Pyrenees-Orientales

Pyrénées-Orientales
Department
Prefecture building of the Pyrénées-Orientales department, in Perpignan
Coat of arms
Location of Pyrénées-Orientales in France
Coordinates: 42°30′N 2°45′E / 42.500°N 2.750°E / 42.500; 2.750Coordinates: 42°30′N 2°45′E / 42.500°N 2.750°E / 42.500; 2.750
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Prefecture	Perpignan
Subprefectures	Céret Prades
Government
• President of the General Council	Hermeline Malherbe-Laurent
Area
• Total	4,116 km2 (1,589 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	462,705
• Rank	54th
• Density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
	Minority languages: Catalan and Occitan
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	66
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	17
Communes	226
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Pyrénées-Orientales (French pronunciation: ​[pi.ʁe.ne.ɔ.ʁjɑ̃.tal]; Catalan: Pirineus Orientals; Occitan: Pirenèus Orientals; "Eastern Pyrenees") is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish exclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.

Prior to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia, within the Crown of Aragon, so the majority of it has historically been Catalan-speaking, and it is still referred to as Northern Catalonia.

The modern department was created early during the French Revolution on 9 February 1790 under the name of Roussillon, also the name of the pre-Revolutionary province of Roussillon to which it almost exactly corresponds, although the department also includes Fenouillèdes, a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc. The name therefore changed on February 26, 1790 to Pyrénées-Orientales.

Invaded by Spain in April 1793, the area was recaptured thirteen months later during the War of the Roussillon.