Everything about Departments Of France totally explained
In the context of the political and geographic organization of
France and many of its former colonies, a
department () is an administrative unit roughly analogous to an English
county. The 100 French departments are now grouped into 22
metropolitan and four
overseas regions. All regions have identical legal status as integral parts of France. They are subdivided into 342
arrondissements.
General characteristics
In continental France (
metropolitan France excluding
Corsica), the
median land area of a department is 5,965
km² (2,303
square miles), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of a
ceremonial county of
England, and a little more than three-and-half times the median land area of a
county in the
United States.
At the
1999 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,012 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a U.S. county, but just a little less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England.
The
chef-lieu de département normally lies at the geographical centre of the
département. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the
département. The goal was for the
chef-lieu to be accessible from any town in the
département on horseback within 24 hours.
Administrative role
Each
département is administered by a
conseil général (general council), an assembly elected for six years by
universal suffrage, and its executive is, since 1982, headed by the president of that council (formerly it was headed by the
prefect).
The
French national government is represented in the
département by a prefect appointed by the national executive (the
President or the
Prime Minister). The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects based in district centres outside the capital of the
département.
The center of administration of a
département is called a
préfecture (prefecture) or
chef-lieu de département.
Départements are divided into one to seven
arrondissements. The capital city of an arrondissement is called the
sous-préfecture (subprefecture) or
chef-lieu d'arrondissement. The public official in charge is called the
sous-préfet (sub-prefect).
The
départements are also further divided into
communes, governed by
municipal councils. France (as of 1999) has 36,779 communes.
Most of the
départements have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km², and a population between 250,000 and one million. The largest in terms of area is
Gironde (10,000 km²), while the smallest is the city of
Paris (105 km²). The most populous is
Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous
Lozère (74,000). See also:
List of French departments by population
The
départements are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in
postal codes, in
INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number-plates. This final usage will mostly disappear with a new number-plate scheme being introduced in January 2009 (for details see
French vehicle registration plates). Initially, the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the
départements, but several of them have changed their names, so the correspondence isn't exact anymore.
Note that there's no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead (for
Corsica). Corsican postal codes or addresses in both departments do still start with 20, though. Note also that the two-digit code "98" is used by
Monaco. Together with the
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR the numbers form the
ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan
départements. The overseas
départements get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code, for example 971 for Guadeloupe (see table below).
History
Departments were created on
March 4,
1790 by the
Constituent Assembly to replace the country's former
provinces with a more rational structure. They were also designed to deliberately break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation. Most departments are named after the area's principal river(s) or other physical features.
The number of departments, initially 83, increased to 130 by
1810 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the
Empire (see
Provinces of the Netherlands for the
annexed Dutch departements), but they were reduced to 86 following
Napoleon's defeats in
1814-
1815, as the
Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size; the total was 86 as three of the original departments had been split in the meantime. In
1860, France acquired the
Comté de Nice and
Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments: two from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of
Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of the
Var department. The 89 departments were given numbers, based on their alphabetical order.
Three departments in
Alsace-Lorraine (
Haut-Rhin,
Bas-Rhin, and
Moselle) were ceded to the
German Empire in
1871, following France's defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War. A small part of the department of Haut-Rhin, called the
Territoire de Belfort, was detached from the rest of Alsace-Lorraine and remained French. In
1919, following
World War I, France regained Alsace-Lorraine. Territoire de Belfort wasn't reintegrated into Haut-Rhin, but was instead made a full-status department in
1922, becoming the 90th department of France.
Reorganisations of the
Paris region (
1968) and the division of
Corsica (
1975) have added a further six departments, raising the total to one hundred — including the four
overseas departments of Guyane (
French Guiana) in
South America,
Guadeloupe and
Martinique in the
Lesser Antilles, and
Réunion in the
Indian Ocean.
Map and list of departments
French regions and departments
Notes:
- The number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine
- The number 78 was formerly assigned to Seine-et-Oise
- The number 91 was formerly assigned to Alger, in French Algeria
- The number 92 was formerly assigned to Oran, in French Algeria
- The number 93 was formerly assigned to Constantine, in French Algeria
- The number 975 was formerly assigned to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
- The number 976 was formerly assigned to Mayotte
- The number 977 was formerly assigned to Saint-Barthélémy
- The number 978 was formerly assigned to Saint-Martin
- The prefecture of Val-d'Oise was established in Pontoise when the department was created, but moved de facto to the neighbouring commune of Cergy; currently, both form the ville nouvelle of Cergy-Pontoise.
- The overseas departments are former colonies outside France that now enjoy a status identical to metropolitan France. They are part of France and of the EU, though special EU rules apply. Each of them constitutes a region at the same time.
Former departments
On the current territory of France
| Department |
Prefecture |
Dates in existence |
Notes |
| Rhône-et-Loire | Lyon |
1790–1793 |
Split into Rhône and Loire on August 12 1793.
|
| Corse | Bastia |
1790–1793 |
Split into Golo and Liamone.
|
| Golo | Bastia |
1793–1811 |
Reunited with Liamone into Corse.
|
| Liamone | Ajaccio |
1793–1811 |
Reunited with Golo into Corse.
|
| Mont-Blanc | Chambéry |
1792–1815 |
Formed from part of the Duchy of Savoy, a territory of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and was restored to Piedmont-Sardinia after Napoleon's defeat. The département corresponds approximately with the present French départements Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
|
| Léman | Geneva |
1798–1814 |
Formed when the Republic of Geneva was annexed into the First French Empire. Léman became the Swiss canton the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The département corresponds with the present Swiss canton and parts of the present French départements Ain and Haute-Savoie.
|
| Meurthe | Nancy |
1790–1871 |
Meurthe ceased to exist following the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the German Empire in 1871 and wasn't recreated after the province was restored to France by the Treaty of Versailles.
|
| Seine | Paris |
1790–1967 |
On January 1 1968, Seine was divided into four new départements: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, gaining territory from Seine-et-Oise in the process.
|
| Seine-et-Oise | Versailles |
1790–1967 |
On January 1 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into three new départements: Yvelines, Val-d'Oise and Essonne, with some territory lost to Seine in the process.
|
| Corse | Ajaccio |
1811–1975 |
On September 15 1975, Corse was redivided in twain, to form Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse.
|
| Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon | Saint-Pierre |
1976–1985 |
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was an overseas department from 1976 until it was converted to an overseas collectivity on June 11 1985.
|
Name changes
A few departments have changed names, in most cases, to lose the terms "lower" and "inferior":
French Algeria
Before 1957
1957–1962
In the former colonies of France
Napoleonic Empire
There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during the
French Revolution and
Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France:
Notes:
Where a Napoleonic département was composed of parts from more than one country, the nation-state containing the prefecture is listed. Please expand this table to list all countries containing significant parts of the département.
Territories that were a part of Austrian Netherlands were also a part of Holy Roman Empire.
The Bishopric of Basel was a German Prince-Bishopric, not to be confused with the adjacent Swiss Canton of Basel.
The territories of the were lost to France, becoming the Septinsular Republic, a nominal protectorate of the, from 1800–07. After reverting to France as the Illyrian Provinces, these territories then became a British protectorate, as the United States of the Ionian Islands
Maastricht was a condominium of the Dutch Republic and the Bishopric of Liège.
On 6 June 1805, as a result of the annexation of the Ligurian Republic (the puppet successor state to the Republic of Genoa), Tanaro was abolished and its territory divided between the départements of Marengo, Montenotte and Stura.
Before becoming the département of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
Before becoming the département of Arno, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the Kingdom of Etruria.
Before becoming the département of Taro, the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was annexed to the Cisalpine Republic until 1802, the Italian Republic, from 1802 until 1805 and the Kingdom of Italy, from 1805 until 1808.
Rome was known as the until 1810.
Before becoming the départements of Bouches-du-Rhin, Bouches-de-l'Escaut, Bouches-de-la-Meuse, Bouches-de-l'Yssel, Ems-Occidental, Frise, Yssel-Supérieur and Zuyderzée, these territories of the Dutch Republic were converted to a puppet successor state, the Batavian Republic (1795–1806), then those territories that hadn't already been annexed (all except the first two départements here), along with the Prussian County of East Frisia, were converted to another puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland.
Before becoming the département of Simplon, the République des Sept Dizains was converted to a revolutionary République du Valais (March 16 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (May 1 1798) into the puppet Helvetic Republic until 1802 when it became the independent Rhodanic Republic.
In the months before Lippe was formed, the arrondissements of Rees and Münster were part of Yssel-Supérieur, the arrondissement of Steinfurt was part of Bouches-de-l'Yssel and the arrondissement of Neuenhaus was part of Ems-Occidental.
See also: The 130 departments of the Napoleonic Empire
Further Information
Get more info on 'Departments Of France'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://departments_of_france.totallyexplained.com">Departments of France Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
