Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French

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 ...

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Populations légales 2019: 84 Vaucluse
INSEE The department's prefecture is

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. It is named after a spring, the Fontaine de Vaucluse, one of the largest

karst spring A karst spring or karstic spring is a spring (outflow of groundwater) that is part of a karst hydrological system. Description Because of their often conical or inverted bowl shape, karst springs are also known in German-speaking lands as a ''T ...

s in the world. The name Vaucluse itself derives from the Latin ("closed valley") as the valley ends in a cliff face from which the spring emanates.

History

Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments 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 ...

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

and Basses-Alpes, later renamed Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The then rural department was, like the nearby city of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, a hotbed of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Geography

Vaucluse is bordered by 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 ...

to the west and the Durance to the south. Mountains occupy a significant proportion of the eastern half of the department, with

Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountain in the Provence region of southern France, located some northeast of Carpentras, Vaucluse. On the north side, the mountain borders the department of Drôme. At , it is the highest ...

(1,912 m), also known as "the Giant of Provence", dominating the landscape. Other important mountain ranges include the

Dentelles de Montmirail The Dentelles de Montmirail are a small chain of mountains in Provence in France, in the ''département'' of Vaucluse, located just to the south of the village of Vaison-la-Romaine. They are foothills of the highest peak in Provence, Mont Ven ...

, the

Monts de Vaucluse The Vaucluse Mountains (French: ''Monts de Vaucluse'') are a mountain range of the French Prealps located in the departement of Vaucluse, between the Luberon Massif and Mont Ventoux Mont Ventoux (; oc, Ventor, label= Provençal ) is a mountai ...

and the

Luberon The Luberon ( or ; Provençal: ''Leberon'' or ''Leberoun'' ) is a massif in central Provence in Southern France, part of the French Prealps. It has a maximum elevation of and an area of about . It is composed of three mountain ranges (from w ...

. Fruit and vegetables are cultivated in great quantities in the lower-lying parts of the department, on one of the most fertile plains in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

. The Vaucluse department has a rather large exclave within the

department, the canton of

Valréas Valréas (; oc, Vauriàs) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. History The area around the town of Valréas is known as ''L'Enclave des Papes''. It is an enclave of Vaucluse ...

( Enclave des Papes). Vaucluse is also known for its karst, including the

Fontaine de Vaucluse after which "Vauclusian Risings" are named.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is

, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants:

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Politics

Departmental Council

Following the 2021 departmental election, Dominique Santoni of The Republicans was elected

President of the Departmental Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council ( French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depa ...

. She succeeded Maurice Chabert, who had held the office since 2015. The Departmental Council of Vaucluse has 34 seats. The Left Front (FG) currently has 2 seats, 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 t ...

(PS) has 7,

Europe Ecology – The Greens Europe Ecology – The Greens (french: Europe Écologie Les Verts , EELV ) is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of the European Green Party. The party was formed on 13 November 2010 from the merge ...

(EELV) has 3, the

miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against their party's candi ...

(DVD) has 2, The Republicans (LR) have 10, the National Rally has 6 and a local party, the

Ligue du Sud The League of the South (French language, French: ''Ligue du Sud''; LS) is a Far-right politics, far-right List of political parties in France, political party in France founded by Jacques Bompard with former members of the National Rally, Nation ...

(LS), has 4.

Members of the National Assembly

During the 2017 legislative election, Vaucluse 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 rep ...

:List of members for Vaucluse
(in French), on www.nosdeputes.fr. *On 21 July 2017, Brune Poirson resigned from office to join the

Second Philippe government The second Philippe government (French: ''Gouvernement Édouard Philippe II'') was the forty-first government of the French Fifth Republic. It was the second government formed by Édouard Philippe under President Emmanuel Macron, following the 2 ...

as Secretary of State to the Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition. She was replaced in the National Assembly by Adrien Morenas. **

Jacques Bompard Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

resigned in August 2017 to become

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

. He was replaced by Marie-France Lorho.

Tourism

File:Saint-benezet in southeastern France.jpg, Pont Saint-Bénezet in

File:Brantes Vue d'ensemble 5.JPG,

Brantes Brantes (; oc, Brantas) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. See also *Communes of the Vaucluse department The following is a list of the 151 communes of the Vaucluse dep ...

File:TrBogen Orange.jpg,

Triumphal Arch of Orange The Triumphal Arch of Orange (french: Arc de triomphe d'Orange) is a triumphal arch located in the town of Orange, southeast France. There is debate about when the arch was built, but current research that accepts the inscription as evidence fav ...

File:DentelleMontmirail.jpg,

References

External links

*
Website of the Departmental Council

Prefecture website
{{Authority control States and territories established in 1793 1793 establishments in France Departments of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur