Administrative (pop., 2001: 704,499), geographic, and historic county, southwestern England.
It lies between Cornwall , Dorset , and Somerset , and it has coasts on the Bristol Channel and English Channel . Exeter is its long-established county seat. Its area includes the moorlands of Dartmoor, inhabited from prehistoric times and now a popular tourist area. Livestock-based agriculture is the main industry; Devonshire clotted cream is still produced.