BASSE-NORMANDIE - Geography and history
The mainly low-lying region of Lower Normandy is a maritime area subject to oceanic influences. It covers 17 600 km2 and is divided into three départements: Calvados, Manche and Orne. The coastline of Calvados and Manche stretches for 470 km.
From east to west, there are three distinct areas differing in relief and in economic activity. The first two form the rim of the Paris Basin; the third is part of the Armorican massif.
The eastern part (Pays d'Auge, Pays d'Ouche and Perche) is formed of sedimentary, argillaceous and calcareous beds, and influenced by the proximity of Paris, explaining the massive rural exodus which began in the 19th century, the low level of urbanisation and the proliferation of second homes.
The mainly calcareous central plains (the Bessin, and the plains around Caen, Falaise and Argentan) are the crop-growing areas. This is also the area with the most economic activity and urbanisation.
The western part is an area of livestock farming and, the north of the Cotentin peninsula excepted, the rate of development is slow. The north of this peninsula became one of Europe's biggest building sites at the beginning of the 1980s with the construction of a nuclear power station and the extension of the nuclear waste reprocessing plant at La Hague.
Atlantic coast and Paris Basin
Due to its geographical location, most of the region enjoys the advantages of a seaboard area. Lower Normandy is influenced by its proximity to Paris in the east, but its economy is closer to the surrounding Atlantic regions.
The region's coastline is a boon for tourism, and provides excellent opportunities for rapidly expanding activities such as shellfish farming.
Caen and Cherbourg: two poles of activity
Around 46% of the population of Lower Normandy lives in Calvados, 34% in Manche and 20% in Orne. In 1999, Caen, the regional capital, had nearly 114 000 inhabitants. The port of Cherbourg at the extreme north of the Cotentin peninsula is the region's second pole of industrial and urban activity, with almost 90 000 inhabitants.
Excluding the nuclear energy sector in Cotentin (Cherbourg), the iron and steel industry near Caen and the motor vehicle industry in Calvados and Orne, all other industrial activities are dispersed throughout the region. Agricultural activity is varied: cereals are grown and beef cattle raised on the plain between Caen and Perche (in the south-east of Orne), while dairy farming predominates in the upland wooded terrain in the rest of the region. Finally, apart from in Alencon and some tourist spots such as the spa at Bagnoles-de-l'Orne, services activities are concentrated in the northern half of the region.
The north of the region also has the best road and rail links. The south-west of the region, in a triangle between Avranches, Bayeux and Alencon, is the area with the most socioeconomic difficulties.
|
|