Picardy (region)

Picardy
	Picardie; Picardy
Flag	Region logo
	Location
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
	Administration
Country	France
NUTS Region	FR2
Départements	3
Capital	Amiens
President	Claude Gewerc (PS)
	Basic statistics
Area	19,399 km² (7,490 sq mi)
Population	1,890,000 (01/2007); (Ranked 12th)
- Density	97 /km² (252 /sq mi)
	Other information
Website	cr-picardie.fr

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This article is about the modern French region. For other uses, see Picardy (disambiguation).

Picardy (French: Picardie) is one of the 26 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.

[edit] History

The modern region of Picardy is larger than the historical province of Picardy. The south of the Aisne department and most of the Oise department were historically part of the province of Île-de-France, while the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department were the province of Picardy proper, with the Boulonais, that is now in Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (Pas-de-Calais departement).

As the historical Picardy was deemed too small to become a region, the French government decided to join it with the north of Île-de-France (specifically, the pays of Beauvaisis, Valois, Noyonnais, Laonnois, Soissonnais, Omois, to name only the most prominent). The name of the historical province of Picardy was given to this new region.

[edit] Geography

The region of Picardy is considered by some to be an artificial entity, with the south of the Oise department lying inside the metropolitan area of Paris. People in the south of Oise commute to Île-de-France for work, and hardly feel Picard (the local inhabitant and traditionally Picard language speakers) unlike those coming from the north of the region for whom the term is very meaningful.^{[citations needed]}

Between the 1990 and 1999 censuses, the population of Oise increased 0.61% per year (almost twice as fast as France as a whole), while the Aisne department lost inhabitants, and the Somme barely grew with a 0.16% growth per year. Today, 41.3% of the population of Picardy live inside the Oise department, which historically was not part of Picardy.

Although Picardy proper is a vast flat plain of open fields, famed for the gruesome Battle of the Somme, the south of Picardy (historically part of Île-de-France) is a very scenic hilly area with large forests.

[edit] Administration

The president of the regional council is Claude Gewerc, a Socialist and has been in office since 2004 when he defeated longtime UDF incumbent Gilles de Robien.

The city of Amiens, the regional capital, is administered by Socialist Gilles Demailly since 2008, when he defeated longtime mayor Gilles de Robien (NC).