Bas-Rhin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bas-Rhin | |
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| Coat of arms of the Bas-Rhin department | |
| Location | |
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| Administration | |
| Department number: | 67 |
| Region: | Alsace |
| Prefecture: | Strasbourg (2 arrondissements: Strasbourg-Ville, Strasbourg-Campagne) |
| Subprefectures: | Haguenau Molsheim Saverne Sélestat Wissembourg |
| Arrondissements: | 7 |
| Cantons: | 44 |
| Communes: | 526 |
| President of the General Council: | Philippe Richert UMP |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 18th |
| -1999 | 1,026,120 |
| Population density: | 216/km² |
| Land area¹: | 4755 km² |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². | |
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Bas-Rhin is a département of France. The name means "Lower Rhine".
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[edit] History
Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 départements created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution.
In the mid-1790s, following the French occupation of the entire left bank of the Rhine, the northern boundary of the département was extended north beyond the Lauter to the Queich river to include the areas of Annweiler am Trifels, Landau in der Pfalz, Bad Bergzabern, and Wörth am Rhein. However, upon Napoleon's second defeat in 1815, the Congress of Vienna reassigned the areas north of the Lauter to Bavaria; and those territories are now presently located in the neighbouring German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The département has twice been incorporated into Germany: from 1871 (after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War) until the end of World War I in 1918, and again briefly during World War II (from 1940 to 1945).
[edit] Geography
The Rhine has always been of great historical and economical importance to the area, and it forms the eastern border of Bas-Rhin. The area is also home to some of the foothills of the Vosges.
To the north of Bas-Rhin lies the Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald) in the German Land of Rhineland-Palatinate, and the Land of Baden-Württemberg lies to the east. To the south lies Haut-Rhin, the town of Colmar and southern Alsace, and to the west the département of Moselle in Lorraine.
[edit] See also
- Communes of the Bas-Rhin department sorted by arrondissements and cantons
- Arrondissements of the Bas-Rhin département
- Cantons of the Bas-Rhin département
[edit] Economy
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Culture
[edit] Miscellaneous
Strasbourg, the chef lieu of Bas-Rhin is one of two seats of the European Parliament, the other being Brussels.
[edit] External links
- (French) General Council website
- (French) Prefecture website
- (English) Bas-Rhin at the Open Directory Project
