Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the

Occitanie Occitanie may refer to: *Occitania, a region in southern France called ''Occitanie'' in French *Occitania (administrative region) Occitania ( ; french: Occitanie ; oc, Occitània ; ca, Occitània ) is the southernmost administrative region of ...

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 Southwestern France. Named after the river

Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – ...

, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is

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 ...

, the country's fourth-largest. In 2019, it had a population of 1,400,039.Populations légales 2019: 31 Haute-Garonne
INSEE

History

Haute-Garonne 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 part of the former provinces of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

and

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 ...

/ Gascony. The department was originally larger. The reduction in its area resulted from an imperial decree dated 21 November 1808 and which established the neighbouring 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 ...

, to the north. The new department, created in response to the pleadings of various locally powerful politicians, took territory from five surrounding departments including Haute-Garonne. The districts lost to Tarn-et-Garonne in 1808 were those of

Montech Montech (; oc, Montuèg) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. On the Canal de Garonne Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or river engineering, engineered channel (geo ...

and

Castelsarrasin Castelsarrasin (; oc, Los Sarrasins) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in Occitanie region of France. The inhabitants are called ''Castelsarrasinois''. It is the second most populous commune in Tarn-et-Garonne after Montauban. I ...

Geography

Haute-Garonne is part of the current

and is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers,

, Tarn, Aude, and Ariège. It also borders

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the south ( province of Lleida and

province of Huesca Huesca ( an, Uesca, ca, Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca. Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Haute-G ...

). According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, the Haute-Garonne department has Oceanic climate, Subarctic climate and Polar climate. The department is crossed by the upper course of the

river (hence the name) for nearly . The borders of the department follow the river. The Garonne enters France from Spain at the town of Fos, and goes through

and leaves the department. The extreme south of the department lies in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

mountain range and is very mountainous. The highest elevation is the Peak of Perdiguère, at above sea level.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called ''Haut-Garonnais''. The greatest population concentration is around

. The south of the department is quite sparsely populated. Overall the department had a population of 1.4 million as of the 2019

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

. Young people are well represented with 55% of the population under the age of 40 and of those, 16% are between the ages of 20 and 29. This is in part because Toulouse is an important

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

town. The department has also received significant migration from other parts of the country.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is

, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 8 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:

Politics

This department was the political base of former Prime Minister

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne

The Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne comprises 54 seats. In the 2015 departmental elections, 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) won 48 seats. The Republicans secured the remaining 6 seats. The President of the Departmental Council has been Georges Méric (PS) since 2015.

Members of the National Assembly

Haute-Garonne 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 ...

during the 2017 legislative election:

Tourism

Main sights

Haute-Garonne's main sights include: File:Toulouse Capitole Night Wikimedia Commons.jpg, The

Capitole de Toulouse 300px, The Capitole back side The Capitole de Toulouse ( oc, Capitòli de Tolosa, link=no; ), commonly known as the ''Capitole'', is the heart of the municipal administration of the French city of Toulouse and its city hall. __NOTOC__ His ...

at night Laréole - Le chateau - Façade Nord Ouest.jpg, Château de Laréole File:Bagnères-de-Luchon vue Pyrénées.JPG, The

mountain range seen from

Bagnères-de-Luchon Bagnères-de-Luchon (; oc, Banhèras de Luishon), also referred to as just Luchon, is a commune and spa town in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region of south-western France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Lucho ...

File:Lac d'OO-01.jpg, Lac d'Oô File:Ariane 5 at Cite de l'Espace 2.jpg,

Cité de l'espace The Cité de l'espace ( French for Space City) is a scientific discovery centre in France focused on spaceflight. It was opened in June 1997 and is located on the eastern outskirts of Toulouse. , there had been more than four million visitors. ...

Winter sports

The department has four

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

resorts: * Peyragudes (1600 m -2450 m), 55 km of slopes * Luchon-Superbagnères (1440 m - 2260 m), 30 km of slopes * Le Mourtis (1380 m - 1816 m), 22 km of slopes * Bourg-d'Oueil (1350 m - 1500 m)