Departments of France

In the administrative divisions of France, the department (French: département, pronounced [depaʁt(ə)mɑ̃]) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, and five are overseas departments, which are also classified as overseas 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, these 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 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 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. 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 residents commonly 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

Main article: Territorial evolution of France

The 101 departments of France

Geometrical proposition rejected

French provinces before 1790 (color) and todays departments (black borders)

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:

• Boundaries were chosen to break up France's historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences and build a more homogeneous nation.
• Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a day's ride of the capital of a department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the entire national territory under close control.

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. Savoy, during its temporary occupation, became the department of Mont-Blanc.[3]

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.[4] 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 however remained French and became known as 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 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, 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 the status of departmental "territorial collectivities": region and department functions have been managed by a "single territorial collectivity" since 2018.

General characteristics

Main article: Administrative divisions of France

See also: List of French departments by population

Government and administration

Administrative divisions of France

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 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, the prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils. In practice, his 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, the country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department.

Population density in the departments (2007), showing the northeast to southwest empty diagonal

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 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 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).

Numbering

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. 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 the ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments get three digits.

Relation to national government

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.)

• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the cantonal elections of 1998.
• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2001.
• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2004.
• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2008.
• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2011.
• 
  Party affiliation of the General Council Presidents of the various departments in the elections of 2015.

Key to the parties:

• Divers Centre = Independents of the Centre or Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate)
• Divers Droite (DVD) = Independent conservatives
• Divers Gauche (DVG) = Independent left-wing politicians
• MPF = Movement for France (Mouvement pour la France) (right)
• Nouveau Centre = New Centre (centre or centre-right)
• PCF = French Communist Party (Parti communiste français)
• PRG = Radical Party of the Left (Parti radical de gauche)
• PS = Socialist Party (Parti socialiste)
• UDF = Union for French Democracy (Union pour la démocratie française) succeeded by Democratic Movement
• UMP = Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire)

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.[5]

In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years.[6]

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.[7] This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons.[7]

Maps and tables

Current departments

Each department has a coat of arms with which it is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognised 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 mountains and Provence region 05 Hautes-Alpes Gap  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps mountains 06 Alpes-Maritimes Nice  Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Alps mountains 07 Ardèche Privas  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Ardèche (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 Latin calva dorsa ("bare backs"), referring to two offshore 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 ^19 Ajaccio  Corsica Island of Corsica 2B Haute-Corse ^19 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 and Loir rivers 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 estuary 34 Hérault Montpellier  Occitanie Hérault (river) 35 Ille-et-Vilaine Rennes Brittany Ille and Vilaine rivers 36 Indre Châteauroux  Centre-Val de Loire Indre (river) 37 Indre-et-Loire Tours  Centre-Val de Loire Indre and Loire rivers 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 and Cher rivers 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) and Atlantic Ocean 45 Loiret Orléans  Centre-Val de Loire Loiret (river) 46 Lot Cahors  Occitanie Lot (river) 47 Lot-et-Garonne Agen  Nouvelle-Aquitaine Lot and Garonne rivers 48 Lozère Mende  Occitanie Mont Lozère 49 Maine-et-Loire ^7 Angers  Pays de la Loire Maine and Loire rivers 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 and Moselle rivers 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 and Atlantic Ocean 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 Lyon Metropolis ^18 Lyon  Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes commune of Lyon 70 Haute-Saône Vesoul  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône (river) 71 Saône-et-Loire Mâcon  Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Saône and Loire rivers 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 commune of Paris 76 Seine-Maritime ^10 Rouen  Normandy Seine (river) 77 Seine-et-Marne Melun  Île-de-France Seine and Marne rivers 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 and Garonne rivers 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 commune 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 Island of Guadeloupe 972 Martinique ^16 Fort-de-France  Martinique Island of Martinique 973 Guyane ^16 Cayenne  French Guiana The Guianas 974 La Réunion ^16 Saint-Denis  Réunion Island of Réunion 976 Mayotte ^17 Mamoudzou  Mayotte Island of Mayotte Notes: ^1 Most of the coats of arms are not official ^2 This department was known as Basses-Alpes ("Lower Alps") until 1970 ^3 This department was known as Charente-Inférieure ("Lower Charente") until 1941 ^4 This department was known as Côtes-du-Nord ("Coasts of the North") until 1990 ^5 This department was known as Bec-d'Ambès ("Beak of 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 ("Lower Loire") until 1957 ^7 This department was known as Mayenne-et-Loire ("Mayenne and Loire") until 1791 ^8 This department was known as Basses-Pyrénées ("Lower Pyrenees") until 1969 ^9 Number 75 was formerly assigned to Seine ^10 This department was known as Seine-Inférieure ("Lower Seine") 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. ^19 Corsica was divided into two departments (Golo and Liamone) from 1793 to 1811, and again into two departments (Corse-du-Sud, number 2A, and Haute-Corse, number 2B) in 1975. As of 2019, Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have the status of departmental "territorial collectivities": region and department functions have been managed by a "single territorial collectivity" since 2018.

Regions and departments of metropolitan France; the numbers are those of the first column (except for Corsica, which shows the division of the island until 2018). 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). Was department number 75.
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). Was department number 78.
Corsica	Ajaccio	1811–1975	On 15 September 1975, Corsica was divided in two, to form Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse. Was department number 20.
Saint Pierre and 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. INSEE code 975.

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 No. 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 No. Department Prefecture Dates of existence 8A Oasis Ouargla (1957–1962) 8B Saoura Béchar (1957–1962) 9A Alger Algiers (1957–1962) 9B Batna Batna (1957–1962) 9C Bône Annaba (1955–1962) 9D Constantine Constantine (1957–1962) 9E Médéa Médéa (1957–1962) 9F Mostaganem Mostaganem (1957–1962) 9G Oran Oran (1957–1962) 9H Orléansville Chlef (1957–1962) 9J Sétif Sétif (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 Béjaïa (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 location^1	Contemporary location^2	Dates in existence
Mont-Terrible	Porrentruy		Switzerland France (Doubs)	Holy Roman Empire: Prince-Bishopric of Basel^3	1793–1800
Dyle	Bruxelles	Brussels	Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant County of Hainaut	1795–1814
Escaut	Gand	Ghent	Belgium Netherlands	Austrian Netherlands: County of Flanders Dutch Republic: Zeelandic Flanders (Flanders of the States)	1795–1814
Forêts	Luxembourg		Luxembourg Belgium Germany	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Bouillon Duchy of Luxembourg	1795–1814
Jemmape	Mons		Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: County of Hainaut Lordship of Tournai County of Namur Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège	1795–1814
Lys	Bruges			Austrian Netherlands: County of Flanders	1795–1814
Meuse-Inférieure	Maëstricht	Maastricht	Belgium Netherlands	Austrian Netherlands: Austrian Upper Guelders Duchy of Limburg Dutch Republic: Dutch Upper Guelders Limburg of the States Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège: County of Horne County of Loon Imperial Abbey of Thorn Maastricht^5	1795–1814
Deux-Nèthes	Anvers	Antwerp		Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Dutch Republic: Brabant of the States (after 1810)	1795–1814
Ourthe	Liège		Belgium Germany	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Duchy of Limburg Duchy of Luxembourg County of Namur Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège Imperial Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy	1795–1814
Sambre-et-Meuse	Namur		Belgium	Austrian Netherlands: Duchy of Brabant Duchy of Luxembourg Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Liège	1795–1814
Corcyre	Corfou	Corfu	Greece	Republic of Venice^4	1797–1799
Ithaque	Argostoli				1797–1798
Mer-Égée	Zante	Zakynthos			1797–1798
Mont-Tonnerre	Mayence	Mainz	Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Archbishopric of Mainz Electorate of the Palatinate Bishopric of Speyer	1801–1814
Rhin-et-Moselle	Coblence	Koblenz		Holy Roman Empire: Archbishopric of Cologne Electorate of the Palatinate Archbishopric of Trier	1801–1814
Roer	Aix-la-Chapelle	Aachen	Germany Netherlands	Holy Roman Empire: Free Imperial City of Aachen Archbishopric of Cologne Electorate of the Palatinate: Grand Duchy of Berg Duchy of Jülich Kingdom of Prussia: Prussian Guelders Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805)	1801–1814
Sarre	Trèves	Trier	Belgium Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Electorate of the Palatinate: County of Veldenz Duchy of Zweibrücken Archbishopric of Trier	1801–1814
Doire	Ivrée	Ivrea	Italy	Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia: Duchy of Savoy	1802–1814
Marengo	Alexandrie	Alessandria			1802–1814
Pô	Turin				1802–1814
Sésia	Verceil	Vercelli			1802–1814
Stura	Coni	Cuneo			1802–1814
Tanaro^6	Asti				1802–1805
Apennins	Chiavari			Republic of Genoa^7	1805–1814
Gênes	Gênes	Genoa			1805–1814
Montenotte	Savone	Savona			1805–1814
Arno	Florence			Grand Duchy of Tuscany^8	1808–1814
Méditerranée	Livourne	Livorno			1808–1814
Ombrone	Sienne	Siena			1808–1814
Taro	Parme	Parma		Holy Roman Empire: Duchy of Parma & Piacenza	1808–1814
Rome^9	Rome			Papal States	1809–1814
Trasimène	Spolète	Spoleto			1809–1814
Bouches-du-Rhin	Bois-le-Duc	's-Hertogenbosch	Netherlands	Dutch Republic:^10 Batavian Brabant (Brabant of the States) Dutch Guelders	1810–1814
Bouches-de-l'Escaut	Middelbourg	Middelburg		Dutch Republic:^10 County of Zeeland	1810–1814
Simplon	Sion		Switzerland	République des Sept-Dizains^11	1810–1814
Bouches-de-la-Meuse	La Haye	The Hague	Netherlands	Dutch Republic:^10 County of Holland	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Yssel	Zwolle			Dutch Republic:^10 Overijssel	1811–1814
Ems-Occidental	Groningue	Groningen	Netherlands Germany	Dutch Republic:^10 Dutch Upper Guelders	1811–1814
Ems-Oriental	Aurich		Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Kingdom of Prussia: County of East Frisia^10	1811–1814
Frise	Leuwarden	Leeuwarden	Netherlands	Dutch Republic:^10 Friesland	1811–1814
Yssel-Supérieur	Arnhem			Dutch Republic:^10 Dutch Upper Guelders	1811–1814
Zuyderzée	Amsterdam			Dutch Republic:^10 County of Holland Lordship of Utrecht	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Elbe	Hambourg	Hamburg	Germany	Holy Roman Empire: Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg Electorate of Hanover Free Hanseatic City of Lübeck	1811–1814
Bouches-du-Weser	Brême	Bremen		Holy Roman Empire: Free Hanseatic City of Bremen Electorate of Hanover Duchy of Oldenburg	1811–1814
Ems-Supérieur	Osnabrück			Holy Roman Empire: Electorate of Hanover Bishopric of Osnabrück Kingdom of Prussia: Town and County of Lingen Principality of Minden County of Ravensberg	1811–1814
Lippe^12	Munster	Münster		Holy Roman Empire: Bishopric of Münster Electorate of the Palatinate: Grand Duchy of Berg	1811–1814
Bouches-de-l'Èbre	Lérida	Lleida	Spain	Kingdom of Spain: Catalonia	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

• ISO 3166-2:FR
• List of French departments by population, area and population density

References

1. Ministère de l'intérieur, Les élections départementales : comprendre ce qui change (in French), retrieved 30 July 2015
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 15 July 2017.
3. "Le nom des départements". 11 December 1999 – via Le Monde.
4. See provinces of the Netherlands for the annexed Dutch departments.
5. "La fusion département-région n'est pas à l'ordre du jour". L'Express. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
6. Report of the Attali Commission "Decision 260", p. 197 (in French)
7. "Les 20 propositions du Comité (20 propositions of the Committee)" (in French). Committee for the reform of local authorities. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2009.