The empty diagonal (french: diagonale du vide) is a band of low-density population that stretches from the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
department of the
Landes
''Landes'', or ''Lanas'' in Gascon, means moorland or heath.
''Landes'' and ''Lanas'' come from the Latin ''plānus'' meaning “‘flat, even, level, plain’”. They are therefore cognate with the English plain (and plane), the Spanish word '' ...
in the southwest to the Meuse in the northeast. The diagonal's population density is very low compared to the rest of France.
Description
The low population density (less than 30/km², or 78/mi²) is caused largely by the rural exodus and urbanisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some commentators prefer to speak of a "low-density diagonal" () and regard the term "empty diagonal" as both pejorative and exaggerated. Still, DATAR used the term and it remains the most common term.
The pattern is more readily apparent at the departmental level than at the regional level. It is part of a broader pattern of low population density that extends into Spain and Portugal and is known as the
continental diagonal
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* Continental (album), ...
.
History and evolution
Before the emergence of the empty diagonal, an earlier demographic feature was the Saint-Malo- Geneva line that ran from the northwest to the southeast and divided the industrial northeast from the agrarian southwest. Charles Dupin identified it in his 1837 treatise .
In 1947, the geographer Jean-François Gravier wrote of a "French desert" that corresponds, more or less, to the modern notion of the empty diagonal.
Hervé Le Bras
Hervé Le Bras (born June 6, 1943) is a French demographer and historian.
Early life
Hervé Le Bras was born on June 6, 1943 in Paris, France. He graduated from the École Polytechnique.
Career
Le Bras did an internship in anthropology in Chad f ...
and Emmanuel Todd argue that the concept is no longer valid in the 21st century because of growth that is observed in some departments like
Indre
Indre (; oc, Endre) is a landlocked department in central France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are known as the ''Indriens'' (masculine; ) and ''Indriennes'' (feminine; ). Indre is part of the current administ ...
and
Gers
Gers (; oc, Gers or , ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southwestern France. Named after the Gers River, its inhabitants are called the ''Gersois'' and ''Gersoises'' in French. In 2019, it had a population of 191,377.
. According to their analysis, the zone of negligible or negative population growth extends only from the Massif Central to Lorraine. However, an analysis at the level of cantons and communes indicates that the zone of decline extends beyond the Massif–Lorraine axis and that the growth observed by Le Bras and Todd is fragile and driven by a temporary influx of retirees.
Literature
''La diagonale du vide'' is the title of a 2009 novel by
Pierre Péju
Pierre Péju (born 1946) is a French philosopher, novelist and essayist. Born in Lyon, he studied at the Sorbonne. He has published a number of works in different literary genres, the best-known of which are two prize-winning novels ''Le rire de l ...
in which an urban businessman seeks solitude in a cottage in
Ardèche
Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.
Gallery
Image:DepartementsFranceDensitePopulation.svg, Map of population density by department, showing the empty diagonal in blue.
Image:Estimations carroyees de population.png, Detailed map of population density, with the least populated areas in white.