Departments of France

The 102 departments of France

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

(incl. overseas regions)

(incl. overseas departments)

Métropole
Communauté urbaine
Communauté d'agglomération
Communauté de communes

Associated communes
Municipal arrondissements

Others in Overseas France

Overseas collectivities
Sui generis collectivity
Overseas country
Overseas territory
Clipperton Island

In the administrative divisions of France, the department (French: département, pronounced [depaʁt(ə)mɑ̃]) is one of the three levels of government below the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 97 departments in metropolitan France, and 5 overseas departments, which are also classified as regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334 arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons; the last two have no autonomy, and are used for the organisation of police, fire departments, and sometimes, elections.

Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council (conseil départemental (sing.), conseils départementaux (plur.)). From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils (conseil général (sing.), conseils généraux (plur.)).[1] Each council has a president. Their main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school (collège) buildings and technical staff, and of local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the State administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents the government; however, regions have gained importance in this regard since the 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services.

The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The division of France into departments was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader the Abbé Sieyès, although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of d'Argenson. They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies.

Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the "Official Geographical Code", allocated by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. While it is common for residents to use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, more distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know the numbers of all the departments. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as "the 45".

In 2014, President François Hollande proposed to abolish departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and to transfer their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been abandoned.

History

Geometrical proposition rejected
The former provinces (colours) and the departements (limits in black)

The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration.[2]

Before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of 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.

The modern departments, as all-purpose units of the government, were created on 4 March 1790 by the National Constituent Assembly to replace the provinces with what the Assembly deemed a more rational structure. Their boundaries served two purposes:

Departments at the maximum extent of the First French Empire (1812)

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, had been increased to 130 by 1809 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 and the number of departments was reduced to 86 (three of the original departments having 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 the alphabetical order of their names.

The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and 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 remained French, however, and became known as the Territoire de Belfort, and the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a new Meurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I, the Territoire de Belfort was not re-integrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922, it became France's 90th department. Likewise, the Lorraine departments were not changed back to their original boundaries, and a new Moselle department was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name.

The re-organisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division of Corsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when the overseas collectivity of Mayotte became a department, joining the earlier overseas departments of the Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana, Guadeloupe (1946), Martinique, and Réunion, and Mayotte) – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015, the Urban Community of Lyon was split from Rhône to form the Métropole de Lyon: France's first such big-city department and the 97th department of Metropolitan France, as well as the 102nd department of the Republic as a whole.

General characteristics

Population density in the departments (2007), showing the fr:Diagonale du vide

The departmental seat of government is known as the prefecture (préfecture) or chef-lieu de département and is generally a town 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 on 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 may be divided into arrondissements. The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture (sous-préfecture) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement.

Each department is administered by a departmental council (conseil départemental), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage, with the president of the council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the executive of a department was the prefect (préfet) who represents the French government in each department and is appointed by the president of France. The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects (sous-préfet) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982, the prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils.

The departments are further divided into communes, governed by municipal councils. As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In the overseas territories, some communes play a role at departmental level. Paris, the country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department.

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 the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales 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 and Wales. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km², and a population between 320,000 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 for addresses in both departments do still start with 20. 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 three digits—e.g. 971 for Guadeloupe (see table below).

Originally, the relationship between the departments and the central government was left somewhat ambiguous. While citizens in each department elected their own officials, the local governments were subordinated to the central government, becoming instruments of national integration. By 1793, however, the revolutionary government had turned the departments into transmission belts for policies enacted in Paris. With few exceptions, the departments had this role until the early 1960s.

Party political preferences

These maps cannot be used as a useful resource of voter preferences, because Departmental Councils are elected on a two-round system, which drastically limits the chances of fringe parties, if they are not supported on one of the two rounds by a moderate party. After the 1992 election, the left had a majority in only 21 of the 100 departments; after the 2011 election, the left dominated 61 of the 100 departments. (Mayotte only became a department after the election.)

Key to the parties:

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.[3]

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.[4]

Nevertheless, the Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of reducing the number of regions to 15.[5] This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.[5]

Maps and tables

Current departments

Each department has a coat of arms with which it is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognized or used.

INSEE code Arms 1 Department Prefecture Region Named after
01 Ain Bourg-en-Bresse Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Ain (river)
02 Aisne Laon Hauts-de-France Aisne (river)
03 Allier Moulins Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Allier (river)
04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 2 Digne-les-Bains  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps
05 Hautes-Alpes Gap  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps
06 Alpes-Maritimes Nice  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps
07 Ardèche Privas Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Ardeche (river)
08 Ardennes Charleville-Mézières Grand Est Ardennes Forest
09 Ariège Foix Occitanie Ariège (river)
10 Aube Troyes Grand Est Aube (river)
11 Aude Carcassonne Occitanie Aude (river)
12 Aveyron Rodez Occitanie Aveyron (river)
13 Bouches-du-Rhône Marseille  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Rhône (river)
14 Calvados Caen  Normandy Calvados rocks
15 Cantal Aurillac Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mounts of Cantal
16 Charente Angoulême Nouvelle-Aquitaine Charente (river)
17 Charente-Maritime 3 La Rochelle Nouvelle-Aquitaine Charente (river)
18 Cher Bourges  Centre-Val de Loire Cher (river)
19 Corrèze Tulle Nouvelle-Aquitaine Corrèze (river)
2A Corse-du-Sud Ajaccio  Corsica Island of Corsica
2B Haute-Corse Bastia  Corsica Island of Corsica
21 Côte-d'Or Dijon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Côte d'Or (escarpment)
22 Côtes-d'Armor 4 Saint-Brieuc  Brittany coasts of Armorica
23 Creuse Guéret Nouvelle-Aquitaine Creuse (river)
24 Dordogne Périgueux Nouvelle-Aquitaine Dordogne (river)
25 Doubs Besançon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Doubs (river)
26 Drôme Valence Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Drôme (river)
27 Eure Évreux  Normandy Eure (river)
28 Eure-et-Loir Chartres  Centre-Val de Loire Eure (river) and Loir (river)
29 Finistère Quimper  Brittany Finis Terræ (end of earth)
30 Gard Nîmes Occitanie Gardon (river)
31 Haute-Garonne Toulouse Occitanie Garonne (river)
32 Gers Auch Occitanie Gers (river)
33 Gironde 5 Bordeaux Nouvelle-Aquitaine Gironde (river)
34 Hérault Montpellier Occitanie Hérault (river)
35 Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes  Brittany Ille (river) and Vilaine (river)
36 Indre Châteauroux  Centre-Val de Loire Indre (river)
37 Indre-et-Loire Tours  Centre-Val de Loire Indre (river) and Loire (river)
38 Isère Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Isère (river)
39 Jura Lons-le-Saunier Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Jura mountains
40 Landes Mont-de-Marsan Nouvelle-Aquitaine Landes forest
41 Loir-et-Cher Blois  Centre-Val de Loire Loir (river) and Cher (river)
42 Loire Saint-Étienne Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Loire (river)
43 Haute-Loire Le Puy-en-Velay Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Loire (river)
44 Loire-Atlantique 6 Nantes  Pays de la Loire Loire (river)
45 Loiret Orléans  Centre-Val de Loire Loiret (river)
46 Lot Cahors Occitanie Lot (river)
47 Lot-et-Garonne Agen Nouvelle-Aquitaine Lot (river) and Garonne (river)
48 Lozère Mende Occitanie Mont Lozère
49 Maine-et-Loire 7 Angers  Pays de la Loire Maine (river) and Loire (river)
50 Manche Saint-Lô  Normandy English Channel
51 Marne Châlons-en-Champagne Grand Est Marne (river)
52 Haute-Marne Chaumont Grand Est Marne (river)
53 Mayenne Laval  Pays de la Loire Mayenne (river)
54 Meurthe-et-Moselle Nancy Grand Est Meurthe (river) and Moselle (river)
55 Meuse Bar-le-Duc Grand Est Meuse (river)
56 Morbihan Vannes  Brittany Gulf of Morbihan
57 Moselle Metz Grand Est Moselle (river)
58 Nièvre Nevers Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Nièvre (river)
59 Nord Lille Hauts-de-France North
60 Oise Beauvais Hauts-de-France Oise (river)
61 Orne Alençon  Normandy Orne (river)
62 Pas-de-Calais Arras Hauts-de-France Strait of Dover
63 Puy-de-Dôme Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Puy de Dôme volcano
64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques 8 Pau Nouvelle-Aquitaine Pyrenees
65 Hautes-Pyrénées Tarbes Occitanie Pyrenees
66 Pyrénées-Orientales Perpignan Occitanie Pyrenees
67 Bas-Rhin Strasbourg Grand Est Rhine (river)
68 Haut-Rhin Colmar Grand Est Rhine (river)
69 Rhône Lyon (provisional) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Rhône (river)
69M Metropolitan Lyon 18 Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes communes of Lyon
70 Haute-Saône Vesoul Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône (river)
71 Saône-et-Loire Mâcon Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône (river) and Loire (river)
72 Sarthe Le Mans  Pays de la Loire Sarthe (river)
73 Savoie Chambéry Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Savoy
74 Haute-Savoie Annecy Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Savoy
75 Paris 9 Paris  Île-de-France city of Paris
76 Seine-Maritime 10 Rouen  Normandy Seine (river)
77 Seine-et-Marne Melun  Île-de-France Seine (river) and Marne (river)
78 Yvelines 11 Versailles  Île-de-France Forest of Yvelines
79 Deux-Sèvres Niort Nouvelle-Aquitaine Sèvre Nantaise and Sèvre Niortaise rivers
80 Somme Amiens Hauts-de-France Somme (river)
81 Tarn Albi Occitanie Tarn (river)
82 Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban Occitanie Tarn (river) and Garonne (river)
83 Var Toulon  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Var (river)
84 Vaucluse Avignon  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Fontaine-de-Vaucluse spring
85 Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon  Pays de la Loire Vendée (river)
86 Vienne Poitiers Nouvelle-Aquitaine Vienne (river)
87 Haute-Vienne Limoges Nouvelle-Aquitaine Vienne (river)
88 Vosges Épinal Grand Est Vosges Mountains
89 Yonne Auxerre Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Yonne (river)
90 Territoire de Belfort Belfort Bourgogne-Franche-Comté city of Belfort
91 Essonne 12 Évry  Île-de-France Essonne (river)
92 Hauts-de-Seine 13 Nanterre  Île-de-France Seine (river)
93 Seine-Saint-Denis 14 Bobigny  Île-de-France Seine (river)
94 Val-de-Marne Créteil  Île-de-France Marne (river)
95 Val-d'Oise Pontoise 15  Île-de-France Oise (river)
971 Guadeloupe 16 Basse-Terre  Guadeloupe
972 Martinique 16 Fort-de-France  Martinique
973 Guyane 16 Cayenne  French Guiana
974 La Réunion 16 Saint-Denis  Réunion
976 Mayotte 17 Mamoudzou  Mayotte

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 from 1793 until 1795. The Convention eliminated the name to avoid recalling the outlawed Girondin political faction.
  • ^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.
  • ^17 Mayotte became the 101st department of France on 31 March 2011. The INSEE code of Mayotte is 976 (975 is already assigned to the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon)
  • ^18 Metropoles with territorial collectivity statute.
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

Former departments of the current territory of France

Department Prefecture Dates in existence
Rhône-et-Loire Lyon 1790–1793 Split into Rhône and Loire on 12 August 1793.
Corsica Bastia 1790–1793 Split into Golo and Liamone.
Golo Bastia 1793–1811 Reunited with Liamone into Corsica.
Liamone Ajaccio 1793–1811 Reunited with Golo into Corsica.
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. Geneva was added to territory taken from several other departments to create Léman. 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 (the last incorporating a small amount of territory from Seine-et-Oise as well).
Seine-et-Oise Versailles 1790–1967 On 1 January 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into four new departments: Yvelines, Val-d'Oise, Essonne, Val-de-Marne (the last largely comprising territory from Seine).
Corsica Ajaccio 1811–1975 On 15 September 1975, Corsica 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.

Departments of Algeria (Départements d'Algérie)

The three Algerian departments in 1848
Departments of French Algeria from 1957 to 1962

Unlike the rest of French-controlled Africa, Algeria was divided into overseas departments from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future.

Before 1957
Department Prefecture Dates of existence
91 Alger Algiers (1848–1957)
92 Oran Oran (1848–1957)
93 Constantine Constantine (1848–1957)
Bône Annaba (1955–1957)
1957–1962
Department Prefecture Dates of existence
8A Oasis Ouargla (1957–1962)
8B Saoura Bechar (1957–1962)
9A Alger Algiers (1957–1962)
9B Batna Batna (1957–1962)
9C Bône Annaba (1955–1962)
9D Constantine Constantine (1957–1962)
9E Médéa Medea (1957–1962)
9F Mostaganem Mostaganem (1957–1962)
9G Oran Oran (1957–1962)
9H Orléansville Chlef (1957–1962)
9J Sétif Setif (1957–1962)
9K Tiaret Tiaret (1957–1962)
9L Tizi-Ouzou Tizi Ouzou (1957–1962)
9M Tlemcen Tlemcen (1957–1962)
9N Aumale Sour el Ghozlane (1958–1959)
9P Bougie Bejaia (1958–1962)
9R Saïda Saïda (1958–1962)

Departments in former French colonies

Department Modern-day location Dates in existence
Département du Sud Hispaniola
(Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
1795–1800
Département de l'Inganne (Mostly in the Dominican Republic with eastern part of Haiti) 1795–1800
Département du Nord 1795–1800
Département de l'Ouest 1795–1800
Département de Samana (In the Dominican Republic) 1795–1800
Sainte-Lucie Saint Lucia, Tobago 1795–1800
Île de France Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles 1795–1800
Indes-Orientales Pondichéry, Karikal, Yanaon, Mahé and Chandernagore 1795–1800

Departments of the Napoleonic Empire in Europe

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: 1793–1800
Dyle Bruxelles Brussels Belgium Austrian Netherlands: 1795–1814
Escaut Gand Ghent Belgium
Netherlands
Austrian Netherlands:

Dutch Republic:

1795–1814
Forêts Luxembourg Luxembourg
Belgium
Germany
Austrian Netherlands: 1795–1814
Jemmape Mons Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

Holy Roman Empire:

1795–1814
Lys Bruges Austrian Netherlands: 1795–1814
Meuse-Inférieure Maëstricht Maastricht Belgium
Netherlands
Austrian Netherlands:

Dutch Republic:

Holy Roman Empire:

Maastricht5

1795–1814
Deux-Nèthes Anvers Antwerp Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

Dutch Republic:

1795–1814
Ourthe Liège Belgium
Germany
Austrian Netherlands:

Holy Roman Empire:

1795–1814
Sambre-et-Meuse Namur Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

Holy Roman Empire:

1795–1814
Corcyre Corfou Corfu Greece Republic of Venice4 1797–1799
Ithaque Argostoli 1797–1798
Mer-Égée Zante Zakynthos 1797–1798
Mont-Tonnerre Mayence Mainz Germany Holy Roman Empire: 1801–1814
Rhin-et-Moselle Coblence Koblenz Holy Roman Empire: 1801–1814
Roer Aix-la-Chapelle Aachen Germany
Netherlands
Holy Roman Empire: 1801–1814
Sarre Trèves Trier Belgium
Germany
Holy Roman Empire: 1801–1814
Doire Ivrée Ivrea Italy Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia 1802–1814
Marengo Alexandrie Alessandria 1802–1814
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: 1808–1814
Rome9 Rome Papal States 1809–1814
Trasimène Spolète Spoleto 1809–1814
Bouches-du-Rhin Bois-le-Duc 's-Hertogenbosch Netherlands Dutch Republic:10 1810–1814
Bouches-de-l'Escaut Middelbourg Middelburg Dutch Republic:10 1810–1814
Simplon Sion Switzerland République des Sept Dizains11 1810–1814
Bouches-de-la-Meuse La Haye The Hague Netherlands Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Yssel Zwolle Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Ems-Occidental Groningue Groningen Netherlands
Germany
Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Ems-Oriental Aurich Germany Holy Roman Empire: 1811–1814
Frise Leuwarden Leeuwarden Netherlands Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Yssel-Supérieur Arnhem Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Zuyderzée Amsterdam Dutch Republic:10 1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Elbe Hamburg Hamburg Germany Holy Roman Empire: 1811–1814
Bouches-du-Weser Brême Bremen Holy Roman Empire: 1811–1814
Ems-Supérieur Osnabrück Holy Roman Empire: 1811–1814
Lippe12 Munster Münster Holy Roman Empire: 1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Èbre Lérida Lleida Spain Kingdom of Spain: 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 departments of Bouches-de-l'Èbre and Montserrat 1813–1814
Sègre-Ter Gérone Girona Previously the departments of Sègre and Ter 1813–1814

Notes for Table 7:

  1. 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.
  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 vassal of the Ottoman Empire, from 1800–07. After reverting to France at the Treaty of Tilsit, 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 departments of Marengo, Montenotte and Stura.
  7. Before becoming the department of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
  8. Before becoming the department of Arno, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the Kingdom of Etruria.
  9. Rome was known as the department du Tibre until 1810.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Departments of France.

References

  1. Ministère de l'intérieur, Les élections départementales : comprendre ce qui change (in French), retrieved 2015-07-30
  2. Masson, Jean-Louis (1984). "Provinces, départements, régions: L'organisation administrative de la France d'hier à demain". Google Livres (French Google Books site). Éditions Fernand Lanore. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  3. "La fusion département-région n'est pas à l'ordre du jour". L'Express. Retrieved 2011-07-21.
  4. This is stated in the title of the section dealing with "Decision 260" on page 197 of the Report of the Attali Commission (in French)
  5. 1 2 "Les 20 propositions du Comité (20 propositions of the Committee)" (in French). Committee for the reform of local authorities. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
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