Lot (French pronunciation: [lɔt]; Occitan: Òlt [ɔl]) is a department in the Occitanie region of France. Named after the Lot River, it lies in the southwestern part of the country and had a population of 174,094 in 2019. Its prefecture is Cahors; its subprefectures are Figeac and Gourdon.

Lot is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the province of Quercy. In 1808 some of the original southeastern cantons were separated from it to form the department of Tarn-et-Garonne. It originally extended much farther to the south and included the city of Montauban.

Lot is part of the region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Corrèze, Cantal, Aveyron, Tarn-et-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne and Dordogne. It is named after the river Lot, which in its Occitan name is Olt.

Cahors is the prefecture of the department, lying in its southwestern part: a medieval cathedral town known internationally for its production of Cahors wine, it lies in a wide loop of the Lot River and is famous for its 14th-century bridge, the Pont Valentré. Figeac is a medieval town where Jean-François Champollion, the first translator of Egyptian hieroglyphics, was born, situated in the eastern part of Lot. Gourdon, a medieval hilltop town located in Lot's northwestern part, with a well preserved centre, comprises many prehistoric painted caves nearby, notably the Grottes de Cougnac.

The most populous commune is Cahors, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are seven communes with more than 3,000 inhabitants:

Commune	Population (2019)
Cahors	19,937
Figeac	9,802
Gourdon	3,981
Pradines	3,562
Gramat	3,469
Saint-Céré	3,414
Souillac	3,201

The inhabitants of Lot are called Lotois and Lotoises in French. Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 261,207 —     1806 268,149 +0.53% 1821 275,296 +0.18% 1831 284,505 +0.33% 1841 287,739 +0.11% 1851 296,224 +0.29% 1861 295,542 −0.02% 1872 281,404 −0.44% 1881 280,269 −0.04% 1891 253,939 −0.98% 1901 226,720 −1.13% 1911 205,769 −0.96% 1921 176,889 −1.50%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 166,637 −0.60% 1936 162,572 −0.49% 1946 154,897 −0.48% 1954 147,754 −0.59% 1962 149,929 +0.18% 1968 151,198 +0.14% 1975 150,778 −0.04% 1982 154,533 +0.35% 1990 155,816 +0.10% 1999 160,197 +0.31% 2006 169,533 +0.81% 2011 174,754 +0.61% 2016 173,347 −0.16%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Sources:

The Departmental Council of Lot has 34 seats. Since the 2015 departmental elections, 30 are controlled by the Socialist Party (PS) and its allies; four are controlled by the miscellaneous right. Since 2014, the President of the Departmental Council has been Serge Rigal, currently a member of La République En Marche! (REM).

Lot elected the following members of the National Assembly during the 2017 legislative election:

Constituency		Member	Party
	Lot's 1st constituency	Aurélien Pradié	The Republicans
	Lot's 2nd constituency	Huguette Tiegna	La République En Marche!

Lot is represented in the Senate by Angèle Préville (since 2017) and Jean-Claude Requier (since 2011).

• 
  Cahors
• 
  Saint-Céré
• 
  Saint-Cirq-Lapopie
• 
  Gourdon
• 
  Grottes de Presque

• Cantons of the Lot department
• Communes of the Lot department

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in English) hiking the Tour du Lot
• (in French) CazalRando groupe de randonnée pédestre website