The Camargue (Occitan: Camarga in classical norm or Camargo in Mistralian norm) is located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the River Rhône delta. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan Arles (aʁl̥ Provençal Occitan: Arles in both classical and Mistralian norms is a City in the south of France, This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Rhone, or the Rhône is one of the major Rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France. A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône. Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named "Mouths of the Rhône". In the context of the political and geographic organization of France and many of its former colonies a department (département depaʁtǝmɑ̃ is an Administrative division Bouches-du-Rhône ( Occitan: Bocas de Ròse, lit "Mouths of the Rhône River" is a department in the south of France named after the A further expanse of marshy plain, the Petite Camargue (little Camargue), just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard. Gard ( Occitan: Gard) is a département located in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region The area was also the inspiration for naming Operation Camargue during the First Indochina War. Operation Camargue, one of the largest operations by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Vietnamese National Army in the First Indochina The First Indochina War (also known as the French Indochina War, the The Anti-French War, the Franco-Vietnamese War, the Franco-Vietminh War, Camargue was designated a Ramsar site on December 01, 1986. The Ramsar Convention is an international Treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of Wetlands i
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Geography
With an area of over 930 km² (360 sq. miles), the Camargue is western Europe's largest river delta (technically an island, as it is wholly surrounded by water). It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Brine (lat saltus) is Water saturated or nearly saturated with Salt (NaCl A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or Brackish water separated from the deeper Sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral Phragmites australis, the common reed, is a large perennial grass found in Wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the In Geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of Wetland which is subject
Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. The central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds, and was incorporated into the Parc Régional de Camargue in 2008. Étang de Vaccarès is a lake or rather a salt water lagoon ( étang) in the wetlands of the Camargue in the delta of the River Rhône in southern Regional park is a term used for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty historic interest recreational use or other reason and under the administration of a form Parc Naturel Régional de Carmague (PNRC or Regional Park of the Camargue is an attraction that was constructed in 1970 along the shoreline of the Camargue, France
Flora and fauna
The Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds, the brine ponds providing one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo. The Greater Flamingo ( Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread Species of the Flamingo family The marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably (and notoriously) some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France. Mosquitoes are insects in the family Culicidae. They have a pair of scaled wings a pair of Halteres, a slender body and long legs It is also famous for The Camargue Bull and the Camargue horse. Camargue cattle are a breed of cattle native to the Camargue marshland in the delta of the River Rhone in Southern France
The flora of the Camargue is specially adapted to cope with the saline conditions. Sea lavender and glasswort flourish along with tamarisks and reeds. Sea-lavender (also Sea Lavender, Sealavender) or Statice is any of 120 species of Flowers in the Genus Limonium The common name Glasswort came into use in the 16th Century to describe plants growing in England whose ashes could be used for making soda-based (as opposed to Potash Tamarisk redirects here For other uses of tamarisk see Tamarisk (disambiguation The genus Tamarix ( tamarisk
Regional park
Officially established as a regional park and nature reserve in 1970, the Parc Régional de Camargue covers 820 km² that are some of the wildest and most protected in all of Europe. A roadside museum provides background on flora, fauna, and the history of the area.
Human influence
Humans have lived in the Camargue for millennia, greatly affecting it with drainage schemes, dykes, rice paddies and salt pans. LeveeEmbankmentDitch A dike (or dyke) levee, levée, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial Rice is a Cereal foodstuff which forms an important part of the diet of many people worldwide and as such it is a staple food for many Much of the outer Camargue has been drained for agricultural purposes. The Camargue has its own eponymous horse breed, the famous white Camaguais ridden by the gardians who rear the region's fighting bulls for export to Spain, as well as sheep. Meyers b12 s0947bjpg|thumb|Heavy or draft horse breeds]] This page is a list of Horse and Pony breeds and also includes terms used to describe types of horses that are not Bullfighting or Tauromachy (from Greek ταυρομαχία - tauromachia, "bull-fight" is a traditional spectacle of Spain Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
There are few towns of any size in the Camargue. Its "capital" is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. Arles (aʁl̥ Provençal Occitan: Arles in both classical and Mistralian norms is a City in the south of France, The only other towns of note are Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, about 45 km to the southwest, which is the site of the annual Roma pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah, and the medieval fortress-town of Aigues-Mortes on the far western edge, in the Petite Camargue. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (lit "Saint Marys of the Sea" Provençal Occitan Lei Santei Marias de la Mar) is the capital of the The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins In Christianity, veneration ( Latin veneratio, Greek &delta&omicron&upsilon&lambda&iota&alpha dulia) or veneration of saints Saint Sarah, also known as Sara-la-Kali ("Sara the black" Sara e Kali is the mythic Patron saint of the Roma (Gypsy people Aigues-Mortes is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.
The Camargue was exploited in the Middle-Ages by Cistercian and Benedictine monks. In the XVI-XVIIth centuries, big estates, known locally as mas, were founded by rich landlords from Arles. At the end of the XVIIIth century, the Rhône was dyked up. In 1858, the building of the digue à la mer (dyke to the sea) achieved protection of the delta from erosion. The north of the Camargue is made of agricultural land. Main crops are cereals, grapevine and rice. Near the seashore, salt extraction started in the antiquity and was a source of wealth for the Cistercian "salt abbeys" of Ulmet, Franquevaux and Psalmody in the Middle Ages. Salt industry started in the XIXth century and big chemical companies such as Péchiney and Solvay founded the 'mining' city of Salin-de-Giraud.
The boundaries of the Camargue are constantly revised by the Rhône as it transports huge quantities of mud downstream - as much as 20 million m³ annually. Some of the étangs are in fact the remnants of old arms and legs of the river. The general trend is for the coastline to move outwards. Thus Aigues-Mortes for instance – on the coast when it was built – is now some 5 km (3 miles) inland. The pace of change has been modified somewhat in recent years by man-made barriers, such as dams on the Rhône and sea dykes, but flooding remains a problem across the region. A dam is a barrier that divides waters. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water while other structures such as Floodgates, Levees
Film portrayal
A portrayal of the horses and the region is displayed in the 47-minute, narrative children's film from 1953, Crin-Blanc, known in English by the title White Mane. White Mane (French Crin-Blanc and Crin Blanc Cheval Sauvage) ( 1953) is a Short film directed by award-winning White Mane (French Crin-Blanc and Crin Blanc Cheval Sauvage) ( 1953) is a Short film directed by award-winning Directed by Albert Lamorisse, the black-and-white film won the Prix Jean Vigo award and the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prize, both for short film. The Prix Jean Vigo is an award in the Cinema of France given annually since 1951 to a French film director in homage to Jean Vigo. The Cannes Film Festival (le Festival de Cannes founded in 1946 is one of the world's oldest most influential and prestigious Film festivals alongside Venice,
External links
- Nacioun Gardians (Cultural association, Camargue, France)
- The Camargue at armchairfrance.com
- Parc naturel de Camargue (in French and Italian)
- Tourism Office of Saintes-Maries de la Mer
- Tourism Office of Arles
- Camargue Photogallery
- A short video about Saintes-Maries de la Mer by Ethan Films
- IMDB Crin-Blanc
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