In 2019, Corrèze had a population of 240,073,[3] divided among279 communes. Its inhabitants are calledCorréziens (masculine) andCorréziennes (feminine). ItsINSEE and postal code is 19.
The department makes up of most of Lower Limousin and owes its name to the Corrèze river whose entire course flows through the centre, and passes through the two main cities,Tulle andBrive-la-Gaillarde. Tulle is theprefecture of Corrèze, and Brive-la-Gaillarde the largest city.
Since 2015, the department is administered by theNouvelle-Aquitaineregion. To the north, it borders the departments ofHaute-Vienne and theCreuse, to the east, the departments ofPuy-de-Dôme andCantal, to the south of that of theLot and, finally, to the west of that of theDordogne.
The department transitions between theAquitaine and the Massif Central, the Corrèze department sees its elevation gradually rise from the basin of Brive to the Plateau de Millevaches, watershed of the Atlantic facade. This relief explains the wide variety of climates of Corrèze.
The most populous commune isBrive-la-Gaillarde; the prefectureTulle is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 4,000 inhabitants:[3]
Corrèze is one of the original 83 departments created during theFrench Revolution on 4 March 1790. It includes part of theformer province ofLimousin (the Bas-Limousin).
Within Corrèze the nineteenth-century railway planners, influenced in part by the department's topography, endowedBrive-la-Gaillarde with good connections and a major junction from which railway lines fanned out in six different directions. The railways arrived in 1860, at an opportune moment, directly afterphylloxera had destroyed the localwine industry. The new railways enabled the farms in the area surrounding Brive to specialise in fruits and vegetables which they could now transport rapidly to the larger population centres of central and southern France. Locally, the new agriculture triggered the development, in the Brive basin, of related businesses and industries such as the manufacture of jams and liquors, as well as timber/paper-based packaging businesses.
The 1851 census recorded a population of 320,866: this remained relatively constant for the rest of the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, however, Corrèze shared the experience of many of the country's rural departments as the population fell steadily.
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The President of the General Council wasFrançois Hollande of theSocialist Party until 2012 when he was elected President of the Republic.Jacques Chirac also served as a Deputy of the National Assembly from here for many years.
In 1879Adolphe Clément-Bayard built an iron smelter in Tulle to supply his Parisian cycle manufacturing business, but he did not have sufficient finance to make it viable.
Valérie Pécresse (1967– ), politician, former Minister of Higher Education and Research (2007–2011), formerMinister of the Budget and Government's Spokeswoman (2011–2012)
