Cher (department)

Cher
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Cher in France
Coordinates: 47°00′N 02°35′E / 47°N 2.583°E / 47; 2.583Coordinates: 47°00′N 02°35′E / 47°N 2.583°E / 47; 2.583
Country	France
Region	Centre
Prefecture	Bourges
Subprefectures	Saint-Amand-Montrond Vierzon
Government
– President of the General Council	Alain Rafesthain (PS)
Area1
– Total	7,235 km2 (2,793.4 sq mi)
Population (2008)
– Total	313,251
– Rank	70th
– Density	43.3/km2 (112.1/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	18
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	35
Communes	290
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Cher (Berrichon: Char) is an administrative department located in the centre of France. It is named after the Cher River.

History

Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Most of it was created, along with the adjacent department of Indre from the former province of Berry. The south-eastern corner of the department was part of the Duchy of Bourbon, however.

Geography

The department is part of the current administrative region of Centre (Val de Loire). It is surrounded by the departments of Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Nièvre, Allier, and Creuse.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Berrichons from the former province of Berry.

Politics

The President of the General Council is Alain Rafesthain of the Socialist Party.

Party		seats
	Union for a Popular Movement	10
•	Socialist Party	9
•	French Communist Party	7
	Miscellaneous Right	5
•	Miscellaneous Left	4

Tourism

The Bourges Cathedral of St. Étienne is a major tourist attraction.

See also

• Cantons of the Cher department
• Communes of the Cher department
• Arrondissements of the Cher department

Languages

The historical languages are Berrichon and the northern version of Bourbonais. These are both dialects of French, or the Langues d'oïl. They are named respectively after the former Province of Berry and the former Duchy of Bourbon. Some 11 communes in the extreme South used to speak Occitan.

The old dialects were in widespread use until the middle decades of the twentieth century and incorporated major regional variations within the department, influenced by the dialects of adjacent regions near the departmental frontiers. During the twentieth century government educational policy promoted a more standardised version of the French language.

In the extreme south of the department influence from the southern Occitan language begins to appear, with "chambrat" being used in place of "grenier a foin" (hayloft), "betoulle" in place of "bouleau" (birch tree) and "aigue" in place of "eau" (water).

External links

• (French) General Council of Cher
• (French) Prefecture of Cher
• (English) Cher at the Open Directory Project
• http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/bourges.html
• http://www.sitesatlas.com/Europe/France/Bourges.htm
• http://berrichou.free.fr/