Seine was a department of France encompassing Paris and its immediate suburbs. Its capital was Paris and its official number was 75. The Seine department was abolished in 1968 and its territory divided among four new departments.
Contents |
The Seine department was created on March 4, 1790 under the name Paris department. In 1795 the name was changed into Seine department after the Seine River flowing through it.
From 1929 to its abolition in 1968, the department consisted of the city (commune) of Paris and 80 suburban communes surrounding Paris. It had an area of 480 km² (185 sq. miles), 22% of that area being the city of Paris, and 78% being independent suburbs. It was divided into three arrondissements: Paris, Sceaux, and Saint-Denis.
At the first French census in 1801, the Seine department had 631,585 inhabitants (87% of them living in the city of Paris, 13% in the suburbs) and was the second most populous department of the vast Napoleonic Empire (behind the Nord department), more populous than even the dense departments of what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. With the growth of Paris and its suburbs, the population of the Seine department increased tremendously, and by 1968 it contained 5,700,754 residents (45% of them living in the city of Paris, 55% in the suburbs), being now by far the most populous department of France. It was judged that the Seine department was now too large and ungovernable, and so on January 1, 1968 it was split into four smaller departments: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne.
In detail, the break-up of the Seine department was carried out like this:
Taken together, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, and Seine-Saint-Denis, three departments' known in France as the petite couronne (i.e. "small ring", as opposed to the "large ring" of the more distant suburbs), plus the city of Paris, are larger than the former Seine department (480 km² for the Seine department vs. 762 km² for Paris and petite couronne).
At the 2006 census, the population of the communes that had previously comprised the Seine department was 5,496,468. The population of the department peaked in 1968 at 5,700,754. It then lost inhabitants until 1999 (nadir of 5,203,818 inhabitants at the 1999 census) as residents increasingly relocated to the more distant suburbs of the metropolitan area of Paris, but since 1999 it has regained some inhabitants, with a population increase of 292,650 inhabitants between 1999 and 2006. This new population growth after a long period of decline is comparable to what is observed in the central areas of other large Western metropolises such as Inner London.
Of the new departments created in 1968, Paris (75) was the most populous in 2006 with 2,181,371 inhabitants. The Paris department is currently the second-most populous of France behind that of Nord.
Today, there are some people in France who regret the break-up of the old Seine department. In the 1960s it was felt that the department was too large to be properly governed, and everybody welcomed the change. However, in the last 40 years large ghettos have appeared in the suburbs of Paris, while the city of Paris itself has become more of a place for the wealthy, with the departure of lower-middle-class residents to the suburbs. The building of the large Périphérique freeway all around the city of Paris also contributed to the feeling of marked segregation between Paris proper and its suburbs. Many politicians and intellectuals regret the loss of the old Seine department in the sense that before there existed a common administration for the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs, creating a sense of community throughout the metropolitan area, whereas today rich Paris administers itself solely and leaves the suburbs to their own fate.
However, so far there are no real plans to revive the old Seine department. Moreover, the creation of the Île-de-France region in the 1970s, which encompasses not only the territory of the former Seine department, but also the more distant suburbs of Paris, may in time prove to be the unifying structure for the metropolitan area that was once the Seine department.