Gers

Gers
Department
Prefecture building of the Gers department, in Auch
Flag Coat of arms
Location of the Gers in France
Coordinates: 43°39′N 0°35′E / 43.650°N 0.583°E / 43.650; 0.583Coordinates: 43°39′N 0°35′E / 43.650°N 0.583°E / 43.650; 0.583
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Prefecture	Auch
Subprefectures	Condom Mirande
Government
• President of the General Council	Jean-Pierre Pujol (PS)
Area
• Total	6,257 km2 (2,416 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	190,276
• Rank	90th
• Density	30/km2 (79/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	32
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	17
Communes	462
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

The Gers (French: le Gers, pronounced: [ʒɛʁs] or [ʒɛʁ]; Gascon: Gers) is a department in the Occitanie region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.

Inhabitants are called les Gersois.

In the Middle Ages, the Lordship of L'Isle-Jourdain was nearby.

The Gers is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Guyenne and Gascony.

In 1808 it lost Lavit on its north-eastern side to the newly created department of Tarn-et-Garonne.

The culture is largely agricultural, with great emphasis on the local gastronomical specialties such as:

Also, some prominent cultivated crops are corn, colza, sunflowers and grain.

The Gascon language is a dialect of Occitan, but it is not widely spoken. The department is characterised by sleepy bastide villages and rolling hills with the Pyrenees visible to the south.