Gard

Gard is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019; its prefecture is Nîmes.

The department is named after the river Gardon. In recent decades of the 21st century, local administration and French speakers have returned to the original Occitan name of the river, Gard. It is part of a revival of Occitan culture.

History
In classical times the Gard area was settled by Romans and their allies. They built the Via Domitia across the region in 118 BC. Centuries later, on 4 March 1790, Gard was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution. It comprised the ancient province of Languedoc.

Originally this department was to include the canton of Ganges, but Ganges was transferred to the neighbouring department of Hérault. In return, Gard was assigned the fishing port of Aigues Mortes, which gave the department its own outlet to the Gulf of Lion on the Mediterranean Sea.

During the middle of the nineteenth century the prefecture, traditionally a centre of commerce with a manufacturing sector focused on textiles, was an early beneficiary of railway development, becoming an important railway junction. Several luxurious hotels were built, and the improved market access provided by the railways also encouraged, initially, a rapid growth in wine growing. But many winegrowers were ruined when the vineyards were infected with phylloxera in 1872.

Geography
Gard is part of the region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hérault, Lozère, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse and Ardèche. It has a short coastline to the south on the Mediterranean Sea. The highest point in the department is Mont Aigoual.

In the first quarter of the 21st century, the department has suffered serious flooding. The region has also been subject to some of the highest recorded temperatures in France's history as climate change alters summer heat.

Demographics
Population development since 1791:

The inhabitants of Gard are called "Gardois". The most populous commune is Nîmes, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are eight communes that have more than 10,000 inhabitants each:

Politics
In the closely contested first round of the 2012 presidential election, Gard was the only department to vote for the National Front candidate Marine Le Pen by a slim plurality, with 25.51% of the vote. The incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement party received 24.86% of the vote, while Socialist candidate François Hollande received 24.11% of the vote share.

Departmental Council
The President of the Departmental Council has been Françoise Laurent-Perrigot of the Socialist Party (PS) since 2021.

Members of the National Assembly
In the 2022 legislative election, Gard elected the following representatives to the National Assembly:

Tourism
Gard contains a part of the Cévennes National Park. There are important Roman architectural remains in Nîmes, as well as the famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard.

Gard is also home to the source of Perrier, a carbonated mineral water sold both in France and internationally on a large scale. The spring and facility are located just south-east of the commune of Vergèze.