In 1457, Charles VII put an end to this status and joined the province to the Kingdom of France.

The Knights Templar owned a house at Gap, a secondary establishment which depended on a . The creation of the , which ruled the city, dated back to before 1209.

In the 14th century, the city took advantage of the benefits of the installation of the Popes in Avignon, which brought a more frequent passage of travellers to develop a craft of wool and skins, which made it thrive. Avignon linkages were strengthened by the presence of many clerics of the entourage of the Pope, within the chapter of the canons of Gap.

Renaissance and early modern era

The 16th and 17th centuries were particularly dark times for the city. The Wars of Religion were lethal in the region. Gap was a Catholic stronghold, while the switched to Protestantism. After various skirmishes, François de Bonne, leader of the Protestants, decided to attack Gap, nevertheless protected by 20 towers. On the night of 3 January 1577, François Philibert, known as ''Cadet de Charance'', opened the Saint-Arey gate, and allowed him to attack the city by surprise. To cries of "Kill! Kill!" his men proceeded in veritable butchery. De Bonne burned the cathedral, plundered the monasteries, appropriated the property of the inhabitants, and built a proud citadel on the ''Colline de Puymaur''e uymaure Hillwhere it dominated over Gap. Returned to Catholicism in 1622, he abandoned all claims to the city.

In 1692, the troops of the ruler Victor Amadeus II, committed with the League of Augsburg, against France of Louis XIV, captured the city, abandoned by its inhabitants, on 29 August. Gap was looted and burned, of the 953 houses in the commune, 798 were destroyed. This was part of the .

In 1790, during the French Revolution, the province of Dauphiné was divided into three departments: Drôme, Isère and Hautes-Alpes which Gap became the prefecture. Hautes-Alpes then became the highest Department of France and Gap, the highest prefecture of the country. It remains prefecture of Haute-Alpes to this day.

19th century

In 1802, the baron was appointed . Under his administration, the city of Gap and the Department of the Hautes-Alpes experienced some growth. It built roads linking Gap to Italy and the Drôme Valley and created a departmental nursery. His statue, carved by the Gap sculptor Jean Marcellin, was erected in 1866 at the square which bears his name.

Napoleon I left Elba in February 1815 and stopped at Gap on 5 March 1815 with 40 horsemen and 10 grenadiers, where he had thousands of copies of his Proclamations printed. The whole population of the city accompanied Napoleon when he left Gap. Acknowledging the reception of the population of these regions, he left the Haut-Alpins with the following message:

Gap experienced a new era from 1875 with the arrival of the railway.

The commune of ''Chaudun'' was joined with Gap, by the prefectoral Decree of 22 October 1895.

20th century

Second World War

During World War II, the city was part of the free zone. But after November 1942 and the Case Anton, it was integrated into the occupied area. After Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944, the Germans placed some 1,000 men to hold the ''cuvette de Gap'' ap Basin a key point of the Cannes-Lyon axis. , 37 years old, an original Gaullist resistant and accomplished soldier (he had trained more than 4000 resistance fighters in combat and about a hundred in sabotage) was sent by the GPRF of General de Gaulle to liberate the city on behalf of the Resistance. Aided by local guerrillas and resistance, he has however no way to take the city by force. He then started with his men in a campaign of sabotage and bombings that lasted more than a month. After having isolated the city by destroying the infrastructure surrounding it (overpasses, railway lines, bridges, etc.), the FFI had managed to rally the population and give the occupiers an impression of encirclement.

A mid-August 1944, Drouot-L'Hermine, who lost his right-hand man, , a few days earlier, sent two emissaries to negotiate the surrender of the Germans. The Germans were convinced of facing a large-scale uprising, and agreed to lay down their weapons provided that it was to regular troops (they refused, therefore, to surrender to the Resistance). While the Americans were more than away, time was pressing for Drouot-L'Hermine. Indeed, he received an order from De Gaulle to liberate the city before the arrival of the Allies, to support the position of France as a victorious nation, liberated through the active participation of the Resistance. Drouot-L'Ermine then developed a new ploy. He managed to convince the Allies to advance one of their tanks into enemy terrain, and shoot a few rounds close to Gap. Shots echoed in the valley, and the Germans immediately identified the characteristic sound of a tank, a weapon that the guerrillas did not hold. Thinking they were then dealing with the Allies, the troops of the Reich surrendered to the Resistance. Therefore, a few hundred resistance fighters were able to capture 1,200 German soldiers, including 40 officers. The city was liberated on the evening of 19 August 1944.

Fifth Republic

The commune of ''Romette'' was associated with that of Gap, by decree dated 25 November 1974.

File:Aerienne-gap-1927.jpeg, An aerial photograph of Gap (IGN) from 1927
File:Aerienne-gap-1945.jpeg, An aerial photograph of Gap (IGN) from 1945

Gap ran a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, but lost out as France's candidate to nearby Annecy. The games were eventually awarded to Pyeongchang in South Korea.

Geography

Location

An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and the Route nationale 85, or '' Route Napoléon'', which crosses the Col Bayard north of the city, Gap is located between the historic Dauphiné and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur administrative region. With its 40,559 inhabitants (2018), it is the main town of an urban area of 80,555 inhabitants (2018), and the main town of the Southern French Alps. above sea level, at the right bank of the river , close to where it joins the Durance to the north, Gap is in the midst of a rich and preserved natural environment, south-west of the Écrins National Park, south-east of the Dévoluy massif and west of the Lac de Serre-Ponçon. The region around Gap is known as .

Geology and terrain

The commune of Gap is almost entirely located in the ''Sillon de Gap'' ap trench a wide valley bottom located about above sea level and including the western slopes almost (Charance mountain and pic de Gleize).

The highest point of the municipality is however outside this great valley, on another watershed slope, the Raz de Bec, at , is within the limits of the commune, and was in the former commune of Chaudun, which merged with Gap in the 19th century.

This valley was shaped by the ''Glacier de la Durance'' during the last ice age, known as the Würm glaciation.

Thus, soils are very often formed by moraine deposits. No less than five levels of lateral and frontal moraines are observable. These are clearly visible, especially on the southern slopes of the Col Bayard, where they were formed in places of the terraces used by agriculture.

In retreating, the glacier also left erratics of several metres high. Examples include, among others, the erratic boulders of ''Peyre-Ossel'' and ''Justice''.

The glacier, which in the Quaternary has shaped the ''Sillon de Gap'', presented several : one to the glacier of the Drac from the cols of Manse and Bayard and one towards the Buëch Valley by the La Freissinouse border.

The cover of morainic debris is omnipresent in the ''Sillon de Gap'' but is not the only vestige of the Quaternary glaciation. There is also the typical topography of glacial valleys. The location of the town of Gap corresponds to an ''Ombilic glaciaire'', where large quantities of clay were deposited. Upstream lies the lacial lockof Pont-Sarrazin and downstream of Tourronde.

The mechanical action of the ''glacier de la Durance'' was facilitated by the presence of relatively friable layers. The part which is central and south-east of the town consists mainly of soft rocks ( Callovo- Oxfordian black marl). They consist of soft schist of bluish or brown colors. In the northwestern part are the harder rocks of lighter colours, Tithonian limestone, formed in places of rocky bars or cornices.

File:Gap vu de ceuse (FR-05000).jpg, alt=The Sillon de Gap (towards the north-east), a large glacial valley, The ''Sillon de Gap'' (towards the north-east), a large glacial valley.
File:Gap-photo045.jpg, alt=The glacial erratic of Peyre-Ossel placed on a lateral moraine, The glacial erratic of ''Peyre-Ossel'' placed on a lateral moraine
File:Gap001.jpg, alt=Limestone layers of the Pic du Charance, Limestone layers of the Pic du Charance
File:Gap-sentinelle.jpg, alt=Southeast of the commune of Gap, Southeast of the commune of Gap

Hydrography

The town of Gap is crossed by the , a tributary of the Durance which has a total course of . During its passage through the commune, the Luye receives several torrents. It merges on the right bank with the long ''Buzon'', the ''Bonne'' () and the ''torrent du Cristaye'' (); and on the left bank, the ''La Magdeleine Canal'' (), the ''Riotord'' () and the ''torrent du Partiment'', () long.

Even if the Luye hydrographic basin represents the largest share of the commune, waters at the southwest of the commune (the Saint-Jean quarter) drain into the torrent of Malecombe, a tributary of the Rousine, which flows into the Durance south of Tallard.

In the Northwest of the commune (located on the other side of the col de Gleize) lie the sources. Around above sea level, they are formed by several streams which converge at the old village of .

Finally, an important channel feeds Gap with drinking water and water for irrigation: The , or ''Canal du Drac'', about long, leads the water captured in the Drac via a tunnel under the Col de Manse to the Jaussauds reservoir (altitude ) where it divides into two branches, including the main branch which bypasses Gap west to Correo through Charance.

File:Gap022.jpg, alt=The Luye at Gap, near to the Parc de la Pépinière, The Luye at Gap, near to the Parc de la Pépinière
File:Gap010.JPG, alt=The lake of the Jaussauds reservoir, The lake of the Jaussauds Reservoir

Climate

Gap features an oceanic climate (''Cfb''), according to the Köppen system, with some continental influence due to its elevation. Very influenced by its interior position, the city experiences cold, snowy winters and warm summers.

Thus the main feature of the local climate is the importance of the sunshine enjoyed by the city. Furthermore, snowfall underscores the mountain character of the city. Thunderstorms are frequent in summer, fog is rather rare.

The tables below represent averages of monthly temperatures.

They also show the maximum and minimum mean temperatures over the period from 1951 to 1970.

Comparisons with surveys of the period from 1878 to 1940 showed lower maximum averages over the period from 1950 to 1970 for the winter and summer months. Over the same period, again for the winter and summer months, there was an increase in the average minimum. Thus the evolution of the climate tends towards a slight reduction of differences in winter temperatures on the one hand, and summer on the other.

Extreme temperatures also highlight the mountain and Mediterranean components of the climate. Indeed, over the decade 1951-1960 the absolute minimum recorded was on 3 February 1956. While the absolute maximum was of observed 8 July 1952.

The evolution of the average monthly temperatures (in red) and an average monthly rainfall (in blue) are summarized in the chart below.

Outside of the valley breezes, the prevailing wind is from the north, locally named the ''bise'' wind. In fact, it is a component of the mistral. Up the Drac Valley, this wind crosses the Bayard plateau down to Gap. When it carries clouds, there is the phenomenon of "the bar of Bayard": a compact pile of clouds covering the Bayard plateau. Pushed by the wind, they descend into the valley. Under the effect of the increase in pressure and temperature, these clouds disappear immediately a few hundred metres further down. Even in perpetual motion, cloud cover appears motionless. If these conditions are synonymous with freshness in autumn and spring, and bright cold in the winter, they are always accompanied by a perfectly sunny and clear atmosphere above the city.

Channels of communication and transport

Road network

The town of Gap lies at a crossroads. The route nationale RN 85 heads towards the north and the south, the to the east and the departmental RD 994 road to the west.

The RN 85 travels north to Grenoble. Sisteron is located in the opposite direction, and eventually also to the Mediterranean. The RN 94 travels to reach Briançon and towards Italy via the Col de Montgenèvre. Meanwhile, the RD 994 joins with Pont-Saint-Esprit in Gard

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