Blieux
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name = Blieux
|native name = {{native name|oc|Blieus}}
|commune status = Commune
|image = Clue de La Melle.JPG
|caption = A ravine in the territory of the Blieux commune
|image coat of arms = Blason Blieux.svg
|arrondissement = Castellane
|canton = Riez
|INSEE = 04030
|postal code = 04330
|term = 2020–2026
|intercommunality =
|coordinates = {{coord|43.8733|6.3717|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m = 950
|elevation min m = 831
|elevation max m = 1921
|area km2 = 56.8
|population = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}
Blieux ({{IPA|fr|blijø}}; {{langx|oc|Blieus}}) is a rural commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France.
History
The commune of Blieux first appeared on maps in 1100.{{cite book| first= Michel| last= de La Torre| editor-last=Deslogis-Lacoste| title=Alpes-de-Haute-Provence : le guide complet des 200 communes | year=1989| location=Paris| language=French| pages= 72| isbn= 2-7399-5004-7}}
Much later, during the French Revolution, records show that the residents of Blieux had created a political club (patriotic society), which was very common at the time. (See Jacobin Club).Patrice Alphand, « Les Sociétés populaires», La Révolution dans les Basses-Alpes, Annales de Haute-Provence, bulletin de la société scientifique et littéraire des Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, no. 307, 1989, pp. 296-298
=Name of the commune=
According to Ernest Nègre, the first recorded name for the commune, Bleus, was derived from the Occitan word bleusse, meaning 'dry'. This was likely a reference to the local soil.Ernest Nègre, Toponymie générale de la France : étymologie de 35 000 noms de lieux, Genève : Librairie Droz, 1990. Volume II : Formations dialectales. Notice 23793, p 1281 By contrast, Charles Rostaing argues that the name derives from the pre-Indo-European root word, *BL, meaning 'mountain in the form of a spur'.Charles Rostaing, Essai sur la toponymie de la Provence (depuis les origines jusqu’aux invasions barbares), Laffite Reprints, Marseille, 1973, p. 85
La Melle, the name of a nearby hamlet, comes from the Celtic word, mello, meaning an elevated location.Rostaing, p. 206
Economy
Historically, Blieux was a pastoral community, with a yearly alpine grazing cycle known as transhumance. As with much of Provence, tourism the primary source of economic activity today{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}.
Geography
The village is located at an altitude of 950m, in the valley formed by a tributary of the river Asse, known as the 'Asse de Blieux'.
=Hamlets=
- le Bas-Chadoul
- la Melle
- la Tuilière
- Thon
- La Castelle
=Summits and passes=
- Mont Chiran (1905 m)
- le Grand Mourre (1898 m)
- Crête de Montmuye (Montmuye ridge) (Highest point: 1621 m)
- Le Mourre de Chanier ( 1930 m)
Demographics
{{Historical populations
|source = INSEE[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/7633058?geo=COM-04030#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE
|percentages = pagr
|align = left
|1968 |59
|1975 |54
|1982 |59
|1990 |57
|1999 |59
|2009 |56
|2014 |59
|2020 |55
}}
With the exception of those that have been totally abandoned, Blieux is one of the communities in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department that has experienced the greatest population decline from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries.
Inhabitants are known as Blieuxois (masculine) and Blieuxoises (feminine) in French.
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See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{commons category|Blieux}}
{{Alpes-de-Haute-Provence communes}}
{{authority control}}