Calvados (, ; ) is a department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the Normandy coast. In 2023, it had a population of 709,441.

History Calvados is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, in application of the law of 22 December 1789. It had been part of the former province of Normandy. The name "Orne-Inférieure" was originally proposed, but it was ultimately called Calvados after a group of rocks off its coast.

One popular legend ascribes its etymology to the Salvador, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sank by the rocks near Arromanches-les-Bains in 1588. It is more likely, however, that the name Calvados was derived from calva dorsa, meaning bare backs, in reference to two sparsely vegetated rocks off its shore.

After the allied victory at Waterloo the department was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818.

On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces landed on the beaches of the Bay of the Seine in what became known as the Battle of Normandy.

Geography Calvados belongs to the region of Normandy and borders the departments of Seine-Maritime (across the Seine estuary), Eure, Orne and Manche. To the north is the Baie de la Seine, part of the English Channel (La Manche). Calvados includes the Bessin area, the Pays d'Auge and the northern half of an upland, "(La) Suisse normande" ("Norman Switzerland").

The city of Caen is at its heart which has no major towns nearby. The five major towns in Calvados are distant hubs from Caen, stemming from medieval main market town function: clockwise from the northeast: Deauville (on the coast) Lisieux Falaise, Calvados Vire-Normandie Bayeux

Smaller towns include those that emerged from villages in the Victorian period along the coasts, either for fishing and boating or for pioneering casinos, holiday amusements and sandy beach bathing.

Economy Agriculture is key to the private sector in Calvados and several parts rely heavily for prosperity on tourism, as well as regional distribution sites, transport work and general chemical and mechanical production industries; the university and research and development functions of the district are clustered around Caen. Bayeux is the main host location of the Bayeux tapestry. Caen Cathedral is a large instance of largely intact original medieval architecture, of Caen stone – the widely cited benchmark for construction limestone, sometimes used generally for any such product of strong, near flawless, pale or yellow quality. It neighbours Abbey of Sainte-Trinité, Caen, also known as abbaye aux dames. Calvados produces much butter, cheese, cider, and Calvados, the apple spirit, a brandy that alongside cheese has a major export market.

Politics The President of the Departmental Council is the centrist Jean-Léonce Dupont, the former dominant figure of the right and centre in the department. The Conseil General of Calvados and Devon County Council signed a Twinning Charter in 1971 to develop links with the English county of Devon.

Party seatsSocialist Party 18•Miscellaneous Right 18•The Republicans 6Left Radical Party 3•New Centre 3•MoDem 1

Presidential elections 2nd round ElectionWinning candidateParty%2nd place candidateParty% 2022 Emmanuel Macron LREM 60.29 Marine Le Pen FN 39.71 2017 Emmanuel Macron LREM 67.11 Marine Le Pen FN 32.89 2012 François Hollande PS 53.12 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 46.88 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy UMP 51.20 Ségolène Royal PS 48.80 2002 Jacques Chirac RPR 83.95 Jean-Marie Le Pen FN 16.05

Current National Assembly Representatives

ConstituencyMemberParty Calvados's 1st constituency Joël Bruneau DVD Calvados's 2nd constituency Arthur Delaporte Socialist Party Calvados's 3rd constituency Jérémie Patrier-Leitus Horizons Calvados's 4th constituency Christophe Blanchet MoDem Calvados's 5th constituency Bertrand Bouyx Horizons Calvados's 6th constituency Élisabeth Borne Renaissance

Demography

The inhabitants of Calvados are called "Calvadosiens" (male) and "Calvadosiennes" (female).

Age distribution in Calvados (2019):Dossier complet, Population par grandes tranches d'âges, Tourisme en 2022, Catégories et types de logements , INSEE, retrieved 7 July 2022. 75 years and older: 10.0% 60–74 years old: 18.1% 45–59 years old: 19.4% 30–44 years old: 17.4% 15–29 years old: 18.0% 0–14 years old: 17.1%

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Caen, the prefecture. As of 2023, there are 7 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:Populations de référence 2023: 14 Calvados, INSEE

Commune Population (2023) Caen 109,400 Hérouville-Saint-Clair 23,470 Lisieux 19,645 Vire Normandie 17,457 Bayeux 12,659 Ifs 11,937 Mondeville 10,331

Culture The Bayeux Tapestry is on display in Bayeux and makes the city one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Normandy.

Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944. The cult of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux, where she lived in a Carmelite convent. Every September, Deauville hosts the Festival of the American Movie and the beach resort of Cabourg hosts the Festival of the Romantic Movie. Annually, the city of Caen celebrates the festival of the electronical cultures called "Nordik Impakt" and the festival of Beauregard, just around Caen.

The local dialect of the Norman language is known as Augeron. It is spoken by a minority of the population.

Tourism Calvados is a popular tourism destination in France because of its seaside resorts and their hotels and casinos. Other popular attractions in Calvados include several manors and castles, the chalk cliffs, the typical Norman houses, the history of William the Conqueror, Caen, Bayeux, Lisieux, the famous D-day beaches and numerous museums about the Second World War. Culinary specialties of Calvados are abundant: cider, calvados, camembert, and Pont-l'Évêque cheeses.

One of the advantage of Calvados is to be fairly near large urban centers (Paris, Île-de-France). Calvados is therefore often preferred for holidays and for weekends and sometimes considered as the countryside of Paris.

Calvados, via the port of Ouistreham, is an entrance to the continent from Britain. There are two airports: Caen-Carpiquet and Deauville-Saint Gatien. The department of Calvados has several popular tourist areas: the Bessin, the Plain of Caen, the Bocage Virois, the Côte de Nacre, the Côte Fleurie and the Pays d'Auge. Several beaches of Calvados are popular for water sports, including Cabourg and Merville-Franceville-Plage.

Tourist capacity (2022): 10,200 hotel rooms 14,410 camping sites 12,795 other beds (tourist resorts, holiday villages, rural gites, youth hostels)

Second homes As of 2019, 17.9% of available housing in the department were second homes.

+Communes with population over 2,000 and more than 20% of second homes in 2019 Town Municipal population Percentage ofsecond homes Villers-sur-Mer 83.0% Cabourg 79.7% Deauville 71.9% Trouville-sur-Mer 67.4% Merville-Franceville-Plage 57.9% Courseulles-sur-Mer 52.2% Bernières-sur-Mer 44.3% Dives-sur-Mer 39.9% Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer 39.5% Hermanville-sur-Mer 31.7% Luc-sur-Mer 30.1% Lion-sur-Mer 29.8% Honfleur 27.9% Ouistreham 25.8% Touques 25.0%

Sport Aquatic sports are often played on the coasts and beaches, for example, kite surfing and beach volleyball. Stade Malherbe Caen is a professional football team from Caen, who currently play in Ligue 2.

See also Arrondissements of the Calvados department Cantons of the Calvados department Communes of the Calvados department

References

External links

Departmental Council website Prefecture website

Encyclopædia Britannica's guide to D-Day