Gironde | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Prefecture building of the Gironde department, in Bordeaux | |||
| |||
 Location of Gironde in France | |||
| Coordinates: 44°50′N0°40′W / 44.833°N 0.667°W Coordinates: 44°50′N0°40′W / 44.833°N 0.667°W | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | ||
| Prefecture | Bordeaux | ||
| Subprefectures | Arcachon Blaye Langon Lesparre-Médoc Libourne | ||
| Government | |||
| • President of the General Council | Jean-Luc Gleyze | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 10,000 km2 (4,000 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2016) | |||
| • Total | 1,566,679 | ||
| • Rank | 7th | ||
| • Density | 160/km2 (410/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) | ||
| Department number | 33 | ||
| Arrondissements | 6 | ||
| Cantons | 33 | ||
| Communes | 535 | ||
| ^1 French Land Register data, which excludes estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². | |||
Gironde (French pronunciation: [ʒiʁɔ̃d] ; in Occitan Gironda) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwest France. It is named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway. The Bordeaux wine region is in the Gironde.
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, and five are overseas departments, which are also classified as regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334 arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons; the last two have no autonomy, and are used for the organisation of police, fire departments, and sometimes, elections.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the largest administrative region in France, located in the southwest of the country. The region was created by the territorial reform of French Regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions: Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,061 km2 (32,456 sq mi) – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has approximately 5,800,000 inhabitants.. The new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015.
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, which are traditionally divided between 13 metropolitan regions, located on the European continent, and 5 overseas regions, located outside the European continent. The 13 metropolitan regions are each further subdivided into 2 to 13 departments, while the overseas regions consist of only one department each and hence are also referred to as "overseas departments". The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, and in 2016 what had been 27 regions was reduced to 18. The overseas regions should not be confused the overseas collectivities, which have a semi-autonomous status.
