Blieux


Blieux is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France.

History

The commune of Blieux first appeared on maps in 1100.
Much later, during the French Revolution, records show that the residents of Blieux had created a political club, which was very common at the time..

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. 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'.
La Melle, the name of a nearby hamlet, comes from the Celtic word, mello, meaning an elevated location.

Economy

Historically, Blieux was a pastoral community, with a yearly alpine grazing cyle known as transhumance. As with much of Provence, tourism the primary source of economic activity today.

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

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.