Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Legal populations 2021: 63 Puy-de-Dôme
INSEE. Retrieved 31 March 2024. Its

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

and subprefectures are Ambert, Issoire, Riom, and Thiers. Named after the Puy de Dôme dormant

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

, its inhabitants were called ''Puydedomois'' in French until 2005. With effect from 2006, in response to a letter writing campaign, the name used for the inhabitants was changed by the Puy-de-Dôme General Council to ''Puydômois''; this is the name that has since then been used in all official documents and publications.

History

Puy-de-Dôme is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Auvergne. Originally, the department was to be called ''Mont-d'Or'' ("Golden Mountain"), but this was changed to Puy-de-Dôme following the intervention of Jean-François Gaultier de Biauzat, a local deputy, because of a concern that the name originally chosen risked attracting excessive unwelcome attention from the national taxation authorities.

Geography

Puy-de-Dôme is part of the current

and is bordered by the departments of

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Canta ...

Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...

Corrèze Corrèze (; ) is a département in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, on the bo ...

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

, and

Creuse Creuse (; or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the east, Cor ...

. Parts of the department belong to the Parc naturel régional des Volcans d'Auvergne and Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez. The department is in the Massif Central and boasts more than 80 volcanic craters. It is three hours from Paris and an hour from

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

A71 and A89. The A75 links it to 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Principal towns

The most populous commune is

, the prefecture. As of 2021, there are 10 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Economy

The departmental seat,

, is home to one of the country's best known manufacturing businesses and brands,

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

. Thiers is the oldest industry place in Auvergne with its cutlery tradition from the 14th century. The countryside lends itself to tourism and Puy-de-Dôme is a weekend destination for city dwellers. As of 2019, 10.1% of the usable homes in the department were being kept as second homes.Logement en 2019
INSEE

Politics

The department was the electoral constituency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who served as President of the Republic from 1974 to 1981. The president of the Departmental Council is Lionel Chauvin, elected in July 2021.

Current National Assembly Representatives

National Assembly Representatives to the 15th Legislature

Tourism

File:Clermont vu de Montjuzet.JPG, The black Cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand File:Saint-Floret1.JPG, Saint-Floret, one of the most beautiful villages of France File:Puy de dome 2001-12-15.jpg, The Puy de Dôme volcano File:Lac de Guéry5.JPG, The Lac de Guéry in the Massif Central

References

External links

Prefecture website

Departmental Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puy-De-Dome Massif Central 1790 establishments in France Departments of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes States and territories established in 1790