Blieux

Blieux

A ravine in the territory of the Blieux commune

Coat of arms
Blieux

Coordinates: 43°52′24″N 6°22′18″E / 43.8733°N 6.3717°E / 43.8733; 6.3717Coordinates: 43°52′24″N 6°22′18″E / 43.8733°N 6.3717°E / 43.8733; 6.3717
Country France
Region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Arrondissement Digne-les-Bains
Canton Barrême
Intercommunality Moyen Verdon
Government
  Mayor (20082014) Marcel Collomp
Area1 56.8 km2 (21.9 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 57
  Density 1.0/km2 (2.6/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 04030 / 04330
Elevation 831–1,921 m (2,726–6,302 ft)
(avg. 950 m or 3,120 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Blieux is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France.

History

The commune of Blieux first appeared on maps in 1100.[1]

Much later, during the French Revolution, records show that the residents of Blieux had created a political club (patriotic society), which was very common at the time. (See Jacobin Club).[2]

Name of the commune

According to Ernest Nègre, the first recorded name for the commune, Bleus, was derived from the Occitan word bleusse, meaning 'dry'. This was likely a reference to the local soil.[3] By contrast, Charles Rostaing argues that the name derives from the pre-Indo-European root word, *BL, meaning 'mountain in the form of a spur'.[4]

La Melle, the name of a nearby hamlet, comes from the Celtic word, mello, meaning an elevated location.[5]

Economy

Historically, Blieux was a pastoral community, with a yearly alpine grazing cyle known as transhumance. As with much of Provence, tourism the primary source of economic activity today.

Geography

The village is located at an altitude of 950m,[1] in the vally formed by a tributary of the river Asse, known as the 'Asse de Blieux'.

Hamlets

Summits and passes

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1765823    
1793913+10.9%
1800801−12.3%
1806818+2.1%
1821810−1.0%
1831907+12.0%
1836969+6.8%
1841876−9.6%
1846802−8.4%
1851780−2.7%
1856735−5.8%
1861736+0.1%
1866650−11.7%
1872598−8.0%
1876573−4.2%
1881560−2.3%
1886537−4.1%
1891508−5.4%
1896449−11.6%
1901442−1.6%
1906403−8.8%
1911374−7.2%
1921241−35.6%
1926200−17.0%
1931181−9.5%
1936160−11.6%
1946110−31.2%
1954100−9.1%
196273−27.0%
196859−19.2%
197554−8.5%
198259+9.3%
199057−3.4%
199959+3.5%
200857−3.4%

With the exception of those that have been totally abandoned, Blieux is one of the communities in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department that has experienced the greatest population decline from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries.

Inhabitants are known as Blieuxois.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 de La Torre, Michel (1989). Deslogis-Lacoste, ed. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence : le guide complet des 200 communes (in French). Paris. p. 72. ISBN 2-7399-5004-7.
  2. Patrice Alphand, « Les Sociétés populaires», La Révolution dans les Basses-Alpes, Annales de Haute-Provence, bulletin de la société scientifique et littéraire des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, no. 307, 1989, pp. 296-298
  3. Ernest Nègre, Toponymie générale de la France : étymologie de 35 000 noms de lieux, Genève : Librairie Droz, 1990. Volume II : Formations dialectales. Notice 23793, p 1281
  4. Charles Rostaing, Essai sur la toponymie de la Provence (depuis les origines jusqu’aux invasions barbares), Laffite Reprints, Marseille, 1973, p. 85
  5. Rostaing, p. 206
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blieux.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.