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44-850: The Marne starts in the Langres plateau, runs generally north then bends west between Saint-Dizier and Châlons-en-Champagne , joining the Seine at Charenton just upstream from Paris. Its main tributaries are the Rognon , the Blaise , the Saulx , the Ourcq , the Petit Morin and the Grand Morin . Near the town of Saint-Dizier , part of the flow is diverted through the artificial Lake Der-Chantecoq . This ensures both flood prevention and

88-456: 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

132-495: 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

176-509: 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

220-405: 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

264-399: 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

308-525: 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

352-411: 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

396-466: Is known for its rind, which is washed. The town was long known for its cutlery industry. Didier Diderot , father of encyclopedist Denis , was a cutler. A museum called the Denis Diderot House of Enlightenment opened in 2013. This museum, set up in a private mansion from the 16th and 18th centuries, is dedicated to the philosopher Denis Diderot . Langres was the birthplace of: Located in

440-555: 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

484-629: 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

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528-651: 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

572-471: 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,

616-585: 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

660-634: 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,

704-569: 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

748-651: 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,

792-626: 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

836-688: The region of Grand Est . As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe known as the Lingones , it was called Andematunnum, then Lingones, and now Langres. A hilltop town, Langres was built on a limestone promontory of the same name. This stronghold was originally occupied by the Lingones. At a later date the Romans fortified the town, which they called Andemantunum, located at a strategic crossroads of twelve Roman roads . The first-century Triumphal Gate and

880-405: The 19th century, a " Vauban " citadel was added. Langres has a historic town center surrounded by defensive walls with a dozen towers and seven gates. The cathedral of Saint-Mammès is a late 12th-century structure dedicated to Mammes of Caesarea , a 3rd-century martyr. Langres is home to producers of an AOC -protected cheese of the same name. It is a soft, pungent cow's milk cheese that

924-412: 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

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968-690: The Marne (September 1914), the military governor of Paris, General Joseph Gallieni , took the initiative in driving the Germans back from the capital, rendering their war-plan inoperative. In the Second Battle of the Marne (July-August 1918), the last major German offensive on the Western Front was defeated by an Allied counter-attack, leading eventually to the Armistice . During the heyday of canal transportation,

1012-423: The Marne before swinging away to enter Paris from the north; at one time the two were linked by a "tub-boat" inclined plane near Meaux . During the 19th and 20th centuries the Marne inspired many painters, among whom were: Langres Langres ( French pronunciation: [lɑ̃ɡʁ] ) is a commune in northeastern France . It is a subprefecture of the department of Haute-Marne , in

1056-779: The Marne was a major artery connecting Paris and the Seine with major rivers to the east: the Meuse (via the Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne and the Canal des Ardennes ), the Moselle and the Rhine (via the Marne-Rhine Canal ), and the Saône and Rhône (via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône ). To facilitate transportation along the Marne itself, a number of lateral canals were constructed alongside. The most extensive

1100-826: 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

1144-423: 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

1188-420: The city in 927. The Bishop of Langres was a duke and peer of France . The troubled 14th and 15th centuries caused the town to strengthen its defenses, which still give the old city its fortified character, and Langres entered a period of royal tutelage. The Renaissance , which returned prosperity to the town, saw the construction of numerous fine civil, religious and military buildings that still stand today. In

1232-414: 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

1276-620: 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

1320-408: The maintenance of minimum river flows in periods of drought. The Marne is famous as the site of two eponymous battles during World War I . The first battle was a turning point of the war, fought in 1914. The second battle was fought four years later, in 1918. The Celts of Gaul worshipped a goddess known as Dea Matrona ("divine mother goddess") who was associated with the Marne. The Marne

1364-514: The many artefacts exhibited in the museums are remnants of the town's Gallo-Roman history. After the period of invasions, the town prospered in the Middle Ages , due in part to the growing political influence of its bishops. The diocese covered Champagne , the Duchy of Burgundy , and Franche-Comté , and the bishops obtained the right to coin money in the ninth century and to name the military governor of

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1408-640: 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

1452-431: The north-east quarter of France, Langres is under the influence of both an oceanic climate and a humid continental climate with no dry season. Winters are cold and snowy (33.4 days of snow per year on average) but interspersed with periods of light thaw and summers are mild and even pleasant with average maximum temperatures around 23 °C (73 °F). Langres is twinned with: Departments of France In

1496-407: 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

1540-442: 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

1584-478: 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 ,

1628-460: 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

1672-428: 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

1716-575: 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

1760-455: 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

1804-484: 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

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1848-463: 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

1892-561: Was navigable as a free-flowing river until the 19th century. It had one gated 500 m shortcut, the Canal de Cornillon in Meaux, which was built in 1235, the oldest canal in France. Canalisation was started in 1837 and completed to Épernay in 1867. It included a number of canals to bypass the most extravagant meanders. In World War I , the Marne was the scene of two notable battles. In the First Battle of

1936-415: Was the Canal latéral à la Marne , which runs 67 km (42 mi) between Vitry-le-François and Dizy . Downstream of this were several more, including the Canal de Meaux à Chalifert , the Canal de Chelles , and the Canal de Saint-Maurice which ended at Charenton-le-Pont near the Marne's confluence with the Seine . Furthermore, a portion of the Canal de l'Ourcq also runs parallel and quite close to

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