Nièvre

Nièvre, a central department of France, on the watershed between the Loire and the Seine. Area, 2632 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 347,576; (1891) 343,581. Mountains of the Morvan system, which forms the watershed between the Seine and Rhone, divide the department into two great declivities. There are plateaus more or less fertile, vine-clad hills, and valleys rich in pastures; but the principal wealth of the department consists in its forests and minerals—coal, iron, and gypsum. The Nièvre is an inconsiderable affluent of the Loire from the right. The three chief rivers are the Allier, Loire, and Yonne. The iron industry is important, and pottery and glass are manufactured. Arrondissements, Nevers, Château-Chinon, Clamecy, and Cosne; capital, Nevers.