Argelès-sur-Mer

Argelès-sur-Mer is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It is about 25 km from Perpignan.GeographyArgelès-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissement of Céret.Argelès-sur-Mer is on the Côte Vermeille at the foot of the Albères mountain range, close to the Spanish border. It has the longest beach in the Pyrenées Orientales.HistoryDuring World War II, Argelès-sur-Mer was the location of a concentration camp, where up to 100,000 defeated Spanish Republicans were interned next to a windy beach in abysmal sanitary conditions by the French government after the defeat of the Spanish Republic. The refugees streamed to the camp from the winter of 1938/39 after the collapse of the Catalan front following the rebel offensive.Population and societyDemographyEducationSportsÉtoile sportive catalane is the rugby union club of Argelès-sur-Mer.