|
The departments of France (French: département, pronounced: [depaʁtǝmɑ̃]) and many of its former colonies are administrative divisions, roughly analogous to the districts of England. The 100 French departments are grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas regions, all of which have identical legal status as integral parts of France. The departments are subdivided into 342 arrondissements, which in turn, are divided into cantons. Each canton consists of a small number of communes. In the overseas territories, some of the communes play a role at departmental level.
History
1812: Departments at the maximum extent of the First Empire
1843: France had 86 departments; Alsace and Lorraine were in France, but not Nice and Savoy
Before the French Revolution, France accumulated territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of more or less independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces. During the period of the Revolution these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Departments were created on 4 March 1790 by the National Constituent Assembly to replace the provinces with what the Assembly deemed a more rational structure. They were designed to deliberately break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments. Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine.
The number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1810 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire (see Provinces of the Netherlands for the annexed Dutch departments). Following Napoleon's defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size; the number of departments was reduced to 86, as three of the original departments had been split. In 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added 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.
The departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin, and most of Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. A small part of Haut-Rhin however remained French, and became known as the Territoire de Belfort. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I, the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922, it became France's 90th department.
The reorganisation of lower France (1968) and the division of Corsica (1975) added six more departments, raising the total to 96. Counting the four overseas departments—French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion—the total comes to 100 departments. In 2011, the overseas collectivity of Mayotte will become the 101st department.
General characteristics
Population density in the departments at the census of 1968 (people/km²)
The departmental seat of government is called the prefecture (préfecture) or chef-lieu de department and is generally a city of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for the prefecture to be accessible by horseback from any town in the department within 24 hours. The prefecture is not necessarily the largest city in the department; for instance, in Saône-et-Loire department the capital is Mâcon, but the largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône. Departments are divided into one or more arrondissements. The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture (sous-préfecture) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement.
Each department is administered by a general council (conseil général), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage, with the president of the council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the excutive of a department was the prefect (préfet) who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed the President of France. The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects (sous-préfet) based in the subprefectures of the department.
The departments are further divided into communes, governed by municipal councils. As of 1999, there were 36,779 communes in France.
In continental France (metropolitan France, excluding Corsica), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km2 (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of a ceremonial county of England and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of a county of the United States. At the 2001 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 less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km², and a population between 250,000 and 1 million. The largest in 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 is Lozère (74,000).
The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes, in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number-plates. Initially, the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names, so the correspondence became less exact. There is no number 20, but 2A and 2B instead, for Corsica. Corsican postal codes or addresses in both departments do still start with 20, though. 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 departments. The overseas departments get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code, e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe (see table below).
Party-political preferences
The political preferences of the various departments in the cantonal elections of 2004.
|
The political preferences of the various departments in the election of 2008.
|
Key to the parties:
The future
The removal of one or more levels of local government has been discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the departmental level. Frédéric Lefebvre, spokesman for the UMP, said in December 2008, that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by Édouard Balladur and Gérard Longuet, members of the Committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee.1
In January 2008, the Commission for freeing French development, known as the Attali Commission, recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years.2
Nevertheless, the Committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the 100 departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments," which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of bring the number of the latter down to fifteen.3 This committee advocates on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.3
The debate on the reform of local authorities finds an echo in that of retaining the departmental numbers in French vehicle registration numbers. Since April 2009, a departmental number is still included but it is now one chosen by the vehicle owner and not necessarily the place of residence. Also, the number of the department is automatically accompanied on the number plate by the logo of the region in which the department lies.
Maps and tables
|
Notes:
- ^1 Most of the coats of arms are not official
- ^2 This department was known as Basses-Alpes until 1970
- ^3 This department was known as Charente-Inférieure until 1941
- ^4 This department was known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990
- ^5 This department was known as Bec-d'Ambès until 1795
- ^6 This department was known as Loire-Inférieure until 1957
- ^7 This department was known as Mayenne-et-Loire until 1791
- ^8 This department was known as Basses-Pyrénées until 1969
- ^9 Number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine
- ^10 This department was known as Seine-Inférieure until 1955
- ^11 Number 78 was formerly assigned to Seine-et-Oise
- ^12 Number 91 was formerly assigned to Alger, in French Algeria
- ^13 Number 92 was formerly assigned to Oran, in French Algeria
- ^14 Number 93 was formerly assigned to Constantine, in French Algeria
- ^15 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 part of the ville nouvelle of Cergy-Pontoise
- ^16 The overseas departments each constitute a region and enjoy a status identical to metropolitan France. They are part of France and the European Union, though special EU rules apply to them.
|
Regions and departments of metropolitan France; the numbers are those of the first column
The departments in the immediate vicinity of Paris; the numbers are those of the first column
|
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 12 August 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 department corresponds approximately with the present French departments  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 department corresponds with the present Swiss canton and parts of the present French departments  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 was not recreated after the province was restored to France by the Treaty of Versailles. |
| Seine |
Paris |
1790–1967 |
On 1 January 1968, Seine was divided into four new departments:  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 1 January 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into three new departments:  Yvelines,  Val-d'Oise and  Essonne, with some territory lost to Seine in the process. |
| Corse |
Ajaccio |
1811–1975 |
On 15 September 1975, Corse was divided in two, 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 11 June 1985. |
French Algeria
|
|
Unlike the rest of French-controlled Africa, Algeria was officially incorporated into France from 1848 until its independence in 1962
|
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 for Table 7:
- Where a Napoleonic department 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 department.
- 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
 Republic of Venice were lost to France, becoming the Septinsular Republic, a nominal protectorate of the  Ottoman Empire, 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 departments of Marengo, Montenotte and Stura.
- Before becoming the department of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
- Before becoming the department of Arno, the
 Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the  Kingdom of Etruria.
- Rome was known as the department du Tibre until 1810.
- Before becoming the departments 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 had not already been annexed (all except the first two departments here), along with the Prussian
 County of East Frisia, were converted to another puppet state, the  Kingdom of Holland.
- Before becoming the department of Simplon, the
 République des Sept Dizains was converted to a revolutionary République du Valais (16 March 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (1 May 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.
References
See also
|
.svg){kind=small}
.svg)
.png)
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
