Ardennes () is a department in the region of northeastern France named after the broader

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

. Its prefecture is the town

Charleville-Mézières or ''Carolomacérienne'' , image flag=Flag of Charleville Mezieres.svg Charleville-Mézières () is a commune of northern France, capital of the Ardennes department, Grand Est. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the river Meuse. ...

. The department has 270,582 inhabitants.Populations légales 2019: 08 Ardennes
INSEE The inhabitants of the department are known as or .

Geography

Political geography

The department of Ardennes is bounded by

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Marne to the south,

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a ...

to the east and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

(Provinces of

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Na ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and Hainaut) to the north.

Human geography

The district is crossed in its northern part by the winding

valley where most people live and activities are focused.

and Sedan are the main urban centres. It is in the catchment of the Academy of Reims and the jurisdiction of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

of Reims. The

statistical Statistics (from German: '' Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industr ...

code and Post Code prefix is 08.

Physical geography

Ardennes is part of the

, a plateau deeply cut by the Meuse and its many tributaries which reach into

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—al ...

in Belgium,

, Germany (

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

), and the north of the neighbouring

department of Meuse Meuse () is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse. Meuse is part of the current region of Grand Est and is landlocked and borders by the French departments of Ardennes, Marne, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle, a ...

. Covering , the department was the smallest among the four contributors to

Champagne-Ardenne Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of the ...

. It is diverse in climate, topography, natural vegetation and land use, which is a mixture of forest and arable farming. The highest point is 504 m, on the southern slopes of the

Croix Scaille The Croix Scaille is the plateau of a forested massif in the Ardennes, in Wallonia, bounded to the north by the valley of the Semois and to the east by the Meuse. It is the highest point of the southern Ardennes, with a height of 504 metres abov ...

shared by French commune Les Hautes-Rivières and the Belgian commune of

Gedinne Gedinne (; wa, Djedene) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,405 inhabitants. The total area is , giving a population density of . It is situated in the Ardennes eas ...

. It is in this part of the

mountains or high hills that the Meuse winds through, known locally as "the valley". Flowing into the northern part of the department, it waters the main cities of Sedan,

, and Nouzonville. It has numerous tributaries – the main ones locally being the

Semois The Semois (; ''Simwès'' in Walloon, often under elided form ''Smwès''; ''Semoy'', ''Sesbach'' in German, ''Setzbaach'' in Luxemburgish of Arlon; and known as the ''Semoy'' in France) is a river flowing from the Ardennes uplands of Belgium an ...

and the Chiers. As to the south, the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. Th ...

disparaged as flea-ridden Champagne) extended to the south-west by the small, grain-growing Porcien, Thiérache in the west and Argonne in the east are fringe grasslands with very distinctive upper soils. File:Champagne crayeuse.jpg, A typical landscape of Champagne chalk in the south of the department. File:Givet - Vue de la Meuse et du fort de Charlemont.jpg, View of the Meuse valley in the north of the department at Givet. File:ferme porcien.jpg, Farm of Porcien in the south-west of the department.

Climatology

The department does not have a uniform climate throughout its territory, especially most winters. From the north near Aisne and the border with Belgium, through the centre near the canton of Omont, to the south of the valley of the Meuse, the climate is considered "degraded continental" (heavy rainfall in autumn and frequent frosts in winter). The rest of the department has a "degraded oceanic" or "temperate continental" climate (relative to an oceanic climate, the winters are colder and the summers are hotter, rainfall in the lowlands is lower and winds are of lower strength). All this stems from location, midway between the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian ...

and parts of the continent relatively far from any sea. Winter can be as cold as inner continental lowland Europe some winters and quite often snowier, particularly near main settlements Rocroi, Givet and Sedan in the north. This climatic difference is particularly pronounced in the presence of frost especially in the valleys of the

, Semoy, the plateau of Rocroi, and around the Croix-Scaille where it can be very marked and persists longer in the year with great influence on vegetation. Across lands further west and south frontal zones (affecting air and precipitation) are tempered more by the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

and

; nearby seeing quite flat terrain – isolated small ranges or lower regions of hills, excluding the mountains across much of the south-eastern third of France.

Demography

The evolution and distribution of the population

Despite a high birth rate (the highest rate in France in 1968), the department continues to lose population: 275,371 in 2016 due to high unemployment (hence "migration" continues). The two world wars have each time resulted in a loss of population (such as the "exodus" of 1940). There were 330,000 people at the end of the 19th century. That the major urban areas of the department are the most affected is characterized by a stagnation of the population – a population decline of up to 2% compared to 1999 in the city centres and suburbs (

, Revin,

Fumay Fumay () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France, very close to the Belgian border. The engineer Charles-Hippolyte de Paravey was born in Fumay. Geography It is situated in the Meuse valley, the main part of the town be ...

, Givet,

Rethel Rethel () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and third-most important city and economic center in the department. It is situated on the river Aisne, near the northern border of Champagne and 37&n ...

). The communes, however, are gaining inhabitants (the phenomenon of urban sprawl). This is explained by the search for better living in the countryside which matches the desire of many people to build a small land-holding, typically a house with land to the detriment of their proximity to their workplace. This highly contemporary concept favours commuting between Home and Work. This is the phenomenon of suburbanization which has become common in the whole of France from which Ardennes does not escape. On 1 January 2006, the Ardennes population stood at 295,653 inhabitants. The population is declining in urban areas but five times less than in rural areas. The limited decline in the urban space where two-thirds of the Ardennes people live is the result of two opposite dynamics. Semi-urban communes have gained 0.5% of inhabitants per year over the period 1999–2006 at the expense of urban centres (downtown and suburbs) which lost 0.6% per year. For thirty years the population has lagged in the main cities of Ardennes. Between 1999 and 2006, the annual decline was 0.2% for Sedan and

, 1.8% for Revin, and 1% for

. The most unfavourable rural population change came from degradation of rural employment centres, such as

Vouziers Vouziers () is a commune of the Ardennes department, northern France. Vouziers is the burial place of the pioneer First World War fighter pilot Roland Garros, after whom the Stade Roland Garros in Paris (the location of the French Open ten ...

and to a lesser extent that of their periphery. This was slightly mitigated by a small increase in population in other rural communes.

Main towns

The most populous commune is the prefecture

. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants: File:Charleville-Mézières - Pont d'Arches -1.jpg,

on the

, the main town of Ardennes and the third largest agglomeration in

. File:FR-08-Sedan03.JPG, Sedan, also watered by the Meuse, is at the heart of the second largest urban area of Ardennes. File:Hôpital Général, Rethel.jpg,

, a city watered by the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on 4 March 1790 under the Act of 22 December 1789. It includes part of the former provinces of Champagne and Argonne, several principalities including those of Arches and Sedan, countships (such as

), and different areas returned to France (from the former

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

) in the 18th century. On 12 May 1793 the department expanded itself with the Bailiwick of Liège, Couvin, and the countships from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

of Fagnolle and on 26 October 1795 a part of the Duchy of Bouillon. After the victory of the

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Sevent ...

on 18 June 1815, the second Treaty of Paris subtracted territory from Ardennes to attach to the Netherlands: Duchy of Bouillon, Couvin, Mariembourg, Fagnolle, and

Philippeville Philippeville (; wa, Flipveye) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium. The Philippeville municipality includes the former municipalities of Fagnolle, Franchimont, Jamagne, Jamiolle, Merlemont, ...

. In addition, the department was occupied by Prussian troops from June 1815 to November 1818. On 2 September 1870 Sedan was the place of surrender for

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

at the

Battle of Sedan The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, ...

against the troops of the Prussian states, a coalition commanded by

Helmut von Moltke Helmut is a German name. Variants include Hellmut, Helmuth, and Hellmuth. From old German, the first element deriving from either ''heil'' ("healthy") or ''hiltja'' ("battle"), and the second from ''muot'' ("spirit, mind, mood"). Helmut may refer ...

. The King of Prussia Wilhelm I, the future emperor of the

Imperial Germany The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, and Bismarck viewed the battle from the hills overlooking Sedan. The defeat marked the end of the Second Empire, and at the same time the birth of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

on 4 September 1870. Bundesarchiv Bild 104-0152, Argonnen, zerschossener Wald, Stellung

During the two world wars for strategic reasons the region each time became the passage for the invading armies because of the narrow width of the Meuse and its deep valley. The French military believed that the region was defended by its terrain and thick forests present in the northern of the department and so neglected the defence of the territory. During the First World War the Battle of the Ardennes was fought in the department and

became the headquarters of the German Crown Prince. It was at Vouziers and other places that the

Czechoslovak legions , image = Coat of arms of the Czechoslovak Legion.svg , image_size = 200px , alt = , caption = Czechoslovak Legion coat of arms , start_date ...

fought, and it was also near the same city that the aeroplane of Roland Garros was shot down. It was the only French department have been fully occupied during that conflict except for northern Lorraine (

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

) and

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

which had been under German administration since 1871. During the Second World War the main effort of the German army was again focused on this area, especially on the right bank of the River Meuse, symbolized by the breakthrough at Sedan which would lead the French troops into the strategic trap the

Yellow Plan (Case Yellow), the invasion of France and the Low Countries , scope = Strategic , type = , location = South-west Netherlands, central Belgium, northern France , coordinates = , planned = 1940 , planned_by = Erich von ...

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. It is in this department that the

Maginot Line The Maginot Line (french: Ligne Maginot, ), named after the Minister of the Armed Forces (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, F ...

ended: the last fort of the line ( Fort Villy la Ferte) was located about five kilometres from

Carignan Carignan (also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Mediterr ...

. The French General staff did not want to continue the line of defence along the border with Belgium, a neutral and friendly country. Furthermore, they hoped that the unique geography and the forest would stop the German army. After the armistice of 1940 Ardennes was declared a "forbidden zone" (actually a German settlement area) throughout the occupation by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

army. In 1944 the "

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

" was fought partly in this department.

Etymology

The name of the department is related to the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

''Ardenne'' which could derive from the Gallic ''ardu'' meaning "high". It would have been transformed into ''Arduenna'' by the Romans to designate the ancient Ardennes forest and the mountains mentioned by Julius Caesar in the work attributed to him: '' Commentaries on the Gallic War''. ''Arduenna Sylva'' was used for the pine forest on the plateau of

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastog ...

. It was then transformed into ''Ardenna'' in the 6th century. This toponym is absent from the names of communes in the department of Ardennes while those of Argonne ( Beaumont-en-Argonne), Porcien (

Château-Porcien Château-Porcien () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France. The communes ...

, Novion-Porcien,

Chaumont-Porcien Chaumont-Porcien () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population History After his travel to the tumb of Jesus, in the 6th century, . When he arrived at the forest of Chaumont-Porcien (which no longer exists), he ...

, and even Champagne ( Vaux-Champagne) are sometimes fused and all have a connotation of regional belonging. This is why the name of ''Ardenne'' is not specific to the department as it is found in many other parts of France – for example in western and central-western France,This toponym is present 5 times in

Charentes Charente (; Saintongese: ''Chérente''; oc, Charanta ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, south western France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and ...

; notably in the name of the village of

Saint-Grégoire-d'Ardennes Saint-Grégoire-d'Ardennes () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente-Maritime department The following is a list of the 463 communes of the Charente-Maritime ...

Charente-Maritime Charente-Maritime () is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the southwestern coast of France. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kil ...

); principal source: Jacques Duguet, ''Place names of Charentes'', éditions Bonneton, 1995, p. 9 and 10 Belgium, and Luxembourg where it has its usual sense – from Celtic origin – of "high", "high woods" or "forest".

Heraldry

Administration

Administrative organization

The seat of the prefecture of the department is at

and the three sub-prefectures are

, Sedan, and

. Rocroi was also a sub-prefecture until 1926. In addition, the departmental seat of the ''General Council of Ardennes'' is located at Charleville-Mézières.

Territorial organization

The Ardennes is composed of 452 communes which are grouped into 19 cantons and four arrondissements of varying sizes. The largest arrondissement of the department is that of

while the smallest is Sedan which is half the size. The two arrondissements that occupy the northern part of the Ardennes, however, have four-fifths of the departmental population. The other two arrondissements,

and

, occupy the southern part of the department with roughly comparable areas but are very sparsely populated. Rocroi vu des remparts

Before the Poincaré decree of 10 September 1926 which removed many sub-prefectures in France, the department had five arrondissements. In addition to the four mentioned above, the fifth was that of Rocroi – a small historic city in the north-west of the department close to Belgium – which has been since annexed in its entirety to the district of Charleville-Mézières. The former arrondissement of Rocroi then consisted of six cantons – including four on the border with Belgium – which were Givet,

, Revin, Rocroi, Rumigny, and Signy-le-Petit. Givet - Hôtel de ville

Under the intercommunality framework, Ardennes consists of an urban community organized around the city préfecture, called ''Heart of Ardennes'' and has fifteen communities of communes including in Sedan the ''Communauté de communes du Pays sedanais'' which is the most important. In addition, the Ardennes has 33 communes that do not adhere to any Intercommunal cooperative organisation (EPCI). File:La Meuse à Sedan 1.jpg, La

at Sedan, sub-préfecture and second city of Ardennes. File:Bibliothèque et église saint Nicolas Rethel.jpg,

, sub-préfecture of Ardennes and third city of the department. File:Saint-Maurille 03.jpg,

, the smallest sub-préfecture of the Ardennes department.

List of territorial collectives

* List of the 452 communes of the department * List of cantons of Ardennes *

Arrondissement of Charleville-Mézières The arrondissement of Charleville-Mézières is an arrondissement of France in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region. It has 157 communes. Its population is 158,005 (2016), and its area is . Composition The communes of the arrondisseme ...

* Arrondissement of Rethel * Arrondissement of Sedan * Arrondissement of Vouziers

Politics

The President of the Departmental Council is Noël Bourgeois of The Republicans.

Current National Assembly Representatives

Presidential elections 2nd round

Economy

The economy of the department, after previously resting on agriculture (forestry and livestock – crops are poor), has been based for over a century now on industry (now in a difficult position) and the services sector, although the proportion of the Ardennes labour force working in this sector is lower than the national average. At the beginning of the 19th century, the region was the largest in France for metal working using

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

. There was no

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

found in the department (only

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

from

was usable) but the metallurgical industry developed there (bolts,

screws A screw and a bolt (see '' Differentiation between bolt and screw'' below) are similar types of fastener typically made of metal and characterized by a helical ridge, called a ''male thread'' (external thread). Screws and bolts are used to f ...

, nails). The railway with many branches (''Compagnie des chemins de fer des Ardennes'' from the Sellière family which merged with the Compagnie de l'Est) accelerated the industrialization at the end of the 19th century in Charleville, Sedan (which had its

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

s), and Revin. The newspaper ''L'Usine ardennaise'' (The Ardennes Machine) became ''

L'Usine nouvelle ''L'Usine nouvelle'' is a weekly French business magazine that covers business and technology. It is based in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine near Paris. History This trade magazine appeared for the first time on 5 December 1891 in Charleville in the Ar ...

'' (The New Machine). The crisis in the 1970s precipitated the decline of metallurgical activity in the department (the

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheri ...

and small workshops closed one after the other:

Blagny Blagny () is a Communes of France, commune in the Ardennes (department), Ardennes Departments of France, department in northern France. It is around 7 km from the Belgian border, and around 20 km south-east of Sedan, Ardennes, Sedan. ...

, Vireux-Molhain, Murtin-et-Bogny, etc.). Today there are still many

subcontractors A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract. Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor ...

for the railway industry (

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

for example) and the car industry ( GMC,

PSA Peugeot Citroën The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...

, among others),

Hermès Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, sinc ...

has recently installed themselves at Murtin-et-Bogny, PSA Peugeot Citroën is installed at Les Ayvelles. There is also a nuclear site – the

Chooz Nuclear Power Plant The Chooz Nuclear Power Station (french: Centrale nucléaire de Chooz) lies in the municipality of Chooz in the Ardennes department, France, on the Meuse River in a panhandle protruding into Belgium, between the French city of Charleville-Méz ...

with several reactors including the first

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...

(REP) in France. Agriculture has grown considerably using industrial techniques (

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet ('' Beta vulgaris''). Together ...

). There are direct TGV trains from the Gare de l'Est in Paris to

(1h 35 m), Sedan, and several TGV trains to Reims with a change for Charleville-Mézières.How to come to Charleville-Mézières
, consulted on 31 May 2013 A "Y" road has also been set up with the A4 Reims-Paris, the A34 (freeway), and the links to

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

which need to take the N5 to join the motorway ring of

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. Similarly, the junction with the highway leading to

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

needs to use a portion of highway in France. Improved means of land communication (TGV and A34 motorway) provides the benefit of relative proximity to Paris,

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

and Belgian cities such as

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

and

. Every year in September, the Sedan fair is a big shopping event (2nd in the region) which attracts about 250,000 people each year.

Tourism

In the department there are iconic landmarks that attract many visitors each year, such as the ''

Château de Sedan Sedan Castle (french: Château de Sedan) is a castle situated in Sedan, France, near the river Meuse. Covering an area of in its seven floors. History Around 1424, Eberhard II von der Mark built a manor with two towers around a church over ...

'' (the busiest paying attraction in the Ardennes, with an average of 60,000 admissions per year), the fortified site of Charlemont at Givet, the fort at Les Ayvelles, and the fortress of Rocroi. There are also many fortified churches and medieval sites in the department.See the articl
''The Discovery of Medieval sites of North Argonne''
Daniel HOCHEDEZ in the review ''HORIZONS D'ARGONNE'', No. 88, June 2011, pp. 7–14 (publication of the Centre for Studies of Argonne) There is the Ardennes forest, the "Green Way" (a bicycle path connecting Montcy-Notre Dame near

to Givet along the Meuse valley) promoting weekend tourism and tourist routes (green tourism). Cultural tourism is booming with many music festivals (Le Cabaret Vert, the Douzy'k festival, the Aymon Folk Festival) not to mention museums (such as the Museum of the Ardennes) and castles and the growing interest in industrial heritage. Finally, the creation of the Natural Regional Park of Ardennes (Regional Natural Park of Ardennes) on 21 December 2011 should continue to increase this type of tourism.

Second homes

Home purchases by Belgians and Dutch people are common in the region because the prices are much lower than in their country of residence. However, as of 2019, 3.5% of available housing in the department are second homes which is rather low.

Culture

Festivals

For more than 40 years (the first time in 1961 at the initiative of Jacques Félix) there has been in Charleville-Mézières the ''World Festival of Puppet Theatre'' (now every three years). At the last festival in 2009 more than 200,000 people were present. In the same city there is also a school: the International Institute of Puppetry. The ''Rock Festival and Territory Le Cabaret Vert'' had more than 50,000 festival-goers at the seventh festival in 2011 and this takes place every year in Charleville-Mézières making it the 7th largest festival in France by attendance. The festival ''The Poetic Otherworld'' organizes events in October in some Ardennes communes. Festival médieval de Sedan 2

At Sedan the medieval festival is held every year around the Castle of Sedan, the largest castle in Europe. This is an event that brings together more than 30,000 spectators. Festival médieval de Sedan 4

there are the famous festivals of

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

which have been held for over 200 years. At

Bogny-sur-Meuse Bogny-sur-Meuse (, literally ''Bogny on Meuse'') is a commune in the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region of northern France. Bogny-sur-Meuse is known for multiple sites linked to the medieval legend of The Four Sons of Aymon, such as the ...

there is the ''Aymon Folk Festival'' which brings together nearly 10,000 people. The Ardennes also has other well-known festivals such as the ''Festimeuse'' which attracts 10,000 people, the festival of ''Cassine'' with 7,000 people at the 3rd festival in 2010. The metal festival of Vouziers attracts about 2000 people. The Rock festival in El Mont at Aiglemont hosted more than 2,000 people in 2010. Lastly there is at Douzy every July and every second year the Douzy'k Festival which brings between 5,000 and 7,000 people each time. The Argonne does not have only two musical events. For 14 years, the village of Louvergny has staged a lyrical festival called ''Encounters of Louvergny'' in early August as the heart of the Argonne campaign, with singers from different countries. More recently ''Notes of Argonne'' propose to cross the Argonne mountains with concerts of classical music with regional and national performers. The May 2008 festival included Patrice Fontanarosa and his wife Marielle Nordmann. Both events had an immediate success in the region and the public has not stopped coming since.

Tales and legends

For a long time the region was a land of legends with its rocks, rivers, lakes, and thick dark forests: for example

The Four Sons of Aymon ''The Four Sons of Aymon'' (french: esQuatre fils Aymon, nl, De Vier Heemskinderen, german: Die Vier Haimonskinder), sometimes also referred to as ''Renaud de Montauban'' (after its main character) is a medieval tale spun around the four sons ...

, knights on their horse called

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People *Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places * Bayard, Delaware, an unincorporated community * Bayard (Jacksonville), Florida, a neighborhood * Bayard ...

helped by the enchanter Maugis who gave his name to village of Noyers-Pont-Maugis at the time of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

Literature

The play by William Shakespeare, "As you Like It" (1599), is set in the Forest of Arden, an imagined hybrid of the Ardennes and the Arden woods near his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, England. The novel by Yves Gibeau, ''Les gros sous'' (The big money) (1953) takes place in the south-west of the department. The Ardennes serves as the backdrop to the novel by

Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007; born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French ''département'' of Maine-et-Loire) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were note ...

, '' A Balcony in the Forest'' (''Un balcon en forêt''), published in 1958 and for which Michel Mitrani made a film in 1979 with Jacques Villeret. This novel/story is based on the experience as a soldier by the author at the beginning of the Second World War. The region serves as a backdrop for the Ardennes writer

André Dhôtel André Dhôtel (1 September 1900 in Attigny, Ardennes – 22 July 1991 in Paris) was a French writer, novelist, storyteller, and poet. He is still very well known for his book ''Le Pays où l'on n'arrive jamais'' (1955), which won the Femin ...

(1900–1991), especially in ''Le Pays où l'on n’arrive jamais'' (The country where one never arrives).

Cinema

The department has a varied natural environment (the Meuse valley, the border between Belgium and France, the Ardennes plateau, forests, etc.) which attracts filmmakers and television which first began in the late 1960s and in the 1970s. *'' Le Train'' (The Train) (1973) with Jean-Louis Trintignant and Romy Schneider was partly filmed in the valley of the

*''Maigret chez les Flamands'' (Maigret and the Flemes)'' (1976), a novel by Georges Simenon who knew the area nearby (

). Since then he travelled a lot and located the action at Givet (the TV movie with Jean Richard was shot here). *The film by

Claude Autant-Lara Claude Autant-Lara (; 5 August 1901 – 5 February 2000) was a French film director and later Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Biography Born at Luzarches in Val-d'Oise, Autant-Lara was educated in France and at London's Mill Hill Sc ...

, ''Les Patates'' (The Potatoes), produced in 1969 with Pierre Perret, was shot entirely in

Bourg-Fidèle Bourg-Fidèle () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France. The communes co ...

, a village on the plateau of Rocroi. *In 2006, ''Les Enfants du Pays'' (The children of the country) by Pierre Javaux with Michel Serrault was located in a small village lost in the Ardennes Forest in May 1940 when five Senegalese Tirailleurs are isolated from their regiment and lost, meet an old man and his two small children left alone after the exodus of the population. *In 2007, Marcel Trillat made ''Silence dans la vallée'' (Silence in the valley), a documentary about the liquidation of the ironworks at Nouzonville, the ''Ateliers Thomé-Génot'' (workshops Thomé-Génot) by American buyers who empty the cash for themselves. Cellatex suffered the same fate at Givet in 2000.

Notable people linked to the department

* Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), who created in Paris the Sorbonne, the famous French university, was born in the village of

Sorbon Sorbon () is a commune of the Ardennes department in northern France. Population Personalities It was the birthplace of Robert de Sorbon, (1201–1274), who was a chaplain and Confessor to King Louis IX of France, as well as the founder o ...

, near

Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death t ...

(1284–1370), poet/composer and author of ''Le Voir Dit'', was born in Machault; *

Jean-Nicolas Corvisart Jean-Nicolas Corvisart-Desmarets (15 February 1755 – 18 September 1821) was a French physician. Born in the village of Dricourt (now in Ardennes), Corvisart studied from 1777 at the Ecole de Médecine in Paris, later qualifying as ''docte ...

(1755–1821), famous doctor and scientist, was born in Dricourt, near

* Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), one of the most famous poets from France, was born in Charleville *

Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitio ...

(1828–1893), philosopher and historian, member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, was born in

and contributed to the progress of positivism particularly in the field of history * Albert Caquot, polytechnic and academician, built many structures and made other inventions especially in aeronautics. *

Dom Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon, O.S.B., (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabi ...

founded modern historical criticism in the 17th century *The Hachette family with Louis-François Christophe founded the famous publishing house *

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Goo ...

, Abbot of La Caille, astronomer and cartographer in the 18th century * Alexandre-François Desportes, the painter * Turenne (1611–1675),

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...

, was born in Sedan; * Alfred Chanzy, General *

Robert Debré Robert Debré (7 December 1882 – 29 April 1978) was a French physician (pediatrician) at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris. The largest pediatric hospital in Paris, l' Hôpital Robert-Debré - located in the North-East part of Paris ( ...

was born in Sedan, the founder of the French university-hospital system and modern pediatrics *

Yannick Noah Yannick Noah (; born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer. Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is currently the captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. During his nearly two-decade ...

was born in Sedan on 18 May 1960. His father,

Zacharie Noah Zacharie Noah (2 February 1937 – 8 January 2017) was a Cameroonian professional footballer who won the Coupe de France in 1961 with Sedan-Torcy. Noah, who played as a defender, had previously played for Stade Saint-Germain. He was the fathe ...

, was defender at the UA Sedan-Torcy with whom he won the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

in 1961 * René Daumal, writer, born on 16 March 1908 and died on 21 May 1944 *

Christian Poncelet Christian Poncelet (24 March 192811 September 2020) was a conservative French politician. A member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP),André Dhôtel André Dhôtel (1 September 1900 in Attigny, Ardennes – 22 July 1991 in Paris) was a French writer, novelist, storyteller, and poet. He is still very well known for his book ''Le Pays où l'on n'arrive jamais'' (1955), which won the Femin ...

, writer (Attigny) *

Boucher de Perthes Boucher may refer to: * Boucher (surname), a family name (including a list of people with that name) * Boucher Manufacturing Company, an American toy company *'' R. v. Boucher'', a 1951 Supreme Court of Canada decision that overturned a conviction ...

, prehistorian

Local press

Regional newspapers are: ''L'Ardennais'' (from

) and ''L'Union''. They now have shared writing – only the first page differs. Since 2009, a weekly newspaper has been published in the Ardennes: ''La Semaine des Ardennes''. Printed in Charleville-Mézières, over 2000 copies are printed.

Notes

References

External links

*
Prefecture website
*
Departmental Council website
* *
Arden'Net website
*
Département des Ardennes The Accounts of the Communes and proper fiscal groupings
: – Individual Data main Budget principal only – Consolidated data "Main Budget and annexes" {{Authority control 1790 establishments in France Departments of Grand Est States and territories established in 1790