Blieux

Blieux
A ravine in the territory of the Blieux commune
Coat of arms
Blieux
Location within Provence-A.-C.d'A. region  Blieux
Coordinates: 43°52′24″N 6°22′18″E / 43.8733°N 6.3717°ECoordinates: 43°52′24″N 6°22′18″E / 43.8733°N 6.3717°E
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
Area^1	56.8 km^2 (21.9 sq mi)
Population (2008)^2	57
• Density	1.0/km^2 (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

• le Bas-Chadoul
• la Melle
• la Tuilière
• Thon
• La Castelle

Summits and passes

• Mont Chiran (1905 m)
• le Grand Mourre (1898 m)
• Crête de Montmuye (Montmuye ridge) (Highest point: 1621 m)
• Le Mourre de Chanier ( 1930 m)

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1765	823	—
1793	913	+10.9%
1800	801	−12.3%
1806	818	+2.1%
1821	810	−1.0%
1831	907	+12.0%
1836	969	+6.8%
1841	876	−9.6%
1846	802	−8.4%
1851	780	−2.7%
1856	735	−5.8%
1861	736	+0.1%
1866	650	−11.7%
1872	598	−8.0%
1876	573	−4.2%
1881	560	−2.3%
1886	537	−4.1%
1891	508	−5.4%
1896	449	−11.6%
1901	442	−1.6%
1906	403	−8.8%
1911	374	−7.2%
1921	241	−35.6%
1926	200	−17.0%
1931	181	−9.5%
1936	160	−11.6%
1946	110	−31.2%
1954	100	−9.1%
1962	73	−27.0%
1968	59	−19.2%
1975	54	−8.5%
1982	59	+9.3%
1990	57	−3.4%
1999	59	+3.5%
2008	57	−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

• Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department

References

• INSEE

1. 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