Drôme (French pronunciation: [dʁom] ; Occitan: Droma; Arpitan: Drôma) is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019. Drôme's prefecture is Valence.
The southern portion of the Drôme, closest to Provence, is often known as the fr:Drôme Provençale.
Valence (US: /vəˈlɒ̃s, væˈlɒ̃s/, French: [valɑ̃s] ; Occitan: Valença [vaˈlensɔ]) is a commune in southeastern France, the prefecture of the Drôme department and within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhône, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Lyon, along the railway line that runs from Paris to Marseille.
It is the eighth-largest city in the region by its population and has 64,726 registered inhabitants in 2018 (132,556 inhabitants in the urban area (unité urbaine). The city is divided into four cantons.
Provençal (/ˌprɒvɒ̃ˈsɑːl/, also UK: /-sæl/, US: /ˌproʊ-, -vən-/, French: [pʁɔvɑ̃sal] ; Occitan: provençau or prouvençau [pʀuvenˈsaw]) is a variety of Occitan, spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme and Gard. The term Provençal used to refer to the entire Occitan language, but more recently it has referred only to the variety of Occitan spoken in Provence. However, it can still be found being used to refer to Occitan as a whole, e.g. Merriam-Webster states that it can be used to refer to general Occitan, though this is going out of use.
Provençal is also the customary name given to the older version of the Occitan language used by the troubadours of medieval literature, when Old French or the langue d'oïl was limited to the northern areas of France. Thus, the ISO 639-3 code for Old Occitan is [pro].
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (sometimes abbreviated as AHP; French pronunciation: [alp də ot pʁɔvɑ̃s] ; Occitan: Aups d'Auta Provença; lit. 'Alps of Upper Provence'), formerly until 1970 known as Basses-Alpes (French pronunciation: [basz‿alp], lit. 'Lower Alps'), is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the west, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes to the north. Formerly part of the province of Provence, it had a population of 164,308 in 2019, which makes it the 8th least populated department and the 94th most populated French department.
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence's main cities are Digne-les-Bains (prefecture), Manosque, Sisteron, Barcelonnette, Castellane and Forcalquier. Inhabitants are called the Bas-Alpins (masculine) or Bas-Alpines (feminine) in reference to the department's former name, Basses-Alpes, which was in use until 1970. Although the prefecture is Digne-les-Bains, the largest city is Manosque. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence's INSEE and postal code is 04.
Montélimar (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃telimaʁ] ; Vivaro-Alpine: Montelaimar pronounced [muntelajˈma]; Latin: Acumum) is a town in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is the second-largest town in the department after Valence. In 2018, the commune had a population of 39,415; its urban area had a population of 57,372.
The Dauphiné (UK: /ˈdoʊfɪneɪ, ˈdɔːf-/ DOH-fin-ay, DAW-, US: /ˌdoʊfiːˈneɪ/ DOH-fee-NAY, French: [dofine]; Occitan: Daufinat or Dalfinat; Arpitan: Dôfenât or Darfenât), traditionally known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France during the Ancien régime, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present-day departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois.
In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon (c. 1095–1142) bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed le Dauphin (French for 'dolphin'). His descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois. The state took the name of Dauphiné. It became a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.
The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Drôme department (with their respective seats), in France, following the canton reorganisation that came into effect in March 2015:
Isère (US: /iːˈzɛər/ ee-ZAIR; French: [izɛʁ] ; Arpitan: Isera; Occitan: Isèra, Occitan pronunciation: [iˈsɛɾa]) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019. Its prefecture is Grenoble. It borders Rhône to the northwest, Ain to the north, Savoie to the east, Hautes-Alpes to the south, Drôme and Ardèche to the southwest and Loire to the west.
Romans-sur-Isère (French pronunciation: [ʁɔmɑ̃syʁizɛːʁ]; lit. 'Romans-on-Isère'; known simply as Romans until 1920; Occitan: Rumans or Rumans d'Isèra; Old Occitan: Romans) is a commune in the Drôme department in Southeastern France. With a population of 33,139 as of 2022, it is the third-most populous city in Drôme after Valence and Montélimar.
The Vallée du Rhône (French pronunciation: [vale dy ʁon]; Occitan: Vall del Ròne) of Rhône Valley is a region located on either side of the Rhône, downstream from Lyon, in the south-east of France. The city of Valence in Drôme is considered the heart of the valley.