AUVERGNE - Geography and history
Auvergne covers some 26 000 km2 in the heart of the Massif Central, culminating at the Puy de Sancy (1 886 m).
More than half the municipalities in Auvergne are classified as mountain communities. The Massif Central is fairly compact, with few valleys allowing easy access. Access is thus not easy except from the north, where it appears as a vast amphitheatre. In the heart of the Massif is a vast alluvial plain, drained by the River Allier and its tributaries, surrounded by the old crystalline rock and granite, while to the south-east and west the volcanic massifs provide the region with a unique landscape and a considerable tourist attraction.
These contours help protect the central hollows from the influence of the Atlantic, but the price for this is heavy but irregular rainfall on the western and eastern ranges of hills. This contrast between the plains and the mountains of Auvergne is typical.
Auvergne is served by a dense system of watercourses. Their annual flow, some 11 000 million cubic metres, lies behind Auvergne's reputation as 'the water-tower of France'.
Auvergne is quintessential a forest region. On higher ground the ecological conditions are ideal for conifers; lower down, deciduous forest predominates.
Population concentrated in urban areas
The population is centred on the plains and the Allier Valley, the only areas where a town of any size could expand. During the last years the urbanisation of Auvergne went on. In 1999, 65% of the population was situated in urban areas; these areas also concentrated two-thirds of the regional employment (502 000 persons).
Clermont-Ferrand is the regional capital, at the foot of the mountains. But the city has also developed a substantial services sector; in 1999, Clermont-Ferrand itself has 258 541 inhabitants, but the whole urban expanse of Clermont-Ferrand houses more than a quarter of the region's total population.
Along the Allier Valley, three fair-sized towns have grown up: Montlucon, the industrial; Vichy, the spa; and Moulins, the administrative. In the mountainous southern part of the region, only Aurillac and Le Puy have achieved any size, essentially as a result of their administrative roles. These are two of France's handful of towns which, despite being situated at an altitude of more than 600 m, maintain a population of more than 20 000.
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