Haute-Marne

Haute-Marne (French pronunciation: [ot maʁn] ; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.

Haute-Marne
Department
Prefecture building in Chaumont
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Haute-Marne in France
Coordinates: 48°05′N 05°15′E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Prefecture	Chaumont
Subprefectures	Langres Saint-Dizier
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Nicolas Lacroix (LR)
Area 1
• Total	6,211 km2 (2,398 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	171,042
• Rank	94th
• Density	28/km2 (71/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	52
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	17
Communes	426
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

History

Haute-Marne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Champagne, Burgundy, Lorraine and Franche-Comté.

In March 1814 the departmental prefecture, Chaumont, was the unwitting witness to the end of the First Empire. On 1 March, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom and Austria signed an accord forbidding any individual peace deal with Napoleon I, and to fight until his final defeat.

During World War II, Haute-Marne was partitioned under German occupation. The canal which runs from the Marne to the Saône served as a border, dividing the department into east and west. The east was a "reserved zone", intended for the creation of a new German (Ripuarian) state, whereas to the west would be the traditional "occupied zone". Haute-Marne was finally liberated by the Allies, in the form of the division of General Leclerc, between August and September 1944.

Geography

Haute-Marne is part of the region of Grand Est and is surrounded by the departments of Meuse, Vosges, Haute-Saône, Côte-d'Or, Aube, and Marne.

The highest mountain is Haut-du-Sac, in the Langres Plateau, in the southwest of the department, which rises to a height of 516 m (1,693 ft). The lowest points at 117 m (384 ft) are found on the plains of Perthois and Der.

The department is named after the river Marne, whose source is near Langres. This river covers 120 km (75 mi) within the department. The department is to the east of the Parisian basin, and is characterised by a concentric sequence of cliff faces of varying geological origin, oriented northeast–southwest.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Saint-Dizier; the prefecture Chaumont is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants:

Commune	Population (2019)
Saint-Dizier	22,928
Chaumont	21,847
Langres	7,668
Nogent	3,591
Joinville	3,015

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 226,655 —     1821 268,208 +0.85% 1851 268,208 +0.00% 1861 258,311 −0.38% 1872 251,026 −0.26% 1881 254,722 +0.16% 1891 243,322 −0.46% 1901 226,367 −0.72% 1911 214,621 −0.53% 1921 198,777 −0.76% 1931 189,726 −0.46% 1936 188,429 −0.14%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1946 181,792 −0.36% 1954 197,153 +1.02% 1962 208,447 +0.70% 1968 214,304 +0.46% 1975 212,304 −0.13% 1982 210,670 −0.11% 1990 204,067 −0.40% 1999 194,873 −0.51% 2006 186,652 −0.61% 2011 182,375 −0.46% 2016 178,084 −0.48%
source:

Tourism

The Haute-Marne department is not a famous department but this peaceful territory has numerous interesting places to visit. Indeed, the department was one of the most powerful in French history thanks to metallurgy economy and was a land of confrontations along history.

Thus, among other examples, the French Wars of Religion (from 1562 to 1598) began with the Massacre of Vassy in the north of the Haute-Marne department. Following this event, open military conflicts across France Kingdom began. The Edict of Nantes is the consequence of this period.

The fortified town of Langres, famous for Denis Diderot author of the Encyclopédie, the Renaissance castle of Joinville, the Lake Der-Chantecoq (one of the biggest artificial lake in Europe), the Chateau de Cirey where Voltaire lived for a while with Émilie du Châtelet and the village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises where Charles De Gaulle lived until his death are all major attractions.

Haute-Marne is also well known for some famous French great men and women as:

• Louise Michel
• Camille Flammarion and his brother Ernest Flammarion
• Goncourt brothers most famous all around the world with the Prix Goncourt, literature prize given by the académie Goncourt for "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"
• Albin Michel

• 
  View from the walls of Langres
• 
  Charles de Gaulle's private residence in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises
• 
  Frankish sword discovered in Saint-Dizier
• 
  Joinville
• 
  Château of Cirey-sur-Blaise

Politics

Charles de Gaulle was a longtime resident of the department, in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, and died there on 9 November 1970, at the age of 79.

The president of the Departmental Council is Nicolas Lacroix, elected in 2017.

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%	2nd Place Candidate	Party	%
	2022	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	43.04	Marine Le Pen	RN	56.96
	2017	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	50.48	Marine Le Pen	FN	49.52
	2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	54.43	François Hollande	PS	45.57
	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	59.14	Ségolène Royal	PS	40.86
	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	76.17	Jean-Marie Le Pen	FN	23.83
	1995	Jacques Chirac	RPR	52.17	Lionel Jospin	PS	47.83

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member	Party
	Haute-Marne's 1st constituency	Christophe Bentz	National Rally
	Haute-Marne's 2nd constituency	Laurence Robert-Dehault	National Rally

See also

• Arrondissements of the Haute-Marne department
• Cantons of the Haute-Marne department
• Communes of the Haute-Marne department

External links

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in French and English) Official Tourist Board website