Oise

For other uses, see Oise (disambiguation).

Oise
Department of France
Prefecture building in Beauvais
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Oise in France
Coordinates: 49°23′N 02°25′E
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Prefecture	Beauvais
Subprefectures	Clermont Compiègne Senlis
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Nadège Lefebvre (LR)
Area 1
• Total	5,860 km2 (2,260 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	828,838
• Rank	26th
• Density	140/km2 (370/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC 1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	FR-60
Department number	60
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	21
Communes	679
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Oise (/wɑːz/ wahz; French: [waz] ; Picard: Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called Oisiens (French: [wazjɛ̃]) or Isariens, after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.

History

Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Île-de-France and Picardy.

After the coalition victory at Waterloo, the department was occupied by British troops between June 1815 and November 1818.

In March 2021, local Member of Parliament Olivier Dassault was killed in a plane crash.

Geography

Oise is part of the current region of Hauts-de-France and is situated 35 km north of Paris. It is surrounded by the departments of Somme, Aisne, Seine-et-Marne, Val-d'Oise, Eure, and Seine-Maritime.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Beauvais, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 13 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The 10 most populous communes are:

Commune	Population (2019)
Beauvais	57,071
Compiègne	40,615
Creil	36,169
Nogent-sur-Oise	20,780
Crépy-en-Valois	14,788
Senlis	14,760
Méru	14,452
Montataire	13,645
Noyon	13,190
Pont-Sainte-Maxence	12,602

Demographics

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 350,854 —     1821 375,817 0.34% 1831 397,725 0.57% 1841 398,868 0.03% 1851 403,857 0.12% 1861 401,417 −0.06% 1872 396,804 −0.11% 1881 404,555 0.22% 1891 401,835 −0.07% 1901 407,808 0.15% 1911 411,028 0.08% 1921 387,760 −0.58% 1931 407,432 0.50%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1936 402,569 −0.24% 1946 396,724 −0.15% 1954 435,308 1.17% 1962 481,289 1.26% 1968 540,988 1.97% 1975 606,320 1.64% 1982 661,781 1.26% 1990 725,603 1.16% 1999 766,441 0.61% 2006 792,975 0.49% 2011 805,642 0.32% 2016 823,542 0.44%
source:

Politics

The president of the Departmental Council is Nadège Lefebvre, elected in 2017.

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%	2nd Place Candidate	Party	%
	2022	Marine Le Pen	RN	52.73	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	47.27
	2017	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	53.28	Marine Le Pen	FN	46.72
	2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	52.66	François Hollande	PS	47.34
	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	58.28	Ségolène Royal	PS	41.72
	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	74.93	Jean-Marie Le Pen	FN	25.07

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member	Party
	Oise's 1st constituency	Victor Habert-Dassault	The Republicans
	Oise's 2nd constituency	Philippe Ballard	National Rally
	Oise's 3rd constituency	Alexandre Sabatou	National Rally
	Oise's 4th constituency	Éric Woerth	La République En Marche!
	Oise's 5th constituency	Pierre Vatin	The Republicans
	Oise's 6th constituency	Michel Guiniot	National Rally
	Oise's 7th constituency	Maxime Minot	The Republicans

Tourism

The major tourist attraction of the department is the Parc Astérix, which opened in 1989. Other interesting sites are Beauvais Cathedral, the Château de Pierrefonds, restored by Viollet-le-Duc, and the art collection of the Château de Chantilly, which is one of the largest outside Paris.

• 
  Art gallery in the Château de Chantilly
• 
  Beauvais Cathedral
• 
  Rollercoaster at the Parc Astérix
• 
  Renault FT in the Glade of the Armistice
• 
  Château de Pierrefonds

Twinned county

Oise is twinned with Bedfordshire in England. It is also twinned with the Indonesian regency of Karanganyar and the Chinese provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang.

One of the villages along the river Oise is Auvers-sur-Oise, famous for having been visited by several impressionist artists. This is where Vincent van Gogh spent his last 70 days and is his and his brother Theo's resting place.

See also

• Arrondissements of the Oise department
• Cantons of the Oise department
• Communes of the Oise department
• Monument aux morts (Oise)

External links

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in French) oise directory website
• (in English) Oise Tourist Board