Indre

This article is about the French department. For other uses, see Indre (disambiguation).

Indre
Department
Prefecture building of the Indre department, in Châteauroux
Coat of arms
Location of Indre in France
Coordinates: 46°46′N 1°36′E
Country	France
Region	Centre
Prefecture	Châteauroux
Subprefectures	Le Blanc La Châtre Issoudun
Government
• President of the General Council	Louis Pinton
Area
• Total	6,791 km2 (2,622 sq mi)
Population (1999)
• Total	231,139
• Rank	81st
• Density	34/km2 (88/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	36
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	26
Communes	247
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Indre (French pronunciation: ​[ɛ̃dʁ]) is a department in the centre of France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are called Indriens.

History

Indre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Berry.

Geography

Indre is part of the current region of Centre (Val de Loire) and is surrounded by the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Creuse, Vienne, and Haute-Vienne.

Politics

The President of the General Council is Louis Pinton of the Union for a Popular Movement.

Party		seats
•	Miscellaneous Right	9
•	Union for a Popular Movement	8
	Socialist Party	7
•	New Centre	2

Tourism

The Indre has two villages classified among the most beautiful villages of France: Saint-Benoît-du-Sault and Gargilesse-Dampierre.

• 

  Châteauroux

• 

  Saint-Benoît-du-Sault

• 

  Gargilesse-Dampierre

• 

  Le Blanc

• 

  Argenton-sur-Creuse

See also

• Cantons of the Indre department
• Communes of the Indre department
• Arrondissements of the Indre department
• France

External links

Media related to Indre (department) at Wikimedia Commons

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Indre at DMOZ
• (French) http://www.indrenature.net/