The empty diagonal () is a band of low-density population that stretches from the
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
Meuse
The Meuse or Maas 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 total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
in the northeast. The diagonal's
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
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
Rural flight (also known as rural-to-urban migration, rural depopulation, or rural exodus) is the Human migration, migratory pattern of people from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective.
In Industriali ...
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
DATAR, short for ''Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving'', was a pioneering computerized battlefield information system. DATAR combined the data from all of the sensors in a naval task force into a single "overall view" that was then transmi ...
used the term and it remains the most common term.
The pattern is more readily apparent at the departmental level than at the
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
level. It is part of a broader pattern of low population density that extends into
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
and is known as the .
History and evolution
Before the emergence of the empty diagonal, an earlier demographic feature was the
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany.
The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...
-
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
line that ran from the northwest to the southeast and divided the industrial northeast from the agrarian southwest.
Charles Dupin
Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (; 6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873, Paris, France) was a French Catholic mathematician, engineer, economist and politician, particularly known for work in the field of mathematics, where t ...
identified it in his 1837 treatise .
In 1947, the geographer
Jean-François Gravier
Jean-François Gravier () was a French geographer famous for his work ''Paris and the French Desert'' published in 1947, and republished in 1953 and 1972. He denounces the extreme concentration of France in Paris, and the monopoly of that city over ...
wrote of a "French desert" that corresponds, more or less, to the modern notion of the empty diagonal.
Hervé Le Bras and
Emmanuel Todd
Emmanuel Todd (; born 16 May 1951) is a French historian, anthropologist, demographer, sociologist and political scientist at the National Institute of Demographic Studies (INED) in Paris. His research examines the different family structur ...
argue that the concept is no longer valid in the 21st century because of growth that is observed in some departments like
Indre
Indre (); is a 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 administrative region of Cent ...
and
Gers
Gers (; or , ) is a departments of France, department in the regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to ...
. According to their analysis, the zone of negligible or negative population growth extends only from the Massif Central to
Lorraine
Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...
. 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 ...
in which an urban businessman seeks solitude in a cottage in
Ardèche
Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (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.
See also
*
Rotten Banana
The Rotten Banana ( Danish: ''Den rådne banan'') is an informal area of rural Denmark facing significant economic disparities. The term ''Rotten Banana'' traditionally includes an area of Danish municipalities the west coast of Jutland to Lollan ...
*
Golden Banana
The Golden Banana or Sun Belt is an area of higher population density lying between Cartagena in the west and Genoa in the east along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
The area runs along the Mediterranean coast, including the French cities ...
*
Blue Banana
The Blue Banana (; ; ; ), also known as the European Megalopolis or the Liverpool–Milan Axis, is a discontinuous corridor of urbanization in Western and Central Europe, with a population of around 100 million.
Over time, the region has bee ...