Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Moulins as its capital.[4] It was formed from most of all the former province of Bourbonnais (the Duchy of Bourbonnais); Saint-Amand-Montrond, in the Cher department, was the only part of the old province that was not made part of Allier.
It was divided in seven districts: Cérilly, Moulins, Le Donjon, Cusset, Gannat, Montmarault and Montluçon.
In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the seven districts were changed into four arrondissements: Moulins, Gannat, Lapalisse and Montluçon.[4]
On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Gannat was eliminated and in 1941 Vichy became the capital of one arrondissement of the department instead of Lapalisse.[4]
The Bourbonnais Limagne, commonly called as Val d'Allier ("Valley of the Allier"), found on both sides of the river between Vichy and Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Nevers is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Maritime Temperate climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".
There are two periods of maximum precipitation in June and October and a minimum in January and February with average of 694 mm (27.3 in) Montluçon (altitude: 207 m), 763 mm (30.0 in) in Moulins (245 m) 778 mm (30.6 in) in Vichy (251 m); and 791 mm (31.1 in) in Lapalisse (285 m).
The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Allier department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:[10]
There is not a traditional demonym to name the inhabitants of the Allier department. Some names used are Alliérins, Bourbonnais, Elavérins, or simply habitants de l'Allier ("inhabitants of Allier").
Of these names, the most used is Bourbonnais followed by habitants de l'Allier.
Allier had a population, in 2014, of 343,062,[3] for a population density of 46.7 inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Vichy, with 122,267 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.[8]
Evolution of the population in Allier
The 10 communes in the department with more inhabitants are:[8]
↑"Le Président". Allier.fr. Conseil Départemental de l'Allier. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
↑ 2.02.1"Département de l'Allier (03) - Résumé statistique". Publications et statistiques pour la France ou les régions (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
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