- Picardie
Infobox French region
native_name = Région Picardie
common_name = Picardy
image_flag_size = 115px
image_logo_size = 95px
capital =Amiens
area = 19,399 | area_scale = 10
Regional president =Claude Gewerc
(PS) (since2004 )
population_rank = 12th
population_census = 1,857,481
population_census_year = 1999
population_estimate = 1,890,000
population_estimate_year = 2007
population_density = 97
population_density_year = 2007
arrondissements = 13
cantons = 129
communes = 2,292
departments =Aisne Oise Somme 
footnotes=
|Picardie (English: Picardy) is one of the 26 regions of
France . It is located in the northern part ofFrance .The modern region of Picardie is larger than the historical province of
Picardy . The south of theAisne department and most of theOise department were historically part of the province of Île-de-France, while theSomme department and the north of the Aisne department were the province of Picardy proper, with the Boulonais, that is now inNord-Pas-de-Calais region (Pas-de-Calais " _fr. departement").As the historical Picardy was deemed too small to become a region, the French government decided to join it with the north of Île-de-France (specifically, the "pays" of
Beauvaisis , Valois,Noyonnais ,Laonnois ,Soissonnais ,Omois , to name only the most prominent). The name of the historical province of Picardy was given to this new region.Thus, the Picardie region is somewhat an artificial region,POV-statement|date=December 2007 with the south of the Oise department lying inside the metropolitan area of
Paris . People in the south of Oise commute to Île-de-France for work, and hardly feel "Picard" ("Picardy inhabitant" and traditionally Picard-speakers) unlike those coming from the north of this new artificial region for whom the term is very meaningful.Facts|date=September 2007The industrial area of Saint-Quentin in the north of Picardie has been hard hit by economic crisis, the south of the region, at the border with Île-de-France, is booming due to the increasing inflow of Parisians relocating to the distant and greener towns of the Oise department, in short thanks to what the French call "rurbanisation".Facts|date=September 2007
Between the 1990 and 1999 French censuses, the population of Oise increased 0.61% per year (almost twice faster than France as a whole), while the Aisne department lost inhabitants, and the Somme barely grew, at a laggard 0.16% per year. Today, 41.3% of the population of Picardie live inside the Oise department, which historically was not part of
Picardy .Although Picardy proper is a vast flat plain of open fields, famed for the gruesome
Battle of the Somme , the south of Picardie (historically part of Île-de-France) is a very scenic hilly area with large forests.Major communities
*
Abbeville
*Amiens
*Beauvais
*Compiègne
*Creil
*Laon
*Saint-Quentin
*Soissons External links
* [http://www.cr-picardie.fr/ Official regional council website]
* [http://www.images-en-somme.net/en/ Pictures of Picardy]
* [http://www.offrench.net/photos/gallery-10.php photos from Southern Picardie]
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