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 ...
of
Occitania
Occitania ( oc, Occità nia , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...
, Southwestern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, the
Lordship of L'Isle-Jourdain L'Isle-Jourdain ( oc, Ylla or ) was a lordship and then county near Gers in Gascony during the High Middle Ages. It took its name, Jourdain, from its crusading baron who was baptised in the River Jordan on the First Crusade. Its last count sold th ...
was nearby.
Gers is one of the original 83 departments created during the
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 coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the
former provinces
A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature.
A former may become an integral part of the f ...
of
Guyenne
Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux.
The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country' ...
,
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...
,
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne (, oc, Ã’lt e Garona) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.Landes and
. In 1808 it lost Lavit on its north-eastern side to the newly created department of
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne (; oc, Tarn e Garona ) is a department in the Occitania region in Southern France. It is traversed by the rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name. The area was originally part of the former provinces of Quercy and ...
.
Culture
The culture is largely agricultural, with great emphasis on the local gastronomical specialties such as:
*
Armagnac
Armagnac (, ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally ...
Foie gras
Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding).
Foie gras is a popular and well-known delica ...
;
* Wild
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
s.
Also, some prominent cultivated crops are corn,
colza
Close-up of canola blooms
Canola flower
Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...
,
sunflowers
''Helianthus'' () is a genus comprising about 70 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the daisy family Asteraceae commonly known as sunflowers. Except for three South American species, the species of ''Helianthus'' are native to N ...
Occitan Occitan may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain.
* Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France.
* Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...
, but it is not widely spoken. The department is characterised by sleepy
bastide
Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the fir ...
villages and rolling hills with the Pyrenees visible to the south. Alexandre Dumas, père created the famous Gersois
d'Artagnan
Charles de Batz de Castelmore (), also known as d'Artagnan and later Count d'Artagnan ( 1611 – 25 June 1673), was a French Musketeer who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard. He died at the siege of Maastricht in the ...
The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...
''. A museum to d'Artagnan is found in the Gersois village of
Lupiac
Lupiac () is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
Geography
The Auzoue forms most of the commune's southeastern border. The Douze forms the commune's western border.
Population
Literature
Charles de Batz de Castelm ...
.
A horse race at the
Auteuil Hippodrome
The Auteuil Hippodrome is a horse racing venue on Route des Lacs in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France. The 33-hectare (82-acre) race course opened November 1, 1873. It is designed exclusively for steeplechase racing.
Modernized a number of tim ...
Termes-d'Armagnac
Termes-d'Armagnac ( Gascon: ''Tèrmis d’Armanhac'') is a commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune ...
between 1951 and 1976.
Politics
Departmental Council of Gers
The President of the Departmental Council of Gers is Philippe Dupouy of 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 ...
since 2022. He succeeded Philippe Martin, who had been in office since 2014. The assembly comprises 34 seats, allocated as follow since the 2015 departmental elections:
Members of the National Assembly
Gers elected the following members of 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 ...
Located in Southwestern France, Gers is often referred to as amongst the least densely populated (30.5 people/km2 in 2016), least urban, or most rural, areas in all of
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
. List of the 10 most populous communes of the department:
Climate
The annual rain varies from more than 900 mm in the south-west of the department, to less than 700 mm in the North-East ( Auch, Condom,
Lectoure
Lectoure (; Gascon: ''Leitora'' ) is a commune in the Gers department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France.
It is located north of Auch, the capital of the department, south of Agen and approximately northwest of Toulouse.
Geogr ...
).
The winters vary, with only occasional freezing temperatures, but the climate remains mild and dry. The amount of sunshine is about 1950 hours/years.
The summers are hot and dry. Auch is, together with
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...
Carpentras
Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentrà s'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. ...
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
,
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
and Perpignan, one of the hottest cities in France.
Larressingle
Larressingle (; oc, Larressingla) is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
Geography
Population
Sights
* Château de Larressingle
The Château de Larressingle is a ruined castle in the '' commune'' of Larressingle in ...
Armagnac
Armagnac (, ) is a distinctive kind of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally ...
Arrondissements of the Gers department
The 3 arrondissements of the Gers department are:
# Arrondissement of Auch, (prefecture of the Gers department: Auch) with 134 communes. The population of the arrondissement was 81,242 in 2016.
# Arrondissement of Condom, (subprefecture: Cond ...