Departments of France

This article is part of the series on Administrative divisions of France

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Departments (incl. overseas departments)

Arrondissements

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In the context of the political and geographic organization of France and many of its former colonies, a department (French: département, pronounced [depaʁtǝmɑ̃]) is an administrative division roughly analogous to an English or United States county or a Scottish region. 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 slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of a county in 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.

The chef-lieu de département, department capital or seat of government, 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 by horseback from any town in the département 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. Since 1982, the executive is the president of that council (formerly it was headed by the prefect).

The French national government is represented in the département by a préfect (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 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 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. In January 2009 a new number-plate scheme will succeed the latter application (for details see French vehicle registration plates). Initially, the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the départements, 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 départements. The overseas départements get two letters for the ISO 3166-2 code, e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe (see table below).

History

Napoleonic departments

In 1843, France had 86 departments; Alsace and Lorraine were French, but Nice and Savoy had not been annexed.

Departments were created on 4 March 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 were named after an area's principal river(s) or other physical features.

The number of departments, initially 83, was 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 departments). Following Napoleon's defeats in 1814-1815, the number of departments was reduced to 86. 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 1860, France acquired the Comté de 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.

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 was not 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) added six more departments, raising the total to one hundred. These include 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

INSEE code	Arms	Department	Prefecture
01		Ain	Bourg-en-Bresse
02		Aisne	Laon
03		Allier	Moulins
04		Alpes-de-Haute-Provence	Digne-les-Bains
05		Hautes-Alpes	Gap
06		Alpes-Maritimes	Nice
07		Ardèche	Privas
08		Ardennes	Charleville-Mézières
09		Ariège	Foix
10		Aube	Troyes
11		Aude	Carcassonne
12		Aveyron	Rodez
13		Bouches-du-Rhône	Marseille
14		Calvados	Caen
15		Cantal	Aurillac
16		Charente	Angoulême
17		Charente-Maritime	La Rochelle
18		Cher	Bourges
19		Corrèze	Tulle
2A		Corse-du-Sud	Ajaccio
2B		Haute-Corse	Bastia
21		Côte-d'Or	Dijon
22		Côtes-d'Armor	Saint-Brieuc
23		Creuse	Guéret
24		Dordogne	Périgueux
25		Doubs	Besançon
26		Drôme	Valence
27		Eure	Évreux
28		Eure-et-Loir	Chartres
29		Finistère	Quimper
30		Gard	Nîmes
31		Haute-Garonne	Toulouse
32		Gers	Auch
33		Gironde	Bordeaux
34		Hérault	Montpellier
35		Ille-et-Vilaine	Rennes
36		Indre	Châteauroux
37		Indre-et-Loire	Tours
38		Isère	Grenoble
39		Jura	Lons-le-Saunier
40		Landes	Mont-de-Marsan
41		Loir-et-Cher	Blois
42		Loire	Saint-Étienne
43		Haute-Loire	Le Puy-en-Velay
44		Loire-Atlantique	Nantes
45		Loiret	Orléans
46		Lot	Cahors
47		Lot-et-Garonne	Agen
48		Lozère	Mende
49		Maine-et-Loire	Angers
50		Manche	Saint-Lô
51		Marne	Châlons-en-Champagne
52		Haute-Marne	Chaumont
53		Mayenne	Laval
54		Meurthe-et-Moselle	Nancy
55		Meuse	Bar-le-Duc
56		Morbihan	Vannes
57		Moselle	Metz
58		Nièvre	Nevers
59		Nord	Lille
60		Oise	Beauvais
61		Orne	Alençon
62		Pas-de-Calais	Arras
63		Puy-de-Dôme	Clermont-Ferrand
64		Pyrénées-Atlantiques	Pau
65		Hautes-Pyrénées	Tarbes
66		Pyrénées-Orientales	Perpignan
67		Bas-Rhin	Strasbourg
68		Haut-Rhin	Colmar
69		Rhône	Lyon
70		Haute-Saône	Vesoul
71		Saône-et-Loire	Mâcon
72		Sarthe	Le Mans
73		Savoie	Chambéry
74		Haute-Savoie	Annecy
75		Paris¹	Paris
76		Seine-Maritime	Rouen
77		Seine-et-Marne	Melun
78		Yvelines²	Versailles
79		Deux-Sèvres	Niort
80		Somme	Amiens
81		Tarn	Albi
82		Tarn-et-Garonne	Montauban
83		Var	Toulon
84		Vaucluse	Avignon
85		Vendée	La Roche-sur-Yon
86		Vienne	Poitiers
87		Haute-Vienne	Limoges
88		Vosges	Épinal
89		Yonne	Auxerre
90		Territoire de Belfort	Belfort
91		Essonne³	Évry
92		Hauts-de-Seine4	Nanterre
93		Seine-Saint-Denis5	Bobigny
94		Val-de-Marne	Créteil
95		Val-d'Oise	Cergy/Pontoise6
971		Guadeloupe7	Basse-Terre
972		Martinique7	Fort-de-France
973		Guyane7	Cayenne
974		La Réunion7	Saint-Denis

Notes:

1. The number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine
2. The number 78 was formerly assigned to Seine-et-Oise
3. The number 91 was formerly assigned to Alger, in French Algeria
4. The number 92 was formerly assigned to Oran, in French Algeria
5. The number 93 was formerly assigned to Constantine, in French Algeria
6. The number 975 was formerly assigned to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
7. The number 976 was formerly assigned to Mayotte
8. The number 977 was formerly assigned to Saint-Barthélémy
9. The number 978 was formerly assigned to Saint-Martin
10. 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.
11. The overseas departments are former colonies outside France that now enjoy a status identical to metropolitan France. They are part of France and the European Union, though special EU rules apply to them. Each also constitutes a region.

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 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 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 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 1 January 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 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.

Name changes

A few departments have changed names, in most cases, to lose the terms "lower" and "inferior":

French Algeria

Coat of arms of French Algeria

Unlike the rest of French-controlled Africa, Algeria was officially incorporated into France from 1848 until its independence in 1962.

Before 1957

1957–1962

In former colonies of France

Department	Modern-day location	Dates in existence
Département du Sud	Hispaniola ( Dominican Republic and  Haiti)	1795–1800
Département de l'Inganne		1795–1800
Département du Nord		1795–1800
Département de l'Ouest		1795–1800
Département de Samana		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 departments in territories conquered by France during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France:

Department	Prefecture (French name)	Prefecture (English name)	Current location¹	Contemporary location²	Dates in existence
Mont-Terrible	Porrentruy		Switzerland	Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Basel³	1793–1800
Corcyre	Corfou	Corfu	Greece	Republic of Venice4	1797–1799
Ithaque	Argostoli				1797–1798
Mer-Égée	Zante	(Zakynthos)			1797–1798
Dyle	Bruxelles	Brussels	Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant County of Hainaut	1795–1814
Escaut	Gand	Ghent	Belgium  Netherlands	Austrian Netherlands: County of Flanders Dutch Republic: The United States of the Zeelandic Flanders	1795–1814
Forêts	Luxembourg		Luxembourg  Belgium  Germany	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Bouillon Duchy of Luxembourg	1795–1814
Jemmape	Mons		Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: County of Hainaut Lordship of Tournai County of Namur Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège	1795–1814
Lys	Bruges			Austrian Netherlands: County of Flanders	1795–1814
Meuse-Inférieure	Maëstricht	Maastricht	Belgium  Netherlands	Austrian Netherlands: Austrian Upper Guelders Duchy of Limburg Dutch Republic: Dutch Upper Guelders Limburg of the States Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège: County of Horne County of Loon Imperial Abbey of Thorn Maastricht5	1795–1814
Deux-Nèthes	Anvers	Antwerp	Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Dutch Republic: Brabant of the States (after 1810)	1795–1814
Ourthe	Liège		Belgium  Germany	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Duchy of Limburg Duchy of Luxembourg County of Namur Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy	1795–1814
Sambre-et-Meuse	Namur		Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Duchy of Luxembourg Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège	1795–1814
Mont-Tonnerre	Mayence	Mainz	Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Archbishopric of Mainz Electoral Palatinate Bishopric of Speyer	1801–1814
Rhin-et-Moselle	Coblence	Koblenz		Holy Roman Empire: Archbishopric of Cologne Electoral Palatinate Archbishopric of Trier	1801–1814
Roer	Aix-la-Chapelle	Aachen	Germany  Netherlands	Holy Roman Empire: Imperial Free City of Aachen Archbishopric of Cologne Electoral Palatinate: Grand Duchy of Berg Duchy of Jülich Kingdom of Prussia: Prussian Guelders Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805)	1801–1814
Sarre	Trèves	Trier	Belgium  Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Electoral Palatinate: County of Veldenz Duchy of Zweibrücken Archbishopric of Trier	1801–1814
Doire	Ivrée	Ivrea	Italy	Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia Duchy of Savoy	1802–1814
Marengo	Alexandrie	Alessandria			1802–1814
Pô	Turin				1802–1814
Sésia	Verceil	Vercelli			1802–1814
Stura	Coni	Cuneo			1802–1814
Tanaro6	Asti				1802–1805
Apennins	Chiavari			Republic of Genoa7	1805–1814
Gênes	Gênes	Genoa			1805–1814
Montenotte	Savone	Savona			1805–1814
Arno	Florence			Grand Duchy of Tuscany8	1808–1814
Méditerranée	Livourne	Livorno			1808–1814
Ombrone	Sienne	Siena			1808–1814
Taro	Parme	Parma		Holy Roman Empire: Duchy of Parma & Piacenza9	1808–1814
Rome10	Rome			Papal States	1809–1814
Trasimène	Spolète	Spoleto			1809–1814
Bouches-du-Rhin	Bois-le-Duc	's-Hertogenbosch	Netherlands	Dutch Republic11: Batavian Brabant (Brabant of the States) Dutch Guelders	1810–1814
Bouches-de-l'Escaut	Middelbourg	Middelburg		Dutch Republic11: County of Zeeland	1810–1814
Simplon	Sion		Switzerland	République des Sept Dizains12	1810–1814
Bouches-de-la-Meuse	La Haye	The Hague	Netherlands	Dutch Republic11: County of Holland	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Yssel	Zwolle			Dutch Republic11: Overijssel	1811–1814
Ems-Occidental	Groningue	Groningen	Netherlands  Germany	Dutch Republic11: Dutch Upper Guelders	1811–1814
Ems-Oriental	Aurich		Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Kingdom of Prussia: County of East Frisia11	1811–1814
Frise	Leuwarden	Leeuwarden	Netherlands	Dutch Republic11: Friesland	1811–1814
Yssel-Supérieur	Arnhem			Dutch Republic11: Dutch Upper Guelders	1811–1814
Zuyderzée	Amsterdam			Dutch Republic11: County of Holland Lordship of Utrecht	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Elbe	Hambourg	Hamburg	Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg Electorate of Hanover Duchy of Holstein Free Hanseatic City of Lübeck	1811–1814
Bouches-du-Weser	Brême	Bremen		Holy Roman Empire: Free Hanseatic City of Bremen Electorate of Hanover Duchy of Oldenburg	1811–1814
Ems-Supérieur	Osnabrück			Holy Roman Empire: Electorate of Hanover Bishopric of Osnabrück Kingdom of Prussia: Town and County of Lingen Principality of Minden County of Ravensberg	1811–1814
Lippe12	Munster	Münster		Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Münster Electoral Palatinate: Grand Duchy of Berg	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Èbre	Lérida	Lleida	Spain	Kingdom of Spain: Catalonia	1812–1813
Montserrat	Barcelone	Barcelona			1812–1813
Sègre	Puigcerda	Puigcerdà			1812–1813
Ter	Gérone	Girona			1812–1813
Bouches-de-l'Èbre–Montserrat	Barcelone	Barcelona	Previously the départements of Bouches-de-l'Èbre and Montserrat		1813–1814
Sègre–Ter	Gérone	Girona	Previously the départements of Sègre and Ter		1813–1814

Notes:

1. 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.
2. Territories that were a part of Austrian Netherlands were also a part of Holy Roman Empire.
3. The Bishopric of Basel was a German Prince-Bishopric, not to be confused with the adjacent Swiss Canton of Basel.
4. 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
5. Maastricht was a condominium of the Dutch Republic and the Bishopric of Liège.
6. 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.
7. Before becoming the département of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
8. Before becoming the département of Arno, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the Kingdom of Etruria.
9. 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.
10. Rome was known as the département du Tibre until 1810.
11. 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 had not 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.
12. Before becoming the département 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.
13. 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