Gers (; or Gerç, ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southwestern France. Gers is bordered by the departments of Hautes-Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the south, Haute-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne to the east, Lot-et-Garonne to the north and Landes to the west. Named after the Gers River, its inhabitants are called the Gersois and Gersoises in French language. In 2019, it had a population of 191,377. Populations légales 2019: 32 Gers, INSEE
Gers is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony. In 1808 it lost Lavit on its north-eastern side to the newly created department of Tarn-et-Garonne.
Also, some prominent cultivated crops are Maize, colza, sunflowers and grain.
The Gascon language is a dialect of Occitan language, but it is not widely spoken. The department is characterised by sleepy bastide villages and rolling hills with the Pyrenees visible to the south. Alexandre Dumas, père created the famous Gersois d'Artagnan, the fourth musketeer of The Three Musketeers. A museum to d'Artagnan is found in the Gersois village of Lupiac.
A horse race at the Auteuil Hippodrome has been named after André Boingnères, a notable local race-horse owner and the successful Mayor of Termes-d'Armagnac between 1951 and 1976.
Gers's 1st constituency | Jean-René Cazeneuve | La République En Marche! | |
Gers's 2nd constituency | Gisèle Biémouret | Socialist Party |
Auch | 22,173 |
L'Isle-Jourdain | 9,072 |
Condom | 6,493 |
Fleurance | 5,924 |
Eauze | 3,975 |
Lectoure | 3,672 |
Vic-Fezensac | 3,546 |
Mirande | 3,450 |
Gimont | 3,016 |
Pavie | 2,501 |
The winters vary, with only occasional freezing temperatures, but the climate remains mild and dry. The amount of sunshine is about 1950 hours/years.
The summers are hot and dry. Auch is, together with Toulouse, Nîmes, Carpentras, Ajaccio, Marseille, Toulon and Perpignan, one of the hottest cities in France.
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