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 (2008–2014) 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
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