Sournia

Sournia (French pronunciation: [suʁnja] (listen); Catalan: Sornià; Occitan: Sornhan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitanie region of south-western France. Its inhabitants are known as Sourniannais.

Sournia

Sornià
Sornhan
Commune
A general view of Sournia
Coat of arms
Location of Sournia
Sournia
Sournia
Coordinates: 42°43′43″N 2°26′34″E
CountryFrance
RegionOccitanie
DepartmentPyrénées-Orientales
ArrondissementPrades
CantonLa Vallée de l'Agly
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Yvon Crambes
Area
1
29.99 km2 (11.58 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
498
 • Density17/km2 (43/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
66198 /66730
Elevation380–1,234 m (1,247–4,049 ft)
(avg. 500 m or 1,600 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Sournia is a town of the Fenouillèdes, the languedocienne part of the Pyrénées-Orientales, in the canton of La Vallée de l'Agly and in the arrondissement of Prades. The river Désix runs through the village. Sournia is 22 km from Ille-sur-Têt and from Vinça, 24 km from Prades and from Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, 30 km from Latour-de-France and 34 km from Axat.
The commune is covered by the quality wine standard AOC 'Côtes-du-Roussillon'.
Sournia is crossed by the long distance footpath, GR 36.

Map of Sournia and its surrounding communes

Administration

The current mayor of Sournia is Paul Blanc, a senator, of the centre-right and right wing party UMP founded by Jacques Chirac.

Population

The population of Sournia in 2017 was 498 people. For some reason at the end of the 19th century, the population of Sournia seemed to have a reputation for having one of the longest longevity in France, even though this fact was not clearly verified.[2]

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 761—    
1800 814+0.97%
1806 812−0.04%
1821 882+0.55%
1831 929+0.52%
1836 957+0.60%
1841 933−0.51%
1846 945+0.26%
1851 1,073+2.57%
1856 1,006−1.28%
1861 950−1.14%
1866 921−0.62%
1872 885−0.66%
1876 850−1.00%
1881 765−2.09%
1886 725−1.07%
1891 686−1.10%
1896 634−1.56%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 604−0.96%
1906 604+0.00%
1911 583−0.71%
1921 463−2.28%
1926 410−2.40%
1931 424+0.67%
1936 389−1.71%
1946 382−0.18%
1954 347−1.19%
1962 351+0.14%
1968 339−0.58%
1975 296−1.92%
1982 339+1.96%
1990 376+1.30%
1999 367−0.27%
2007 419+1.67%
2012 494+3.35%
2017 498+0.16%
Source: EHESS[3] and INSEE (1968-2017)[4]

Places of interest
  • Ruins of the former church of Saint-Michel from the tenth century.
  • The ancient church of Sainte-Félicité from the tenth and eleventh centuries.
  • Church of Arsa from the twelfth century.

See also

References
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. (in French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Record de longévité à Sournia en 1897 , 3 January 2015
  3. Données Cassini, EHESS
  4. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.