Puy-de-Dôme

Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme; Puèi Domat(Occitan)
	— Department of France —
	Prefecture building in Clermont-Ferrand
	; Flag
	; Flag
	Location of Puy-de-Dôme in France
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Clermont-Ferrand
Subprefectures	Ambert; Issoire; Riom; Thiers
	Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Jean-Yves Gouttebel (MR)
	Area
• Total	7,970 km2 (3,080 sq mi)
	Population (2016)
• Total	650,700
• Rank	38th
• Density	82/km2 (210/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	63
Arrondissements	5
Cantons	31
Communes	464
	^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Main	Births etc

Puy-de-Dôme (French: [pɥi də dom] ( listen); Occitan: lo Puèi de Doma or lo Puèi Domat) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2016, it had a population of 650,700. Its prefecture is Clermont-Ferrand and subprefectures are Ambert, Issoire, Riom and Thiers.

Named after the Puy de Dôme dormant volcano, its inhabitants were called Puydedomois in French until 2005. With effect from 2006, in response to a letter writing campaign, the name used for the inhabitants was changed by the Puy-de-Dôme General Council to Puydômois; this is the name that has since then been used in all official documents and publications.

History[]

Puy-de-Dôme is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Auvergne. Originally, the department was to be called Mont-d'Or ("Golden Mountain"), but this was changed to Puy-de-Dôme following the intervention of Jean-François Gaultier de Biauzat, a local deputy, because of a concern that the name originally chosen risked attracting excessive unwelcome attention from the national taxation authorities.

Geography[]

Puy-de-Dôme is part of the current region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Haute-Loire, Cantal, Corrèze, Allier, and Creuse.

The department is in the Massif Central and boasts more than 80 volcanic craters. It is three hours from Paris and an hour from Lyon by highways A71 and A89. The A75 links it to the Mediterranean Sea.

Its main cities are Clermont-Ferrand, Thiers, Riom, Issoire, Ambert, and Cournon-d'Auvergne. Parts of the department belong to the Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez.

Demographics[]

Population development since 1801:

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1801	507,128	—
1806	542,834	1.36%
1821	553,410	0.13%
1831	573,106	0.35%
1841	591,458	0.32%
1851	596,897	0.09%
1861	576,409	-0.35%
1872	566,463	-0.16%
1881	566,064	-0.01%
1891	564,266	-0.03%
1901	544,194	-0.36%
1911	525,916	-0.34%
1921	490,560	-0.7%
1931	500,590	0.2%
1936	486,130	-0.59%
1946	478,903	-0.15%
1954	481,380	0.06%
1962	508,928	0.7%
1968	547,743	1.22%
1975	580,033	0.82%
1982	594,365	0.35%
1990	598,213	0.08%
1999	604,266	0.11%
2006	623,463	0.45%
2011	632,311	0.28%
2016	650,700	0.57%
source:^[1]

Economy[]

The departmental seat, Clermont-Ferrand, is home to one of the country's best known manufacturing businesses and brands, Michelin. Thiers is the oldest industry place in Auvergne with its cutlery tradition from the 14th century.

The countryside lends itself to tourism and Puy-de-Dôme is a weekend destination for city dwellers. The 1999 census found that 11.7% of the usable homes in the department were being kept as second homes.

Politics[]

The department was the electoral constituency of Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who served as President of the Republic from 1974 to 1981.

Current National Assembly Representatives[]

National Assembly Representatives to the 15th Legislature

Constituency		Member^[2]	Party
style="background-color: Template:La République En Marche!/meta/color" \|	Puy-de-Dôme's 1st constituency	Valérie Thomas	La République En Marche!
	Puy-de-Dôme's 2nd constituency	Christine Pirès-Beaune	Socialist Party
	Puy-de-Dôme's 3rd constituency	Laurence Vichnievsky	MoDem
	Puy-de-Dôme's 4th constituency	Michel Fanget	MoDem
	Puy-de-Dôme's 5th constituency	André Chassaigne	French Communist Party