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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2007) |
For other uses, see Tarn (disambiguation).
| Tarn | |
|---|---|
| |
| Coat of arms of the Tarn department | |
| Location | |
| |
| Administration | |
| Department number: | 81 |
| Region: | Midi-Pyrénées |
| Prefecture: | Albi |
| Subprefectures: | Castres |
| Arrondissements: | 2 |
| Cantons: | 46 |
| Communes: | 324 |
| President of the General Council: | Thierry Carcenac |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 65th |
| -1999 | 343,402 |
| Population density: | 60/km² |
| Land area¹: | 5758 km² |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². | |
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Tarn is a department of 5 758 km² in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the south-west of France, named after the Tarn River.
It was formed in 1790 of the three dioceses of Albi, Castres and Lavaur, belonging to the province of Languedoc.
In 1906, the population was 330,533. In 1999, it stood at 343,402.
Tarn is bounded N. and E. by Aveyron, S.E. by Herault, S. by Aude, S.W. and W. by Haute-Garonne, N.W. by Tarn-et-Garonne. The slope of the department is from east to west, and its general character is mountainous or hilly.
Tarn\'s three principal ranges lying to the south-east are: the Mountains of Lacaune, the Sidobre, and the Montagne Noire, belonging to the Cevennes. The stony and wind-blown slopes of the firstnamed are used for pasture. The highest point of the range and of the department is the Pic de Montalet (about 4150 ft.); several other summits are not much short of this. The granite strewn plateaux of the Sidobre, from 1600 to 2000 ft high, separate the valley of the River Agout from that of its western tributary, the River Thoré. The Montagne Noire, on the southern border of the department, derives its name from the forests on its northern slope, and some of its peaks are from 3000 to 3500 ft high.
The limestone and sandstone foot-hills are clothed with vines and fruit trees, and are broken by deep alluvial valleys of particular fertility. With the exception of a small portion of the Montagne Noire, which drains into the River Aude, the whole department belongs to the basin of the Garonne. The eastern portion of the department has the climate of Auvergne, the severest in France, but that of the plain is Girondin.
Of particular note in the department are Albi (the capital), Castres, Gaillac, Lavaur, Mazamet and Cordes.
Other places of interest are:
This includes information from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
