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Castres

Castres
Houses by the Agout River
Houses by the Agout River
Coat of arms of Castres
Coat of arms
Castres is located in France
Castres
Castres
Coordinates: 43°36′00″N 2°15′00″E / 43.6000°N 2.2500°E / 43.6000; 2.2500Coordinates: 43°36′00″N 2°15′00″E / 43.6000°N 2.2500°E / 43.6000; 2.2500
Country France
Region Occitanie
Department Tarn
Arrondissement Castres
Intercommunality Castres-Mazamet
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Pascal Bugis
Area1 98.17 km2 (37.90 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 43,010
 • Density 440/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 81065 / 81100
Elevation 151–367 m (495–1,204 ft)
(avg. 170 m or 560 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Castres (French pronunciation: ​[kastʁ]; Castras in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is a commune, and arrondissement capital in the Tarn department and Occitanie region in southern France. It lies in the former French province of Languedoc.

Castres is (after Toulouse, Tarbes and Albi) the fourth largest industrial centre of the predominantly rural Midi-Pyrénées région and the largest in that part of Languedoc lying between Toulouse and Montpellier.

Castres is noted for being the birthplace of the famous socialist leader Jean Jaurès and home to the important Goya Museum of Spanish painting.

In 1831, the population of Castres was 12,032, making it the largest town of the department of Tarn. One of the few industrial towns in the region of Albigeois, the population of the commune proper grew to 19,483 in 1901, and 34,126 by 1954 (44,161 inhabitants in the metropolitan area). However, with the decline of its industries, population growth diminished. Albi surpassed Castres as the most populous metropolitan area of Tarn. The population of Castres is now stagnating: after small growth in the 1970s and 1980s, it registered zero growth in the 1990s.


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