PICARDIE

Picardie is located in Northern part of France. The capital of French Metropolitan Region of Picardie is Amiens. Present day region Picardie is larger in size than the historical province of Picardie.

Picardie region is divided into three departements namely Aisne, Oise and Somme. The region of Picardie is divided into 13 arrondissements, 129 canton and 2,292 communes. Picardie approximately covers an area of 19,300 km2.

At present, Claude Gewerc is the Regional President of the region. In the past, south of the Aisne departement and most of Oise department were a part of the province of Ille-de-France. Somme departement and north of the Aisne departement used to be the province of Picardie proper.

Historical Picardie covered a very small area and it could not be considered to become a region. Hence, to solve the problem, the French government decided to join this region with the north of Ille-de-France. Some regions that were joined include Beauvaisis, Valois, Nayonnais, Laonnais, Soissonnais and Omois. All these were combined together to form the Picardie region. So, this region is an artificial one.

At present, Picardie has become a stagnating region. The industrial area of Saint-Quentin, that is located on the north of this region suffered because of economic crisis. However, the south of Picardie region that is located at the border of Ile-de-France has been witnessing an increasing flow of Parisians. These Parisians are relocating to the distant and greener suburbs of the Oise departement.

Picardie region comprises of a vast flat plain of open fields. These plains have witnessed the gruesome Battle of the Somme. In southern part of Picardie, the terrain is hilly and there are large forests in that place.