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51-457: The Huisne flows through the following departments and towns: This Orne geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Centre-Val de Loire geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Sarthe geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in France

102-463: A county of the United States . At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,000 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a United States 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 km (1500 to 3000 sq. mi.), and

153-471: A government that lasted only into the following January, having been unable to satisfy either side. Despite his vain efforts to gain the support of either the liberals or the Carlists, his government undertook a major reform of the territorial division of Spain whose effects are still felt after more than a century-and-a-half: the division of Spain into provinces. A royal decree of 20 November 1833 ratified

204-500: A more uniform division into departments ( département ) and districts in late 1789. The process began on 4 August 1789 with the elimination of provincial privileges, and a 22 December 1789 decree (with letters patent in January 1790) provided for the termination of the provincial governments. The modern department system, as all-purpose units of the government, was decreed on 26 February 1790 (with letters patent on 4 March 1790) by

255-523: A plan put forth by Javier de Burgos , secretary of state for development ( secretario de estado de Fomento ), which created the basis for a centralized state divided into 49 provinces. All but four of the provinces received the name of their capital cities; those four— Navarre with its capital at Pamplona , Álava with Vitoria , Gipuzkoa with San Sebastián , and Biscay (Spanish: Vizcaya ) with Bilbao —reflected long standing entities, and retained their historic names. Javier de Burgos's division

306-513: A population between 320,000 and 1 million. The largest in area is Gironde (10,000 km (3,900 sq mi).), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km (41 sq mi).). 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

357-405: 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 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

408-735: A separate legal and institutional status, including taxation and customs with the Spanish heartland on the Ebro . Navarre was still a semi-autonomous kingdom with its own parliament and government—the Cortes and Diputación —while Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay (the Basque Provinces , known also as "Biscay" up to the Peninsular War ), were also autonomous. News of the central government's decision overruling native institutions spread to

459-399: A three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates . Residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, for example inhabitants of Loiret may refer to their department as "the 45". More distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know

510-417: Is Llívia (part of Gerona, but one must pass 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) through France to reach it). The provincial division consolidated rapidly and remains with rather few changes down to the present day. This is in part because the provincial capitals all became the seats of basic government institutions. The jefes políticos would eventually be replaced by civil governors, and eventually delegates of

561-720: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Departments of France In the administrative divisions of France , the department ( French : département , pronounced [depaʁtəmɑ̃] ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities "), between the administrative regions and the communes . There are ninety-six departments in metropolitan France , with an additional five overseas departments , which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333 arrondissements and 2,054 cantons (as of 2023). These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as

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612-533: Is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognised or used. Unlike the rest of the French possessions in Africa , Algeria was divided into departments just like Corsica or Normandy from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future. There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during

663-411: 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

714-562: 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

765-460: Is practically the same as the short-lived 1822 territorial division of Spain , dating from the " Liberal Trienium " ( Trienio Liberal ), but without the provinces of Calatayud , Vierzo , and Játiva ; also, in contrast to the 1822 division, several provinces were given names other than those of their capitals. Rather than the merit of having initiated, directed and produced a new provincial division of Spain, Don Javier de Burgos deserves credit for

816-654: The Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration. Before the French Revolution , France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the end of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces . During the Revolution they were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. The National Constituent Assembly decided to create

867-671: The 1823 French intervention ending the trienio liberal ) and the 1833 territorial division of Spain , which forms the basis of the present day Provinces of Spain with minor modifications, are also based on the French model of departments of roughly equal size. 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 ( Insée ). Overseas departments have

918-721: The Basque districts , sparking uproar and anger. The new design thus notably paved the way to the outbreak of the First Carlist War . While Jorge de Burgos' design of provincial Spain suppressed enclaves, it did keep the ones located in Basque territories — Trucios in Biscay, and Treviño in Álava . According to the new arrangement, the Basque enclaves were to be attached to the closer Spanish province of Common Fiscal Regime. That meant they would be paying taxes to Madrid, not to

969-674: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France: Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Holy Roman Empire : Electorate of the Palatinate Electorate of the Palatinate Kingdom of Prussia : Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805) Notes for Table 7: 1833 territorial division of Spain The 1833 territorial division of Spain divided

1020-474: The ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments have three digits. 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,

1071-597: The National Constituent Assembly . Their boundaries served two purposes: 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 . Savoy , during its temporary occupation, became the department of Mont-Blanc . The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791. The number of departments, initially 83, had been increased to 130 by 1809 with

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1122-661: The President of the Departmental Council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the chief executive of the department was the prefect ( préfet ), who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed by the President of the French Republic . The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects ( sous-préfet ) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982,

1173-586: The Territoire de Belfort ; 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 reintegrated 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

1224-675: 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. In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years. Nevertheless,

1275-412: 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. This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons. Each department has a coat of arms and a flag with which it

1326-843: The Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique and Réunion – 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 , a sui generis entity, with the powers of both an intercommunality and those of a department on its territory, formally classified as a "territorial collectivity with particular status" ( French : collectivité territoriale à statut particulier ) and as such not belonging to any department. As of 2019 Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have

1377-423: The administrative basis for the local organisation of police, fire departments as well as, in certain cases, elections. Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council ( sg. conseil départemental , pl. conseils départementaux ). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils ( sg. conseil général , pl. conseils généraux ). Each council has

1428-495: The basis of electoral districts and tax districts. Civil health districts also followed provincial lines (though military health districts sometimes did not). By 1868 there were 463 legal districts; the number of municipalities has repeatedly risen and fallen. The new design arranged by Jorge de Burgos and government officials in Madrid opened a scenario of overt confrontation with the Basque territories and institutions, who kept

1479-428: The central government and the provinces. These "historic regions" had no powers, no administrative organs, no common jurisdiction over the provinces grouped within them. Each province had a governor ( jefe político , "political chief") appointed by the central government. Besides looking to the 1822 arrangement, Javier de Burgos took as his model the departments of France . While many of the borders and inclusions in

1530-400: The central government. The provincial division was followed by all branches of government and formed the basis for all future divisions and combinations. Each of Spain's municipalities ( ayuntamientos ) falls within a single province. In 1834, Spain was divided into legal districts ( partidos judiciales ); these took provincial borders into account. These legal districts later became

1581-544: The central government. There were a few minor adjustments of borders, and several provinces have been renamed to accord with local languages or in view of other issues of regional identity. The "historic regions" went by the wayside during the Spanish transition to democracy in the later 1970s and early 1980s, when they were replaced by the autonomous communities , many of which coincide precisely with an earlier "historic region". Some authors writing about present-day Spain use

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1632-426: The country into provinces , in turn classified into " historic regions " (Spanish: regiones históricas ). This division was followed (helped by the enforcing of the 1834 Royal Statute ) by the ensuing creation of provincial deputations , the government institutions for most of the provinces, remaining up to this date. Nearly all of the provinces retain roughly or precisely the 1833 borders. Conversely, many of

1683-414: 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 km (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

1734-415: The courage and political will have put in place the previous division of 1822 with the adjustments and modifications that he believed appropriate. Javier de Burgos' 1833 provincial division included 49 provinces. The same decree that created the provincial division grouped the provinces into "historic regions". However, these were merely honorary and classificatory: there was no level of administration between

1785-620: The government; however, regions have gained importance 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, or after their own administrative seats. The division of France into departments

1836-466: The historic regions correspond to present-day autonomous communities . Immediately after the death of King Ferdinand VII on 29 September 1833, the regent Maria Christina attempted to find a moderate third way between the absolutist Carlists —the followers of the Infante Carlos —and the liberals . This mission was given to First Secretary of State Francisco Cea Bermúdez , leader of

1887-659: 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, however, remained French and became known as

1938-407: The numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names and some have been divided, so the correspondence became less exact. Alphanumeric codes 2A and 2B were used for Corsica while it was split but it has since reverted to 20. The two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco . Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form

1989-442: The numbers of all the departments. In 2014, President François Hollande proposed abolishing departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and transferring their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been scrapped. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for

2040-429: The prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils. In practice, their role has been largely limited to preventing local policy from conflicting with national policy. 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 ,

2091-412: The provinces may at first appear arbitrary from a historical and geographical point of view, he was operating under a set of rational criteria: area (it was intended to be possible to travel between the capital and any point in the province in a single day), population (wherever feasible, the provinces had populations between 100,000 and 400,000), and geographic coherence. The provincial division restored

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2142-671: The provincial division within Catalonia , replacing it with a division into seven veguerias . However, the number of senators or deputies that Catalonia contributes to Spain's parliament, the Cortes Generales : remained regulated by Article 69 of the Constitution in terms of provinces. While the veguerias project remained controversial, the Catalan government intended to put it into effect in January 2010. However,

2193-528: The relevant Basque government (Álava, Biscay). Oñati was incorporated into Gipuzkoa—definitely in 1845. Despite their close ties of cultural, linguistic, institutional, and legal nature (cf. fueros ), it was decided to nominally regroup the above districts into two different "historic regions": Provincias Vascongadas and Navarra . As remarked above, the 1833 system of provinces has undergone only minimal changes. Jefes políticos were replaced by civil governors, and eventually by delegates and sub-delegates of

2244-464: 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. 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

2295-428: The status of departmental " territorial collectivities ": region and department functions have been managed by a " single territorial collectivity " since 2018. Despite the intention to avoid the old nomenclature, often the names of pre-1790 provinces remained in use. For example, the name of Berry , though no longer having an official status, remains in widespread use in daily life. The departmental seat of government

2346-873: The term "historic regions" to refer only to the Basque Country, Catalonia, usually Galicia, and occasionally Andalusia, all of which have historically had the strong local nationalisms . Under Article 141 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 , the provinces remain Spain's basic units of territorial organization. They are the basis for electoral constituencies (Article 68) and autonomous communities are normally formed out of one or more provinces, with no province divided between two or more autonomous communities (Article 143). The revised Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia that went into effect in August 2006 ignored

2397-593: The territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire . Following the defeats of Napoleon 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

2448-525: The traditional names of the Basque provinces and Navarre, which had been renamed in the 1822 territorial division of Spain , but few concessions were made to historic enclaves and exclaves . The most important of these that were retained were the Rincón de Ademuz (part of Valencia, but located between Teruel and Cuenca) and the Treviño enclave (part of Burgos, but surrounded by Álava); another notable exclave

2499-455: 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: 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

2550-490: 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 1665 in the writings of d'Argenson . They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. The 1822 territorial division of Spain (reverted due to

2601-472: Was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name. The reorganisation 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

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