Allier

Allier is a department in the centre of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is named after the river Allier, a tributary of the Loire. Its prefecture is Moulins.

Allier
Department
Prefecture building of the Allier department, in Moulins
Prefecture building of the Allier department, in Moulins
Flag of Allier
Flag
Coat of arms of Allier
Coat of arms
Location of Allier in France
Location of Allier in France
Coordinates: 46°20′N 3°10′E
CountryFrance
RegionAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Département4 March 1790
PrefectureMoulins
SubprefecturesMontluçon, Vichy
Government
 • PresidentGérard Dériot[1]
Area
[2]
 • Total7,340.1 km2 (2,834.0 sq mi)
Population
 (2014)[3]
 • Total343,062
 • Density47/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeFR-03
Arrondissements3
Cantons19
Communes317
Websitehttp://www.allier.fr
For other uses, see Allier (disambiguation).

History
Map of Allier.

Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Moulins as its capital.[4] It was formed from most of all the former province of Bourbonnais (the Duchy of Bourbonnais); Saint-Amand-Montrond, in the Cher department, was the only part of the old province that was not made part of Allier.

It was divided in seven districts: Cérilly, Moulins, Le Donjon, Cusset, Gannat, Montmarault and Montluçon.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the seven districts were changed into four arrondissements: Moulins, Gannat, Lapalisse and Montluçon.[4]

On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Gannat was eliminated and in 1941 Vichy became the capital of one arrondissement of the department instead of Lapalisse.[4]

In 1940, during World War II, the city of Vichy was the capital of Vichy France.

Geography

Allier is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It has an area of 7,340.1 km2 (2,834 sq mi).[2]

It is 130 km (81 mi) long from east to west and 90 km (56 mi) wide from north to south.[5]

The department borders with 6 other departments in 4 regions:

There are four main geographical zones in the department:

  1. The Bourbonnais Bocage covers about one third of the departement, covering most of the western and central parts of the department.
  2. The Bourbonnais Sologne is to the east of the department, between the valley of the river Allier and the borders of Nièvre and Saône-et-Loire departments in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
  3. The Bourbonnais Mountains are in the southeast of the department. In these mountains, where the departments Allier, Puy-de-Dome and Loire meet, is the highest point of the department, Puy de Montoncel (45°55′51″N 3°41′39″E); it is 1,287 m (4,222 ft) high.[6]
  4. The Bourbonnais Limagne, commonly called as Val d'Allier ("Valley of the Allier"), found on both sides of the river between Vichy and Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.

The main rivers in the department are:

  • Cher in the western part of the department.
  • Allier and its tributary the Sioule, in the centre.
  • Loire and its tributary the Besbre, in the east.

Climate

The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Nevers is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

There are two periods of maximum precipitation in June and October and a minimum in January and February with average of 694 mm (27.3 in) Montluçon (altitude: 207 m), 763 mm (30.0 in) in Moulins (245 m) 778 mm (30.6 in) in Vichy (251 m); and 791 mm (31.1 in) in Lapalisse (285 m).

Climate data for Vichy
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 6.7
(44.1)		 8.7
(47.7)		 11.7
(53.1)		 14.8
(58.6)		 18.7
(65.7)		 22.4
(72.3)		 25.5
(77.9)		 24.7
(76.5)		 22.2
(72.0)		 17.1
(62.8)		 10.8
(51.4)		 7.1
(44.8)		 15.9
(60.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.9
(37.2)		 4.3
(39.7)		 6.4
(43.5)		 9.1
(48.4)		 12.8
(55.0)		 16.3
(61.3)		 18.8
(65.8)		 18.3
(64.9)		 15.8
(60.4)		 17.1
(62.8)		 10.8
(51.4)		 7.1
(44.8)		 15.9
(60.6)
Average low °C (°F) −0.9
(30.4)		 −0.2
(31.6)		 1.1
(34.0)		 3.4
(38.1)		 7.06
(44.71)		 10.2
(50.4)		 12.1
(53.8)		 11.8
(53.2)		 9.4
(48.9)		 6.4
(43.5)		 2.3
(36.1)		 −0.5
(31.1)		 5.2
(41.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 52.1
(2.05)		 48.2
(1.90)		 51.0
(2.01)		 62.9
(2.48)		 107.6
(4.24)		 79.4
(3.13)		 60.6
(2.39)		 75.4
(2.97)		 77.0
(3.03)		 64.7
(2.55)		 56.9
(2.24)		 54.4
(2.14)		 790.2
(31.11)
Mean monthly sunshine hours 66.1 88.1 136.6 170.9 197.1 232.6 270.7 237.8 197.9 135.9 82.3 64.2 1,880.2
Source: Metereological data for Vichy-Charmeil, from 1961 to 1990 Dec 2014

Administration

Allier is managed by the Departmental Council of Allier in Moulins. The department is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Administrative divisions

There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 19 cantons and 317 communes (municipalities) in Allier.[7]

INSEE
code		ArrondissementCapitalPopulation[8]
(2014)		Area[9]
(km²)		Density
(Inh./km²)		Communes
031MontluçonMontluçon114,7562,327.949.389
032MoulinsMoulins106,0392,996.235.4109
033VichyVichy122,2672,016.060.6119

The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Allier department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:[10]

  1. Bellerive-sur-Allier (0301)
  2. Bourbon-l'Archambault (0302)
  3. Commentry (0303)
  4. Cusset (0304)
  5. Dompierre-sur-Besbre (0305)
  6. Gannat (0306)
  7. Huriel (0307)
  8. Lapalisse (0308)
  9. Montluçon-1 (0309)
  10. Montluçon-2 (0310)
  11. Montluçon-3 (0311)
  12. Montluçon-4 (0312)
  13. Moulins-1 (0313)
  14. Moulins-2 (0314)
  15. Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule (0315)
  16. Souvigny (0316)
  17. Vichy-1 (0317)
  18. Vichy-2 (0318)
  19. Yzeure (0319)

Demographics

There is not a traditional demonym to name the inhabitants of the Allier department. Some names used are Alliérins, Bourbonnais, Elavérins, or simply habitants de l'Allier ("inhabitants of Allier").

Of these names, the most used is Bourbonnais followed by habitants de l'Allier.

Allier had a population, in 2014, of 343,062,[3] for a population density of 46.7 inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Vichy, with 122,267 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.[8]

Evolution of the population in Allier

The 10 communes in the department with more inhabitants are:[8]

City Population
(2014)[8]		 Arrondissement
Montluçon37,289Montluçon
Vichy25,279Vichy
Moulins19,762Moulins
Cusset13,386Vichy
Yzeure13,069Moulins
Domérat8,985Montluçon
Bellerive-sur-Allier8,533Vichy
Commentry6,395Montluçon
Gannat5,862Vichy
Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule5,039Moulins

References
  1. "Le Président". Allier.fr. Conseil Départemental de l'Allier. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  2. "Département de l'Allier (03) - Résumé statistique". Publications et statistiques pour la France ou les régions (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  3. "Populations légales 2014 des départements et des collectivités d'outre-mer" (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  4. "Historique de l'Allier". Le SPLAF (in French). Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  5. "Géographie du département de l'Allier". Allier.fr (in French). Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  6. "Puy de Montoncel, France". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  7. "Département de l'Allier (03)" (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  8. "Régions, départements, arrondissements, cantons et communes" (PDF). Populations légales 2014 (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  9. "Département de l'Allier (03) et Arrondissements". Comparateur de territoire (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  10. "Décret n° 2014-265 du 27 février 2014 portant délimitation des cantons dans le département de l'Allier" (in French). Légifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

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