Covering an area 6,817 square kilometres (2,632 sq mi), Nièvre is landlocked between six other departments:Yonne to the north,Côte-d'Or to the east,Saône-et-Loire to the southeast,Allier to the south,Cher to the west andLoiret to the northwest.
The department is crossed by the riverLoire, the longest river in France. Industry developed around cast iron foundries using the ample supply of wood then available. Coal mining also developed during the Middle Ages around Decize and continued until the last mine closed in 1974. Forestry is now an important provider of employment. Tourists are attracted by the numerous historic sites. The Canal du Nivernais waterway is popular with houseboating enthusiasts.
Nièvre is a rural department with about 31 inhabitants per km2.[5] Only one city (Nevers) has more than 10,000 inhabitants.[4] It indicates the characteristic of the department, which is predominantly rural. The department is slowly losing its population since the 1970s, at the rate of 900 people a year.[5] Abandoned houses can be seen in villages and the price of peripheral real estate is one of the lowest in France.
Nièvre is also well known for itswhite wine,Pouilly Fumé.[7] The vineyards are scattered around villages including Pouilly-Sur-Loire, which lends its name to the appellation, Tracy sur Loire, Boisgibault, Saint Andelain. The word fumé is French for "smoky", and it is said the name comes from the smoky or flinty quality of these wines.[7] The only grape allowed in the Pouilly-Fumé AC isSauvignon blanc, which produces wines that are generally crisp, tart, and somewhat grassy. There is also a confidential production of red pinot noir wine near La Charité sur Loire.
The President of the Departmental Council isSocialist Fabien Bazin, elected in July 2021. The Departmental Council of Nièvre has 34 seats. The left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party has 20 seats.
Nièvre is traditionally a left-wing department. The results of the second round of voting in presidential elections reflect this consistently:
This historical tendency has been recently and dramatically reversed as the far-right Front National party has come out ahead in all the elections since 2015. In the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, Marine le Pen won most votes in the first rounds. However the two députés of the department belong to République En Marche, the party of Emmanuel Macron.
Nièvre's best-known political representative wasFrançois Mitterrand who served as a senator and a deputy for the department, as well as mayor ofChâteau-Chinon for 22 years before his election to the presidency of France in 1981.[8]
