Nièvre (département)

Nièvre
Department
Prefecture building of the Nièvre department, in Nevers
Coat of arms
Location of Nièvre in France
Coordinates: 47°05′N 03°30′E / 47.083°N 3.500°E / 47.083; 3.500Coordinates: 47°05′N 03°30′E / 47.083°N 3.500°E / 47.083; 3.500
Country	France
Region	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Prefecture	Nevers
Subprefectures	Château-Chinon Clamecy Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire
Government
• President of the General Council	Marcel Charmant
Area
• Total	6,817 km2 (2,632 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	215,221
• Rank	87th
• Density	32/km2 (82/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	58
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	17
Communes	310
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Nièvre (IPA: [njɛvʁ]) is a department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in the centre of France named after the River Nièvre.

Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Nivernais.

Nièvre is part of the current region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, although historically it was not part of the province of Burgundy. It is surrounded by the departments of Yonne, Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Allier, Cher, and Loiret. The département is crossed by the river Loire, the longest river in France.

Nièvre is a rural department with about 32 inhabitants / km². The main cities are : Nevers, Cosne-sur-Loire, Varennes-Vauzelles, Marzy, Decize, Imphy, Clamecy and La Charité. Only three cities reach 10 000 inhabitants. It indicates the characteristic of the département, which is predominantly rural.