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Ariège
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Ariège in France
Coordinates: 43°00′N 1°30′E / 43°N 1.5°E / 43; 1.5Coordinates: 43°00′N 1°30′E / 43°N 1.5°E / 43; 1.5
Country	France
Region	Midi-Pyrénées
Prefecture	Foix
Subprefectures	Pamiers Saint-Girons
Government
• President of the General Council	Augustin Bonrepaux (PS)
Area1
• Total	4,890 km2 (1,890 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	148,568
• Rank	96th
• Density	30/km2 (79/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	09
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	22
Communes	332
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Ariège (French pronunciation: [aʁjɛʒ]; Occitan: Arièja) is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.

History[link]

Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans.

Foix is the administrative capital of the Ariège. It is an ancient medieval town with a fortress Chateau de Foix perched on a hill overlooking it. The fortress has been attacked many times without capture, including an attempt by Simon de Montfort. It has also been used as a prison, and the names of English Prisoners of War can still be seen on the cell walls. Another famous chateau in the Ariège is Montségur, located on a rocky outcrop at a height of 1200 metres (3,900 ft). During the Albigensian Crusade and siege of 1244 AD the chateau was largely destroyed, with more than two hundred Cathar priests burnt at the stake as heretics. The chateau was gradually rebuilt by Royalists over a period of the next three hundred years.

The start of the seventeenth century saw the area ravaged by wars between Protestants and Catholics. In 1621 Huguenot forces ruined the church at La Tour-du-Crieu. In 1629 Pamiers was sacked by Henry of Condé following uprisings that left several hundred dead in the city. This was also the period during which the abbeys at Foix, Tarascon-sur-Ariège, Saint-Girons, Saverdun and Le Mas-d'Azil were torched and destroyed.

The nineteenth century was a time of strong industrial growth, supported in Ariège by an abundant supply of water power. The department also benefitted from its significant reserves of iron ore. The growth of iron based industries were a feature of the period, with the establishment in 1817 of a steel manufacturing plant at Pamiers which has been a principal driver of the local economy ever since. Other representative examples of the iron based industry that developed in Ariège during the nineteenth century include the forges at Montgaillard and the blast furnaces at Tarascon-sur-Ariège.

Description of the department's industrial development during the nineteenth century should also include mention of the paper industry at Saint-Girons and the textile industry in the Pays d'Olmes.

Towns of particular historical interest in the département include Pamiers, host to a large commercial centre and three churches. Mirepoix is a medieval town, as is Saint-Lizier situated on a hilltop with winding streets, fine views and a church with cloisters that are noteworthy. Saint-Girons is an agricultural centre with a Saturday market.

Geography[link]

The department is part of the current region of Midi-Pyrénées and is surrounded by the French departments of Haute-Garonne, Aude, and Pyrénées-Orientales, as well as Spain and Andorra on the south.

The geography is dominated by the Pyrenees mountains, which form the border between France and Spain. There are hundreds of miles of well-marked paths which allow exploration of the magnificent Pyrenees mountains. The high mountains are easily accessible via good roads, cable cars or by foot. There are a number of lodges providing high level mountain accommodation that are comfortable, warm and with good meals.

There are also a number of fresh water lakes which provide a variety of activities including, walking, swimming, fishing, canoeing, sailboarding and picnicking.

The Ariege has several of its own downhill ski resorts, the three largest being Ax-Bonascre, Les Monts D'Olmes and Guzet. There are many cross country ski-ing resorts, one of the best being at Plateau de Beille, near Les Cabannes.

The Pyrenees mountain range forms a fantastic backdrop to the entire Ariège Department, rising some 10,000 feet (3000m) in the Montcalm Massif, along the border with Andorra and Spain. The highest peaks are clearly visible visible from Toulouse in the Haute Garonne. It is one of the least populated and most unspoiled regions of France. The locals enjoy keeping traditions alive, especially old farming techniques. Consequently, as fewer insecticides, for example, have been used, the flora and fauna of the area continue to be rich in both diversity and numbers. Butterflies are common and birds are numerous; particularly noticeable are large birds of prey, including the magnificent Griffon vultures.

There are also many unspoiled villages and hamlets tucked away in the valleys close to the department's border with Spain – Seix, Cominac and Aulus Les Bain are examples – together with picturesque mountain villages, most notably Aleu which comes alive in the holiday season.

Climate[link]

Mont Valier seen from the road to Port d'Aula in the Haut Couserans

Ariège stands on the eastern limit of oceanic dominance over rainfall, but other influences are felt:

• Mediterranean – particularly visible in the vegetation of the foothills and of the valley of the Ariège river towards Tarascon, and in the Pays de Sault;

• Continental – in the Pyrenean valleys, with many storms and big differences of temperature between day and night.

There is no great tendency to summer drought as the flow of air from the north-west brings rain throughout the year. Rainfall is moderate on the foothills and in some sheltered valleys, measuring 700 to 1,000 mm per year, but increases significantly in the higher valleys with levels between 1,000 mm and 1,800 mm. The slopes exposed to the north-west, such as Aulus and Orlu, are, as one would expect, the wettest, together with the frontal ridges that meet air flow from the southwest (giving rise to the Foehn effect). Snow cover is common over 1,000 metres, lasting several months above 1,500 to 2,000 metres. Some periglacial areas exist over 2,500 m but the only true glacier in Ariège is that of Mont Valier, near Castillon-en-Couserans.

Temperatures are mild in the foothills, e.g. at the city of Foix (400 metres) the average is 5 °C in January and 19 °C in July. However, they decline rapidly with elevation, e.g. at l'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre (1,430 m) it is 0 °C in January and 14 °C in July.

Demographics[link]

The castle at Foix

Cathedral of Saint-Antonin at Pamiers

Covered shopfronts at Mirepoix

The inhabitants of the department are called Ariégeois.

The department has 151,477 inhabitants, or 146,289 as the population without double counting.

The populations of the arrondissements (double-counting) are :

• Foix – 53,595
• Pamiers – 69,664
• Saint Girons – 28,218

The populations of the principal towns (double-counting) are :

• Pamiers – 15,702
• Foix – 9,994
• Lavelanet – 7,068
• Saint Girons – 7,019^[1]

Economy[link]

The Ariege department is a largely unknown department which is situated next to the Aude in the most southern part of the Midi-Pyrenees region and shares its borders with the Aude, Andorra, Haute Garonne and the Pyrenees Orientales. This is predominantly a farming area as the soil is rich and fertile and yet more than 50% of the Ariège is mountainous, with 490 965 hectares being covered by forests.