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The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to English counties. The 100 French départements are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas régions. They are subdivided into 342 arrondissements.
General characteristics
In continental France (metropolitan France excluding Corsica), the median land area of a département 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 U.S. county.
At the 1999 census, the median population of a département 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.
Administrative role
Each department is administered by a Conseil Général elected for six years, and its executive is, since 1982 headed by the president of that council (formerly it was headed by the préfet).
The French national government is represented in the département by a préfet appointed by the national executive. The préfet is assisted by one or more sous-préfets based in district centres outside the departmental capital.
The capital city of a département bears the title of préfecture. Départements are divided into one to seven arrondissements. The capital city of an arrondissement is called the sous-préfecture. The civil servant in charge is the sous-préfet.
The départements sub-divide into communes, governed by municipal councils. France (as of 1999) had 36,779 communes.
Most of the départements have an area of around 4,000–8,000 km² and a population between 250,000 and a million. The largest in terms of area is Gironde (10,000 km²) and the smallest the city of Paris (105 km² excluding the suburbs, now organised in adjacent départements). The most populous is Nord (département) (2,550,000) and the least populous Lozère (74,000).
See also: List of French départements by population
The départements are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes, in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on car number-plates, though this last usage will mostly disappear with a new car plate scheme due for 2006. Note that there is no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead. Note also that the two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco. Together with the ISO 3166-1 country code FR the numbers form the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code.
History
Départements were created on January 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 départements are named after the area's principal river(s) or other physical features.
The number of départements rose from an initial 83 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 again to 86 with Napoleon I's defeat in 1814–1815. Three more were added with the acquisition of Nice and Savoy in 1860. The département of Alpes-Maritimes was then created from the newly incorporated Comté de Nice and a part of Var département. The numbering was estabished on the alphabetical order of those 89 départements.
Three départements in Alsace-Lorraine which had been ceded to Germany in 1871 (Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin, and Moselle) were returned to France in 1919. When Alsace-Lorraine was ceded in 1871, a small part of the département of Haut-Rhin was detached from the rest of Alsace-Lorraine and remained French. This territory, called Territoire de Belfort, was not reintegrated into the recovered département of Haut-Rhin in 1919 and was instead made a full-status département in 1922, becoming the 90th département of France.
Reorganisations of the Paris region (1968) and the division of Corsica (1975) have added a further six départements, raising the total to one hundred — including the four overseas départements d'outre-mer (DOM) of Guyane (French Guiana) in South America, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean Sea, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
Map and list of départements
French régions and départements
- The préfecture 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 similar to European or metropolitan France. They are part of France and of the EU, though special rules apply. Each of them constitutes a région at the same time.
Former départements
On the current territory of France
| Département | Préfecture | Dates in existence |
|---|---|---|
| Rhône-et-Loire | Lyon | (1790–1793) |
| Corse | Bastia | (1790–1793) |
| Golo | Bastia | (1793–1811) |
| Liamone | Ajaccio | (1793–1811) |
| Mont-Blanc | Chambéry | (1792–1815) |
| Léman | Geneva | (1798–1814) |
| Meurthe | Nancy | (1790–1871) |
| Seine | Paris | (1790–1967) |
| Seine-et-Oise | Versailles | (1790–1967) |
| Corse | Ajaccio | (1811–1975) |
| Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon | Saint-Pierre | (1976–1985) |
Name changes
A few départements have changed names, in most cases, to lose the terms "lower" and "inferior":| Ancient name | Modern name | Date of change |
|---|---|---|
| Mayenne-et-Loire | Maine-et-Loire | 1791 |
| Bec-d'Ambès | Gironde | 1795 |
| Charente-Inférieure | Charente-Maritime | 1941 |
| Seine-Inférieure | Seine-Maritime | 1955 |
| Loire-Inférieure | Loire-Atlantique | 1957 |
| Basses-Pyrénées | Pyrénées-Atlantiques | 1969 |
| Basses-Alpes | Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 1970 |
| Côtes-du-Nord | Côtes-d'Armor | 1990 |
French Algeria
Before 1957
| № | Département | Préfecture | Dates in existence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | Alger | Algiers | (1848–1957) |
| 92 | Oran | Oran | (1848–1957) |
| 93 | Constantine | Constantine | (1848–1957) |
| – | Bône | Annaba | (1955–1957) |
1957–1962
| № | Département | Préfecture | Dates in existence |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8A | Oasis | Ouargla | (1957–1962) |
| 8B | Saoura | Bechar | (1957–1962) |
| 9A | Alger | Algiers | (1957–1962) |
| 9B | Batna | Batna | (1957–1962) |
| 9C | Bône | Annaba | (1955–1962) |
| 9D | Constantine | Constantine | (1957–1962) |
| 9E | Médéa | Medea | (1957–1962) |
| 9F | Mostaganem | Mostaganem | (1957–1962) |
| 9G | Oran | Oran | (1957–1962) |
| 9H | Orléansville | Chlef | (1957–1962) |
| 9J | Sétif | Setif | (1957–1962) |
| 9K | Tiaret | Tiaret | (1957–1962) |
| 9L | Tizi-Ouzou | Tizi Ouzou | (1957–1962) |
| 9M | Tlemcen | Tlemcen | (1957–1962) |
| 9N | Aumale | Sour el Ghozlane | (1958–1959) |
| 9P | Bougie | Bejaia | (1958–1962) |
| 9R | Saïda | Saida | (1958–1962) |
In the former colonies of France
| Département | Modern-day location | Dates in existence |
|---|---|---|
| Département du Sud | Dominican Republic/Haiti | (1795–1800) |
| Département de l'Inganne | Dominican Republic/Haiti | (1795–1800) |
| Département du Nord | Dominican Republic/Haiti | (1795–1800) |
| Département de l'Ouest | Dominican Republic/Haiti | (1795–1800) |
| Département de Samana | Dominican Republic/Haiti | (1795–1800) |
| Sainte-Lucie | Saint Lucia, Tobago | (1795–1800) |
| Île de France | Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles | (1795–1800) |
| Indes-Orientales | Pondichery, Karikal, Yanaon, Mahe and Chandernagore | (1795–1800) |
Napoleonic Empire
There are a number of former départements on territories conquered by France during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France:See also: The 130 départements of the Napoleonic Empire
Départements of France | Lists of subnational entities | Departments
Département | Departamant gall | Департамент | Departament francès | Departement (Frankrig) | Département | Departamentos de Francia | Francaj departementoj | Departamendu | Département français | 프랑스의 주 | Dipartimenti francesi | Lëscht vun de franséischen Departementer | Departementen van Frankrijk | フランスの地方行政区画 | Frankrikes departementer | Departement i Frankrike | Departament (Francja) | Departamentos franceses | Департаменты Франции | Departments of France | Seznam francoskih departmajev | Departementti | Frankrikes departement | 省 (法国)
"Départements of France"