Eure

Eure
—  Department  —

Coat of arms
Location of Eure in France
Coordinates:
Country France
Region Haute-Normandie
Prefecture Évreux
Subprefectures Les Andelys
Bernay
Government
 • President of the General Council Jean-Louis Destans (PS)
Area1
 • Total 6,040 km2 (2,332.1 sq mi)
Population (1999)
 • Total 541,054
 • Rank 44th
 • Density 89.6/km2 (232/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Department number 27
Arrondissements 3
Cantons 43
Communes 675
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Eure (French pronunciation: [œʁ]) is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure.

Contents

History

Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Normandy.

After the allied victory at Waterloo, Eure was occupied by Prussian troops between June 1815 and November 1818.

In the wake of Louis-Napoléons December coup of 1851, Eure was one of the departments placed under a state of emergency in order to avert resistance to the post-republican régime. In the event fewer than 100 government opponents in Eure were arrested.[1].

Geography

Eure is part of the current region of Haute-Normandie and is surrounded by the departments of Seine-Maritime, Oise, Val-d'Oise, Yvelines, Eure-et-Loir, Orne, and Calvados.

The department is a largely wooded plateau intersected by the valleys of the Seine River and its tributaries.

The altitude varies from sea level to 248 metres in the south.

Politics

The President of the General Council is Jean-Louis Destans of the Socialist Party.

Party seats
• Socialist Party 12
Union for a Popular Movement 11
• Miscellaneous Left 7
• French Communist Party 4
Miscellaneous Right 4
New Centre 3
• Left Radical Party 2

Tourism

The main tourist attraction is Giverny (4 km (2.49 mi) from Vernon) where Claude Monet's house and garden can be seen, as well as other places of interest (see Websites, below).

The Abbey of Bec and the Château-Gaillard near Les Andelys are other important tourist attractions.

See also

External links

==Sources and further reading

  1. ^ Jacques Olivier Boudon, Les Bonaparte : regards sur la France impériale. La Documentation photographique, dossier 8073, janvier-février 2010, p. 11 (carte de Gilles Pécout)