Gard is one of the 83 French departments made during theFrench revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was divided in 8districts: Alais, Beaucaire, Nîmes, Pont-Saint-Esprit, Saint-Hippolyte, Sommières, Uzès and Le Vigan. Thecapital was Nîmes alternating with Alais and Uzès. In 1794, Nîmes became the only capital.[4]
With the creation of thearrondissements, the 8 districts became fourarrondissements: Nîmes, Alais, Uzès and Le Vigan. In 1926, thearrondissement of Uzès was eliminated.[4]
The climate of the Gard department, in the city ofNîmes, is subtropical with dry-summer,Csa (Mediterranean Climate) in theKöppen climate classification.
Theaverage temperature for the year in Nîmes, at analtitude of 60 m (200 ft), is 14.4 °C (57.9 °F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 6.1 °C (43.0 °F).
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Nîmes is 690.9 mm (27.2 in). The month with the most precipitation on average is October with 106.7 mm (4.2 in) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of 25.4 mm (1.0 in).[8]
The following is a list of the 23cantons of the Gard department (with theirINSEE codes), inFrance, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:[12]
The inhabitants of Gard are known, inFrench, asGardois (women:Gardoises).[13]
Gard has a population, in 2014, of 736,029,[3] for a population density of 125.8 inhabitants/km2. Thearrondissement of Nîmes, with 547,598 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Alès and Le Vigan, have respectively 151,823 and 36,608 inhabitants.[10]
The city with more people living in it is thecapital,Nîmes (151,075). The subprefectures ofAlès andLe Vigan have, respectively, 39,993 and 3,933 inhabitants.[10]
Evolution of the population in Aude
The 10 most important cities in the department are: