Pyrénées-Orientales

Pyrénées-Orientales, a southern department of France, is bounded on the E. by the Mediterranean and on the S. by the Pyrenees. Area, 1591 sq. m.; pop. (1891) 210,125. It is divided into the three arrondissements of Perpignan, Prades, and Céret. The chief town is Perpignan. Like the other Pyrenean departments, this one embraces a series of parallel valleys formed by spurs from the Pyrenees. A plain occupies all the north and east of the department. Agriculture is extensively prosecuted, but wines constitute the wealth of the district, and include the red wines of Roussillon, the white muscatel of Rivesaltes, and others. This department takes the front rank as a producer of iron ore; granite, slate, and limestone are quarried. There are mineral springs at Amélie-des-Bains, and elsewhere.