Cher (/ʃɛər/ shair; French: [ʃɛʁ]; Berrichon: Char) is a department in central France, part of the Centre-Val de Loire region. Named after the river Cher, its prefecture is Bourges. In 2019, it had a population of 302,306.^[3]

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (January 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Cher (département)]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Cher (département)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Quick Facts Country, Region ...

Cher
Department
Prefecture building in Bourges
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Cher in France
Coordinates: 47°0′N 2°35′E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Prefecture	Bourges
Subprefectures	Saint-Amand-Montrond Vierzon
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Jacques Fleury[1] (LR)
Area 1
• Total	7,235 km2 (2,793 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Total	299,573
• Rank	76th
• Density	41/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	18
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	19
Communes	287
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km2

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Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Most of it was created, along with the adjacent department of Indre from the former province of Berry. The southeastern corner of the department, however, was part of the Duchy of Bourbon.

The department is part of the current administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire. It is surrounded by the departments of Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Nièvre, Allier, and Creuse.

The inhabitants of the department are called Chériens or Berrichons after the former province of Berry.^[4]

More information Year, Pop. ...

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1791 207,541 —     1801 217,785 +0.48% 1806 228,158 +0.93% 1821 239,561 +0.33% 1831 256,059 +0.67% 1841 273,645 +0.67% 1851 306,261 +1.13% 1861 323,393 +0.55% 1872 335,392 +0.33% 1881 351,405 +0.52% 1891 359,276 +0.22% 1901 345,543 −0.39% 1911 337,810 −0.23% 1921 304,800 −1.02%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 293,918 −0.36% 1936 288,695 −0.36% 1946 286,070 −0.09% 1954 284,376 −0.07% 1962 293,514 +0.40% 1968 304,601 +0.62% 1975 316,350 +0.54% 1982 320,174 +0.17% 1990 321,559 +0.05% 1999 314,428 −0.25% 2006 314,676 +0.01% 2011 311,694 −0.19% 2016 307,110 −0.30%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Sources:[5][6]

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The President of the General Council is Jacques Fleury of The Republicans, elected in July 2021.^[7]

The Bourges Cathedral of St. Étienne is a major tourist attraction.

• Bourges Cathedral
• Bourges
• Apremont-sur-Allier
• Noirlac Abbey
• Château de Meillant

The historical languages are Berrichon and the northern version of Bourbonnais. These are both dialects of French, or the Langues d'oïl. They are named respectively after the former Province of Berry and the former Duchy of Bourbon. Some 11 communes in the extreme South used to speak Occitan.

The old dialects were in widespread use until the middle decades of the twentieth century and incorporated major regional variations within the department, influenced by the dialects of adjacent regions near the departmental frontiers. During the twentieth century government educational policy promoted a more standardised version of the French language.

In the extreme south of the department influence from the southern Occitan language begins to appear, with "chambrat" being used in place of "grenier a foin" (hayloft), "betoulle" in place of "bouleau" (birch tree) and "aigue" in place of "eau" (water).

• Cantons of the Cher department
• Communes of the Cher department
• Arrondissements of the Cher department