Aveyron

Aveyron (Avairon ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as Aveyronnais (masculine) or Aveyronnaises (feminine) in French. The inhabitants of Aveyron's prefecture, Rodez, are called Ruthénois, based upon the first Celtic settlers in the area, the Ruteni. With an area of 8,735 km2 and a population of 279,595, Aveyron is a largely rural department with a population density of 32 /km2.

History
Aveyron is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were the Rutenii tribe, though the area was inhabited prior to their tenure. The department has many prehistoric monuments, including over a thousand dolmens, the most of any department in France.

During the medieval and early modern periods, and until the 1790s, the territory included within Aveyron was a province known as Rouergue. In 1797, Victor of Aveyron (a feral child) was found wandering the woods in the area. The story of Victor is told in the film The Wild Child.

In 1817, a local prosecutor, Antoine Bernardin Fualdès, was assassinated. The sordid circumstances of his death, following which his body was found floating in the river Aveyron, led to the matter becoming publicised as a cause célèbre. Recent studies have indicated that he met his end at the initiative of a right-wing royalist organisation known as the Chevaliers de la Foi (Knights of Faith).

Geography
Aveyron is the centre of a triangle formed by the cities of Toulouse, Clermont-Ferrand, and Montpellier. The department approximately follows the outline of the former province of Rouergue. It is the 5th largest department in metropolitan France in terms of area (8735 km2). Its prefecture is Rodez.

The department comes under the jurisdiction of the Academy of Toulouse and the Montpellier Court of Appeal. The INSEE and Post Code is 12. Aveyron is located in the south of the Massif Central. The highest point in the department is the summit of the Signal de Mailhebiau at 1469m on the Plateau of Aubrac. The Aveyron department is divided into several natural regions such as the Grand Causses and Rougiers.

Aveyron department consists of an ancient high rocky plateau of great geological diversity. The Truyère, Lot, Aveyron, and Tarn rivers have carved a number of deep gorges. The department is surrounded by those of Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot, Hérault, Gard, Lozère and Cantal. The Lac de Villefranche-de-Panat is used as a reservoir to provide drinking water supplies for the region.

Demography
In 2017, the department had 279,206 inhabitants. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses conducted in the department since 1793.

Principal towns
The most populous commune is Rodez, the prefecture. Of the department's population, 25% live in the four largest communes: Rodez, Millau, Onet-le-Château, and Villefranche-de-Rouergue. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:

Second homes
As of 2020, 17.3% of available housing in the department were second homes.

Departmental Council
The Department Council of Aveyron has 46 seats. The President of the Departmental Council has been Jean-François Galliard of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2017 to 2021. The President has been Arnaud Viala since 2021.

Members of the National Assembly
Following the 2017 legislative election, Aveyron elected the following representatives to the National Assembly:

Regional sub-dialect
The regional sub-dialect spoken in Aveyron is a form of Languedoc Occitan called Rouergat. Faced with the risk of disappearance of the language several associations asked the State and political communities for an ambitious language policy. In Rouergat, Aveyron is written:
 * Avairon (traditional Occitan spelling) – e.g. "Roergue forma lo despartament de l'Avairon"
 * Oboyróu (spelling of Father Vayssier) – e.g. "Rouergue fouórmo lou desportomén de l'Oboyróu"

Tourism
Aveyron contains part of the Cévennes National Park. Tourist attractions include the castle of Najac, a medieval ruin perched high on a hill, and other castles and monasteries such as Conques Abbey, Sylvanès Abbey, Bonneval Abbey and Loc-Dieu Abbey, located near Martiel in a region with many dolmens. The small city of Millau is the site of the world's tallest bridge, the Millau viaduct, opened by President Chirac in December 2004.

Activities include horseriding, fishing, swimming in the Lacs du Lévézou and hiking/camping. The inhabitants are also very good craftsmen, and Aveyron is full of various craft objects, handmade, that can be found locally. Examples include the couteau de Laguiole, the world famous Roquefort cheese, from the village of the same name and other local produce. Markets take place every Saturday on market places around the region.

Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance is the commune where the feral child Victor of Aveyron was found in the late 18th century.

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France
Ten towns in Aveyron fall within the classification of a 1901 association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France:
 * Belcastel
 * Brousse-le-Château
 * La Couvertoirade
 * Conques
 * Estaing
 * Najac
 * Peyre
 * Saint-Côme-d'Olt
 * Sainte-Eulalie-d'Olt
 * Sauveterre-de-Rouergue.

Other tourist spots

 * Roquecézière
 * Saint-Geniez-d'Olt
 * Loc-Dieu Abbey
 * Bonneval Abbey
 * Coupiac
 * Aubrac Mountains
 * Causse du Larzac
 * Château de Sévérac
 * Bournazel
 * Baraqueville
 * Château de Calmont d'Olt
 * Rodez
 * Millau
 * Pons
 * Medieval villages in the Muse Valley:
 * Castelnau-Pégayrols
 * Saint-Beauzély
 * Montjaux
 * Villefranche-de-Rouergue
 * Villeneuve
 * The Trou de Bozouls
 * The Tindoul de la Vayssière
 * Vale of Marcillac, Vineyards and towns:
 * Marcillac-Vallon
 * Salles-la-Source
 * Clairvaux-d'Aveyron
 * Muret-le-Château
 * The Lakes of Lévézou
 * Laguiole
 * The Gorges du Tarn
 * Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon
 * Salles-Curan and the Lac de Pareloup
 * Salvagnac-Cajarc
 * Roquefort-sur-Soulzon
 * Saint-Sernin-sur-Rance, classed as a historic area with the "Feral child": Victor of Aveyron
 * Peyrusse-le-Roc
 * Grotto of Foissac
 * The Basin of Decazeville (Decazeville, Aubin, Cransac, Firmi and Viviez) with old coal mines.

Societies

 * Central Agricultural Society of Aveyron, founded in 1798
 * Society of letters, sciences and arts of Aveyron, founded in 1836

Notable people linked to the department

 * Déodat Alaus, master mason of the 15th century, builder of the city ramparts of the Templars and Hospitallers city of Larzac
 * Ambrose Crozot, painter, born in Rodez at the end of the 17th century
 * Denis Auguste Affre, Archbishop of Paris (1793–1848)
 * Georges d'Armagnac, Bishop of Avignon, cardinal and Bishop of Rodez (died in 1585)
 * Marie–Auguste de Balsac, high functionary
 * Louis Balsan, archaeologist, caver, one of the last great disciples of Martel (1903–1988)
 * Adolphe de Barrau, naturalist (1803–1884)
 * Hippolyte de Barrau, founder of the Society of Letters, scholar (1794–1863)
 * Justin Bessou, Occitan poet (1845–1918)
 * Adolphe Boisse, engineer and politician (1810–1896)
 * Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald, philosopher (1754–1840)
 * Louis-Jacques Maurice de Bonald, bishop (1787–1870)
 * Émile Borel, mathematician (1871–1956)
 * José Bové, anti-globalizationist, MEP since 2009, farmer, activist and former spokesman of French farmers union Confédération paysanne, peasant in the cause of Larzac (1953 -)
 * Michel Bras (1946 -), chef.
 * Jean Carrier, clergyman of the 15th century, the last supporter and successor of the Antipope Benedict XIII under the name of Benedict XIV
 * Edouard de Castelnau, General (1851–1944)
 * Marc Cenci, former president of the Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées, former mayor of Rodez (1936 -)
 * Hippolyte Coste, botanist (1858–1924)
 * Jean-Louis Cromières, artisan farmer who "revived" the Laguiole knife
 * François d'Estaing, Bishop of Rodez (1501–1529)
 * François Fabié, poet (1846–1926)
 * Jean-Henri Fabre, French entomologist and writer (1823–1915)
 * Robert Fabre, founder of the Movement of Radicals of the left, Ombudsman (1915–2006)
 * Maurice Fenaille, patron (1855–1937)
 * Denis-Luc Frayssinous, bishop and tutor of the Dauphin
 * Antoine Bernardin Fualdes, prosecutor, assassinated (1761–1817)
 * Gustave Garrigou, winner of the Tour de France in 1911, born in Vabre-Tizac
 * Alexandre Geniez, racing cyclist
 * Charles Girou de Buzareingues, agronomist and philosopher
 * Jacques d'Izarn Valady, officer, deputy, shot (1766–1793)
 * Guy Lacombe, football coach (1955–)
 * Amédée-Jean-Baptiste Latieule, Bishop of Vannes (1838–1903)
 * Jean-Claude Luche, Chairman of the General Council of Aveyron
 * Cardinal Marty, Archbishop of Paris (1904–1994)
 * Amans-Alexis Monteil, historian (1769–1850)
 * Antoine de Morlhon, bishop (1753–1828)
 * Auguste de Morlhon, bishop (1799–1862)
 * Alain Peyrefitte, writer, minister, member of the Académie française (1925–1999)
 * Pierre Poujade, politician, was born and lived in Labastide l'Evêque
 * Denys Puech, sculptor, director of the Villa Medicis (1854–1942)
 * Jean Puech, former President of the General Council of Aveyron, Senator, and former minister (1942 -)
 * Jacques Puel, Ruthénois physician specializing in cardiothoracic surgery (1949–2008)
 * Guillaume-Thomas Raynal, historian, philosopher (1713–1796)
 * Emilie de Rodat, founder of the congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Villefranche (1787–1852)
 * Richard Sainct, motorcycle rider (1970–2004)
 * Pierre Frédéric Sarrus, mathematician (1798–1861)
 * Pierre Soulages, painter (1919–2022)
 * Jean Verdier, Cardinal Archbishop of Paris (1864–1940)
 * Eugène Viala, painter, poet (1859–1913)
 * Auguste Denayrouze, Scientist, Inventor, writer (1837–1883)
 * Gaëtan Roussel, songwriter (1972–)
 * Father Aimé Vayssier, ecclesiastical bachelor of letters, author of the French patois dictionary of the department of Aveyron (1821–1875)
 * Dom Pierre Guérin, ecclesiastic from Nantes, Rouergat poet (1608–1698)
 * Jules Merviel, cyclist active in the 1930s, born in Saint-Beauzély (1906–1976)
 * Bertrand Delanoe, French politician and Mayor of Paris (1950–)
 * Cyril Lignac, French chef and TV host
 * Jean Boudou, Occitan writer born in Crespin (home of Joan Bodon)
 * Bernard Laporte, rugby coach (1964–)
 * Francis Poulenc, Composer (1899–1963)