Savoie

Savoie
Savoie
	— Department —
	Prefecture building of the Savoie department, in Chambéry
; Coat of arms	Official logo of Savoie; Logo
	Location of Savoie in France
	Coordinates: 45°35′N 6°20′E / 45.583, 6.333Coordinates: 45°35′N 6°20′E / 45.583, 6.333
Country	France
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Chambéry
Subprefectures	Albertville; Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
	Government
• President of the General Council	Hervé Gaymard (UMP)
	Area
• Total	6,028 km2 (2,327 sq mi)
	Population (2007)
• Total	405,535
• Rank	61st
• Density	67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	73
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	37
Communes	305
	^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Main	Births etc

This article is about the French department. For the historical region of Savoy, see that article. For other uses of "Savoie", see Savoie (disambiguation). For other uses of "Savoy", see Savoy (disambiguation).

Savoie (pronounced: [sa.vwa]; Arpitan: Savouè d’Avâl, Italian: Savoia, pronounced [saˈvɔja], English: Savoy, /səˈvɔɪ/) is a French department located in the Rhône-Alpes region in the French Alps.

Together with the Haute-Savoie, Savoie is one of the two departments of the historic region of Savoy that was annexed by France on June 14, 1860, following the signature of the Treaty of Turin on March 24, 1860. For history before 1860, details of the annexation, and modern regionalism, see Savoy.

History[]

It is widely accepted that Savoie takes its name from the Latin Sapaudia or Sabaudia, meaning land covered in fir trees.

Savoie was long part of the states of Savoy, though it was occupied many times by France starting in the 16th century. It was integrated into the Mont-Blanc department from 1792 to 1815 (and partially into the Léman department from 1798 to 1814). The province was annexed by France in 1860. The former Duchy of Savoy became the two departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie.

Moûtiers, capital of the former province of Tarentaise Valley (French: Vallée de la Tarentaise) ceased to be the county seat after a law passed on September 10, 1926.

Savoie, along with Albertville, hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics, with ski events at Tarentaise and Beaufortain.

Geography[]

Savoie is part of the Rhône-Alpes région. It borders the departments of Haute-Savoie, Ain, Isère and Hautes-Alpes in addition to Italy.

Much of Savoie is covered by mountains:

Bauges Massif
Chartreuse Massif
Vanoise Massif
Beaufortain Massif

The department is crossed by the Isère river, which has its source in the Iseran pass. Its two main lakes are Lac du Bourget (the largest and deepest lake entirely in France) and Lac d'Aiguebelette, one of the least polluted in France due to a 1976 law forbidding any use of motorboats on the lake.

Economy[]

According to the Chambéry chamber of commerce, close to 50% of the department's wealth comes from tourism. Each year, Savoie hosts over 30 million visitor-nights of tourists. Savoie also profits from its natural resources with particular strengths in ore processing and hydroelectric power.

Savoie had an exceptionally high export/import ratio of 214% in 2005. Its exports rose to €1.768 billion and €825 million in imports. Its leading exports were steel, aluminum, and electric and electronic components.

Agriculture[]

Savoie is famous for its cows, which produce numerous cheeses, some of them are:

Beaufort
Savoie Gruyère
Reblochon
Tamié
Tome des Bauges
Tomme de Savoie
Brie

Numerous wines are also grown in Savoie. The most famous are made of Gamay, Pinot Noir and Mondeuse grapes. Fruit production is the third largest component of agriculture in Savoie.

Apples and pears are also produced in the region and are well known for their qualities.

Demographics[]

Residents of Savoie are known as Savoyards though they can also be called Savoisiens (the historical name) or Savoyens.

Main cities:

Chambéry: pop. 56 835 (209 535 agglomeration, of which 12 254 are in La Motte-Servolex)
Aix-les-Bains: pop. 27 095 (44 490 agglomeration)
Albertville: pop. 18 906 (43 225 agglomeration)
Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: pop. 8 507 (11 889 agglomeration)

The average population density is not a good indication of actual population density, as valleys tend to be quite densely populated, whereas the mountains tend to be near-completely uninhabited.

Religion[]

The Catholic Church in Savoie is divided into three dioceses: Chambéry, Maurienne and Tarentaise. Together, they form an archdiocese, in which the bishop of Chambéry is the archbishop.

Tourism[]

Tourism, which is quite important to Savoie, began to develop towards the end of the 19th century, mostly summer oriented. The increase in the popularity of skiing in the 20th century made Savoie home to the largest number of ski hills in France, including many famous ones:

Val-d'Isère
Tignes
Les Arcs
La Plagne
Courchevel
Méribel
Valmorel
Les Menuires
Val Thorens
Les Saisies
Savoie Grand Revard
Bramans
Bessans

Hydrotherapy, practised in the region since antiquity, is also quite developed. There are four locations that are still active:

Aix-les-Bains
Challes-les-Eaux
Brides-les-Bains
La Léchère

External links[]

(French) General Council website
(French) Prefecture website

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Savoie. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

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Savoie

Contents

History[]

Geography[]

Economy[]

Agriculture[]

Demographics[]

Religion[]

Tourism[]

See also[]

History[]

Language[]

Places[]

Wine[]

External links[]

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