42°30′N1°58′E / 42.500°N 1.967°E /42.500; 1.967French Cerdagne (Catalan:Alta Cerdanya,IPA:[ˈaltəsəɾˈðaɲə]) is the northern half ofCerdanya, which came under French control as a result of theTreaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, while the southern half remained inSpain (as a part ofCatalonia).Catalans often refer to French Cerdagne asUpper Cerdanya (Catalan:Alta Cerdanya;Occitan:Alta Cerdanha). It is the only French territory on theIberian Peninsula, as it is located on the south side of thePyrenees Range between France and Spain.[1][2][3] For example, theSegre river, which goes west and then south to meet theEbro, has its source in the French Cerdagne. An inadvertent result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees is theSpanishexclave ofLlívia (the small uncolored area in the map) which is sovereign Spanish territory surrounded by French Cerdagne.
French Cerdagne has no special status inside France, simply forming aphysiographic region within thedepartment ofPyrénées-Orientales, unlike the Spanish part of Cerdanya, which is officially aCatalancomarca called simplyCerdanya. In France, the French area is referred to as eitherCerdagne française (i.e. "French Cerdagne"),Haute-Cerdagne (i.e. "Upper Cerdagne") or justCerdagne.
French Cerdagne has a land area of 539.67 km² (208.37 sq. miles). Its 1999 population was 12,035, resulting in a density of only 22 people per km2 (58 per sq. mile). The area has the most cloud-free days inFrance,[citation needed] and was therefore chosen as the place to build:
There are 26communes in French Cerdagne, all of them are parts of thecanton of Les Pyrénées catalanes, in thearrondissement of Prades. Below is a list of the communes inalphabetical order. The population data are extracted from the 1999 French census (unless otherwise stated).
