Auvergne (region)

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers

Auvergne (Occitan: Auvèrnhe / Auvèrnha) is one of the 26 administrative regions of France.

The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not part of Auvergne. The Auvergne region is composed of the following old provinces:

Auvergne: departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal, northwest of Haute-Loire, and extreme south of Allier. The province of Auvergne is entirely contained inside the Auvergne region.
Bourbonnais: department of Allier. A small part of Bourbonnais is also contained inside the Centre region.
Velay: center and southeast of department of Haute-Loire. Velay is entirely contained inside the Auvergne region.
a small part of Gévaudan: extreme southwest of Haute-Loire. Gévaudan is essentially inside the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
a small part of Vivarais: extreme southeast of Haute-Loire. Vivarais is essentially inside the Rhône-Alpes region.
a small part of Forez: extreme northeast of Haute-Loire. Forez is essentially inside the Rhône-Alpes region.

Velay, Gévaudan, and Vivarais are often considered to be sub-provinces of the old Languedoc province. Forez is also often considered to be a sub-province of Lyonnais province. Therefore, the modern region of Auvergne is composed of the provinces of Auvergne, Bourbonnais, and parts of Languedoc and Lyonnais.

[edit] Major communities

[edit] External links

(French) Auvergne regional council website
(English) Auvergne at the Open Directory Project
(English and French) Regordane Info Independent portal for the Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail. (The Regordane Way starts in Auvergne)