Gers

The Gers (French: le Gers, Occitan: Gers) is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.

History and culture

In the Middle Ages, the Lordship of L'Isle-Jourdain was nearby.

The Gers is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.

The inhabitants of the department are called les Gersois.

The culture is largely agricultural, with great emphasis on the local gastronomical specialties such as:

• Armagnac brandy,
• Côtes de Gascogne,
• Floc de Gascogne,
• foie gras,
• and wild mushrooms.

Further more are cultivated maize, colza, sunflowers and grain.

The Gascon language is a dialect of Occitan, but it is not widely spoken.

There has been a heavy influence of waves of both British and Spanish immigrants.

Alexandre Dumas created the most famous Gersois of all times Charles de Batz de Castelmore better known as D'Artagnan, beside Athos, Aramis and Porthos he is the fourth musketeer of The Three Musketeers.

Geography and demography

Located in southwestern France, the Gers is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region. It is surrounded by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées, Haute-Garonne, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Landes, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The Gers is often referred to as amongst the least densely populated, or most rural, areas in all of Western Europe.

List of the 10 most important cities of the departement:

#	Gemeente	Aantal inwoners (1999)
1	Auch	21 911
2	Condom	7 256
3	Fleurance	6 279
4	L'Isle-Jourdain	5 557
5	Lectoure	3 941
6	Eauze	3 888
7	Vic-Fezensac	3 614
8	Mirande	3 564
9	Gimont	2 741
10	Pavie	2 220

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).

The winters vary, with often negative temperatures, but the climate remains soft all the same and dry, the department is one of sunniest of France.

The summers are very hot and dry, the temperatures often is exceeding 40°. Auch is together with Toulouse and Millau one of the hottest cities of France, with often more than 300 sunny days in the year.

Tourism

According to recent data tourism represents annually:

• 610 000 tourists,
• 5.900.000 nights,
• 22.100 commercial beds,
• 2 400 paid employment related to tourism,
• the tourist represent an equivalent of 17.100 permanent inhabitants,
• their estimated expenditure is 141.000.000 €.

See also

• Cantons of the Gers department
• Communes of the Gers department
• Arrondissements of the Gers department

External links

• Template:Fr icon General Council website
• Template:Fr icon Prefecture website
• Template:Fr icon Good Website on Gascony and the Gers
• Template:Fr icon http://www.gers-gascogne.com/fr/default.asp
• Welcome to the Gers in Gascony http://www.tourisme-gers.com/gers-vacances/uk/home.asp
• Template:Fr icon Gers Guide - Votre guide internet / annuaire de recherche sur le Gers et la Gascogne.
• Template:Fr icon Gers net - Moteur de recherche gersois.