Departments of France

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(incl. overseas regions)

Departments

(incl. overseas departments)

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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 unit roughly analogous to an English county. 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.

1 General characteristics
2 Administrative role
3 History
4 Map and list of departments
- 4.1 French regions and departments
5 Former departments

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 a little more than three-and-half times the median land area of a county in the United States.

At the 1999 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 just a little less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England.

The chef-lieu de département 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 from any town in the département on horseback 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 is, since 1982, headed by the president of that council (formerly it was headed by the prefect).

The French national government is represented in the département by a 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 also 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 terms of 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. This final usage will mostly disappear with a new number-plate scheme being introduced in January 2009 (for details see French vehicle registration plates). Initially, the numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the départements, but several of them have changed their names, so the correspondence is not exact anymore.

Note that 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. Note also that 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 March 4, 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 are named after the area's principal river(s) or other physical features.

The number of departments, initially 83, 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 departements), but they were reduced to 86 following Napoleon's defeats in 1814-1815, as 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 the meantime. In 1860, France acquired the Comté de Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments: two 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) have added a further six departments, raising the total to one hundred — including 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 ArmsDepartment Prefecture 01 Ain Bourg-en-Bresse02 Aisne Laon03 Allier Moulins04 Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Digne-les-Bains05 Hautes-Alpes Gap06 Alpes-Maritimes Nice07 Ardèche Privas08 Ardennes Charleville-Mézières09 Ariège Foix10 Aube Troyes11 Aude Carcassonne12 Aveyron Rodez13 Bouches-du-Rhône Marseille14 Calvados Caen15 Cantal Aurillac16 Charente Angoulême17 Charente-Maritime La Rochelle18 Cher Bourges19 Corrèze Tulle2A Corse-du-Sud Ajaccio2B Haute-Corse Bastia21 Côte-d'Or Dijon22 Côtes-d'Armor Saint-Brieuc23 Creuse Guéret24 Dordogne Périgueux25 Doubs Besançon26 Drôme Valence27 Eure Évreux28 Eure-et-Loir Chartres29 Finistère Quimper30 Gard Nîmes31 Haute-Garonne Toulouse32 Gers Auch33 Gironde Bordeaux34 Hérault Montpellier35 Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes36 Indre Châteauroux37 Indre-et-Loire Tours38 Isère Grenoble39 Jura Lons-le-Saunier40 Landes Mont-de-Marsan41 Loir-et-Cher Blois42 Loire Saint-Étienne43 Haute-Loire Le Puy-en-Velay44 Loire-Atlantique Nantes45 Loiret Orléans46 Lot Cahors47 Lot-et-Garonne Agen48 Lozère Mende49 Maine-et-Loire Angers50 Manche Saint-Lô51 Marne Châlons-en-Champagne52 Haute-Marne Chaumont53 Mayenne Laval54 Meurthe-et-Moselle Nancy55 Meuse Bar-le-Duc56 Morbihan Vannes57 Moselle Metz58 Nièvre Nevers59 Nord Lille60 Oise Beauvais61 Orne Alençon62 Pas-de-Calais Arras63 Puy-de-Dôme Clermont-Ferrand64 Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pau65 Hautes-Pyrénées Tarbes66 Pyrénées-Orientales Perpignan67 Bas-Rhin Strasbourg68 Haut-Rhin Colmar69 Rhône Lyon70 Haute-Saône Vesoul71 Saône-et-Loire Mâcon72 Sarthe Le Mans73 Savoie Chambéry74 Haute-Savoie Annecy75 Paris¹ Paris76 Seine-Maritime Rouen77 Seine-et-Marne Melun78 Yvelines² Versailles79 Deux-Sèvres Niort80 Somme Amiens81 Tarn Albi82 Tarn-et-Garonne Montauban83 Var Toulon84 Vaucluse Avignon85 Vendée La Roche-sur-Yon86 Vienne Poitiers87 Haute-Vienne Limoges88 Vosges Épinal89 Yonne Auxerre90 Territoire de Belfort Belfort91 Essonne³ Évry92 Hauts-de-Seine4 Nanterre93 Seine-Saint-Denis5 Bobigny94 Val-de-Marne Créteil95 Val-d'Oise Cergy/Pontoise6 971 Guadeloupe7 Basse-Terre972 Martinique7 Fort-de-France973 Guyane7 Cayenne974 La Réunion7 Saint-Denis

Notes:

The number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine
The number 78 was formerly assigned to Seine-et-Oise
The number 91 was formerly assigned to Alger, in French Algeria
The number 92 was formerly assigned to Oran, in French Algeria
The number 93 was formerly assigned to Constantine, in French Algeria
The number 975 was formerly assigned to Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
The number 976 was formerly assigned to Mayotte
The number 977 was formerly assigned to Saint-Barthélémy
The number 978 was formerly assigned to Saint-Martin
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.
The overseas departments are former colonies outside France that now enjoy a status identical to metropolitan France. They are part of France and of the EU, though special EU rules apply. Each of them constitutes a region at the same time.

Former departments

On the current territory of France

Department Prefecture Dates in existence Notes Rhône-et-Loire Lyon 1790–1793Split into Rhôneand Loireon August 12, 1793. Corse Bastia 1790–1793Split into Goloand Liamone. Golo Bastia 1793–1811Reunited with Liamoneinto Corse. Liamone Ajaccio 1793–1811Reunited with Golointo Corse. Mont-Blanc Chambéry 1792–1815Formed from part of the Duchy of Savoy, a territory of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardiniaand was restored to Piedmont-Sardinia after Napoleon's defeat. The département corresponds approximately with the present French départements Savoieand Haute-Savoie. Léman Geneva 1798–1814Formed when the Republic of Genevawas annexed into the First French Empire. Léman became the Swiss cantonthe Republic and Canton of Geneva. The département corresponds with the present Swiss canton and parts of the present French départements Ainand Haute-Savoie. Meurthe Nancy 1790–1871Meurthe ceased to exist following the annexation of Alsace-Lorraineby the German Empirein 1871and was not recreated after the province was restored to France by the Treaty of Versailles. Seine Paris 1790–1967On January 1, 1968, Seine was divided into four new départements: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denisand Val-de-Marne, gaining territory from Seine-et-Oisein the process. Seine-et-Oise Versailles 1790–1967On January 1, 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into three new départements: Yvelines, Val-d'Oiseand Essonne, with some territory lost to Seinein the process. Corse Ajaccio 1811–1975On September 15, 1975, Corse was redivided in twain, to form Corse-du-Sudand Haute-Corse. Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon Saint-Pierre 1976–1985 Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was an overseas departmentfrom 1976until it was converted to an overseas collectivityon June 11, 1985.

Name changes

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

Ancient name Modern name Date of change Mayenne-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire 1791Bec-d'Ambès Gironde 1795Charente-Inférieure Charente-Maritime 1941Seine-Inférieure Seine-Maritime 1955Loire-Inférieure Loire-Atlantique 1957Basses-Pyrénées Pyrénées-Atlantiques 1969Basses-Alpes Alpes-de-Haute-Provence 1970Côtes-du-Nord Côtes-d'Armor 1990

French Algeria

Coat of arms of French Algeria Unlike the rest of French-controlled Africa, Algeria was departmentalised and was a part of France from 1848-1962.

Before 1957

№ Department Prefecture Dates in 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 in 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 Saida(1958–1962)

In the former colonies of France

Department Modern-day location Dates in existence Département du Sud Hispaniola
( Dominican Republicand Haiti) 1795–1800Département de l'Inganne 1795–1800Département du Nord 1795–1800Département de l'Ouest 1795–1800Département de Samana 1795–1800Sainte-Lucie Saint Lucia, Tobago 1795–1800Île de France Mauritius, Rodrigues, Seychelles 1795–1800 Indes-Orientales Pondichery, Karikal, Yanaon, Maheand 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
(Frenchname) Prefecture
(Englishname) Current location¹ Contemporary location² Dates in existence Mont-Terrible Porrentruy Switzerland Holy Roman Empire:

Bishopric of Basel³

1793–1800 CorcyreCorfou Corfu Greece Republic of Venice4 1797–1799 Ithaque Argostoli 1797–1798 Mer-Égée Zante(Zakynthos) 1797–1798 DyleBruxelles Brussels Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

1795–1814 EscautGand Ghent Belgium
Netherlands Austrian Netherlands:

County of Flanders

Dutch Republic:

Flanders of the States

1795–1814 Forêts Luxembourg Luxembourg
Belgium
Germany Austrian Netherlands:

1795–1814 Jemmape Mons Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

Holy Roman Empire:

Bishopric of Liège

1795–1814 Lys Bruges Austrian Netherlands:

County of Flanders

1795–1814 Meuse-InférieureMaëstricht Maastricht Belgium
Netherlands Austrian Netherlands:

Dutch Republic:

Holy Roman Empire:

Maastricht5

1795–1814 Deux-NèthesAnvers Antwerp Belgium Austrian Netherlands:

Duchy of Brabant

Dutch Republic:

Brabant of the States (after 1810)

1795–1814 Ourthe Liège Belgium
Germany Austrian Netherlands:

Holy Roman Empire:

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

Holy Roman Empire:

Bishopric of Liège

1795–1814 Mont-TonnerreMayence Mainz Germany Holy Roman Empire:

1801–1814 Rhin-et-MoselleCoblence Koblenz Holy Roman Empire:

1801–1814 RoerAix-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 SarreTrèves Trier Belgium
Germany Holy Roman Empire:

1801–1814 DoireIvrée Ivrea Italy Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia

Duchy of Savoy

1802–1814 MarengoAlexandrie Alessandria 1802–1814 Pô Turin 1802–1814 SésiaVerceil Vercelli 1802–1814 SturaConi Cuneo 1802–1814Tanaro6 Asti 1802–1805 Apennins Chiavari Republic of Genoa7 1805–1814 GênesGênes Genoa 1805–1814 MontenotteSavone Savona 1805–1814 Arno Florence Grand Duchy of Tuscany8 1808–1814 MéditerranéeLivourne Livorno 1808–1814 OmbroneSienne Siena 1808–1814 TaroParme Parma Holy Roman Empire:

Duchy of Parma & Piacenza9

1808–1814 Rome10 Rome Papal States 1809–1814 TrasimèneSpolète Spoleto 1809–1814 Bouches-du-RhinBois-le-Duc 's-Hertogenbosch Netherlands Dutch Republic11:

Batavian Brabant (Brabant of the States)
Dutch Guelders

1810–1814 Bouches-de-l'EscautMiddelbourg Middelburg Dutch Republic11:

County of Zeeland

1810–1814 Simplon Sion Switzerland République des Sept Dizains12 1810–1814 Bouches-de-la-MeuseLa Haye The Hague Netherlands Dutch Republic11:

County of Holland

1811–1814 Bouches-de-l'Yssel Zwolle Dutch Republic11:

Overijssel

1811–1814 Ems-OccidentalGroningue 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 FriseLeuwarden Leeuwarden Netherlands Dutch Republic11:

Friesland

1811–1814 Yssel-Supérieur Arnhem Dutch Republic11:

Dutch Upper Guelders

1811–1814 Zuyderzée Amsterdam Dutch Republic11:

1811–1814 Bouches-de-l'ElbeHambourg Hamburg Germany Holy Roman Empire:

1811–1814 Bouches-du-WeserBrême Bremen Holy Roman Empire:

1811–1814 Ems-Supérieur Osnabrück Holy Roman Empire:

1811–1814 Lippe12 Munster Münster Holy Roman Empire:

1811–1814Bouches-de-l'Èbre Lérida Lleida Spain Kingdom of Spain:

Catalonia

1812–1813Montserrat Barcelone Barcelona 1812–1813Sègre Puigcerda Puigcerdà 1812–1813Ter Gérone Girona 1812–1813Bouches-de-l'Èbre–Montserrat Barcelone BarcelonaPreviously the départements of Bouches-de-l'Èbre and Montserrat 1813–1814Sègre–Ter Gérone GironaPreviously the départements of Sègre and Ter 1813–1814

Notes:

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.
Territories that were a part of Austrian Netherlands were also a part of Holy Roman Empire.
The Bishopric of Basel was a German Prince-Bishopric, not to be confused with the adjacent Swiss Canton of Basel.
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
Maastricht was a condominium of the Dutch Republic and the Bishopric of Liège.
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.
Before becoming the département of Apennins, the Republic of Genoa was converted to a puppet successor state, the Ligurian Republic.
Before becoming the département of Arno, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany was converted to a puppet successor state, the Kingdom of Etruria.
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.
Rome was known as the département du Tibre until 1810.
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.
Before becoming the département of Simplon, the République des Sept Dizains was converted to a revolutionary République du Valais (March 16, 1798) which was swiftly incorporated (May 1, 1798) into the puppet Helvetic Republic until 1802 when it became the independent Rhodanic Republic.
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.