Ardennes (department)
| Ardennes | |||
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| Department | |||
Prefecture building of the Ardennes department, in Charleville-Mézières
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 Location of Ardennes in France |
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| Coordinates: 49°30′N 4°40′E / 49.500°N 4.667°ECoordinates: 49°30′N 4°40′E / 49.500°N 4.667°E | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Grand Est | ||
| Prefecture | Charleville-Mézières | ||
| Subprefectures |
Rethel Sedan Vouziers |
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| Government | |||
| • President of the General Council | Benoît Huré (UMP) (UMP) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 5,229 km2 (2,019 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2013) | |||
| • Total | 280,907 | ||
| • Rank | 77th | ||
| • Density | 54/km2 (140/sq mi) | ||
| Demonym(s) | Ardennais or Ardennaises | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Department number | 08 | ||
| Arrondissements | 4 | ||
| Cantons | 19 | ||
| Communes | 457 | ||
| ^1 French Land Register data, which excludes estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |||
Ardennes (French pronunciation: [aʁ.dɛn]) is a department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France named after the Ardennes area. Its prefecture is the town Charleville-Mézières. The inhabitants of the department are known as Ardennais or Ardennaises.
The department is surrounded by the French departments of Aisne to the west, Marne to the south, Meuse to the east and by the Belgian province of Namur to the north.
It is traversed in its northern part by the winding valley of the Meuse and it is in this part of the department that the majority of people and activities are focused. Charleville-Mézières and Sedan are the main urban centres.
The department is part of the Academy of Reims and under the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Reims. The INSEE and Post Code is 08.
With an area of 5,229 square kilometres (2,019 square miles), the Ardennes was the smallest of the four departments that made up the region Champagne-Ardenne. It nevertheless presents a degree of geographical diversity.
Ardennes owes its name to a vast natural area, the Ardennes, a plateau deeply cut by the Meuse and its many tributaries which extend above the Walloon part of southern Belgium as well as Luxembourg, Germany (Eifel), and the north of the neighbouring department of Meuse.
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