a department in southern France, on the Gulf of Lions of the Mediterranean Sea. Area, 6,300 sq km. Population, 276,000 (1973). Its administrative center is Carcassonne.

Most of the area is occupied by the Lower Languedoc Lowland, through which flows the Southern Canal. In the southern part of the department are the foothills of the Pyrenees, known as the Corbières Mountains, rising to 1,231 m. In 1968, 31 percent of the gainfully employed population was engaged in agriculture and 14 percent in industry. Viticulture accounts for two-thirds of the income from agriculture, and vegetables, fruit, and grain are also grown. Cattle and sheep are raised in the mountains. The principal industries are food processing (especially wineries), leather tanning, and the production of clothing and packaging material. Aude has seaside climatic resorts, of which the most famous is Narbonne.