Massat

Commune in Occitanie, France

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Commune in Occitania, France

Coat of arms

Location of Massat

(2020–2026) Michel Loubet dit Gajol^[1]Area

44.71 km² (17.26 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

733 • Density16/km² (42/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

09182 /09320

Elevation598–1,941 m (1,962–6,368 ft)
(avg. 651 m or 2,136 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Massat (French pronunciation: [masat]) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.

It is situated on the former Route nationale 618, the "Route of the Pyrenees".

History

The area dates back to paleolithic times, when tribes left some traces in painted caves in the Ker valleys of Massat. The village later became a territory used by the Lords of Lomagne to disperse the population to, overcoming a serious problem of overpopulation. Several charters dating from 1146 specify the reciprocal rights of the inhabitants and the lords. The valley was directed towards an industrial activity lasting almost seven centuries. This included the manufacture of charcoal and cast iron of iron ores in five forging mills operated by Catalan women. From 1820, with the discovery of the means of melting iron with coal, the industrial prosperity of the valley disappeared.

Later in the 19th century, agricultural, primarily pastoral farming became the main source for the Massat economy, particularly the production of butter. With a very strong rural migration, amplified by World War I, the valley depopulated quickly, falling dramatically from 17,000 inhabitants in 1800 to just 1700 in total today, and just 589 in the village.

Population

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	746	—
1975	711	−0.68%
1982	598	−2.44%
1990	624	+0.53%
1999	589	−0.64%
2007	722	+2.58%
2012	689	−0.93%
2017	659	−0.89%
Source: INSEE^[3]

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 9 August 2021.
^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE