| Oise | |
| Native Name Lang: | fr |
| Type: | Department of France |
| Coordinates: | 49.3833°N 27°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | France |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Hauts-de-France |
| Seat Type: | Prefecture |
| Seat: | Beauvais |
| Parts Type: | Subprefectures |
| Parts Style: | para |
| P1: | Clermont Compiègne Senlis |
| Leader Party: | LR |
| Leader Title: | President of the Departmental Council |
| Leader Name: | Nadège Lefebvre[1] |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 5860 |
| Population Rank: | 26th |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Department number |
| Blank Info Sec1: | 60 |
| Blank Name Sec2: | Arrondissements |
| Blank Info Sec2: | 4 |
| Blank1 Name Sec2: | Cantons |
| Blank1 Info Sec2: | 21 |
| Blank2 Name Sec2: | Communes |
| Blank2 Info Sec2: | 679 |
| Timezone1: | CET |
| Utc Offset1: | +1 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +2 |
| Iso Code: | FR-60 |
| Footnotes: | French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 |
Oise (; in French waz/; Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called Oisiens (in French wazjɛ̃/) or Isariens, after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.[2]
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.[3]
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.
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:[2]
| 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 |
The president of the Departmental Council is Nadège Lefebvre, elected in 2017.
| Election | Winning Candidate | Party | % | 2nd Place Candidate | Party | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Marine Le Pen | RN | 52.73 | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 47.27 | ||
| 2017[4] | 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 | ||
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.
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.