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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 [depaÊtÇmɑ̃]) 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.
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) elected for six years, 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 car plate scheme due for 2008 (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). 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
 In 1843, France had 86 departments; Alsace and Lorraine were French, but Nice and Savoy had not been annexed. Departments were created on January 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
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 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
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| Rhône-et-Loire
| Lyon
| 1790–1793
| Split into  Rhône and  Loire on August 12 1793.
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| Corse
| Bastia
| 1790–1793
| Split into Golo and Liamone.
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| Golo
| Bastia
| 1793–1811
| Reunited with Liamone into  Corse.
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| Liamone
| Ajaccio
| 1793–1811
| Reunited with Golo into Corse.
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| 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 département corresponds approximately with the present French départements  Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
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| Léman
| Geneva
| 1798–1814
| Formed when the  Republic of Geneva was annexed into the First French Empire. Léman became the Swiss canton the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The département corresponds with the present Swiss canton and parts of the present French départements  Ain and Haute-Savoie.
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| 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 January 1 1968, Seine was divided into four new départements:  Paris,  Hauts-de-Seine,  Seine-Saint-Denis and  Val-de-Marne, gaining territory from Seine-et-Oise in the process.
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| Seine-et-Oise
| Versailles
| 1790–1967
| On January 1 1968, Seine-et-Oise was divided into three new départements:  Yvelines,  Val-d\'Oise and  Essonne, with some territory lost to Seine in the process.
|
| Corse
| Ajaccio
| 1811–1975
| On September 15 1975, Corse was redivided in twain, to form Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse.
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| 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 June 11 1985.
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Name changes
A few departments have changed names, in most cases, to lose the terms "lower" and "inferior":
French Algeria
Before 1957
1957–1962
In the former colonies of France
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:
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