Isère

Isère, a department in the south-east of France, round which on the north and west flows the river Rhone. It was formed out of the ancient province of Dauphiné. Area, 3200 sq. m.; pop. (1872) 575,784; (1886) 581,680; (1891) 572,145. The surface is level in the north-west, but becomes mountainous and picturesque in the east and south-east. Mont du Midi, on the south-eastern border, rises to 13,088 feet. The chief river, besides the Rhone, is its left-hand tributary, the Isère, which, rising in the Alps at an altitude of 7540 feet, flows south-westwards to join the Rhone above Valence, after a total course of 180 miles (102 navigable). The products include wheat, wine, stone fruits, medicinal plants, and hemp. Cheese is made; and silkworms are reared. The department is rich in mineral products: iron, coal, and turf are worked, and to a less extent marble, slates, and gypsum. The industrial activity is considerable, particularly in the manufacture of iron and steel goods, gloves, silk stuffs, cloth, linen, paper, straw-hats, liqueur (Chartreuse), &c. The department contains four arrondissements, Grenoble, La Tour-du-Pin, St Marcellin, and Vienne; capital, Grenoble.