Criteria for the French departments

[Nanwe]

I have been trying for some time to look into the criteria used in 1790 for the creation of the departments. I know that the main one was to end the complicated system of provinces, généralités and various pays with strong regional identities and various and complicated degrees of autonomy from Paris. However, I was wondering some things about how it was done, and hopefully some one can help me out.

• How were the prefectures chosen? From there, I know it was supposed to be at most a day in horse ride (how much distance would that be?) but,
• What were the criteria or establishing the borders? Natural? Based on the provincial boundaries? Or something else I'm missing?
• Lastly, was population or culture taken into account when drawing them or only geographical characteristics?

 

[Lampiao]

IIRC the main reason for departements is administrative centralization in Paris. The capital (chef-lieu) is supposed to be the site where the delegate from Paris (the préfet) oversees a particularly small regions (as you said, a day ride on horseback), this small region is the département. Therefore, the most important city of a region is not necessarily the capital of the département (s. Reims and Châlons in Marne) and IRCC département's borders were mostly determined by geography. Even the adopted names reflected local geography (rivers, mountains, etc.) and reference to the historical regions was intentionally avoided. All this, of course, was a centralization effort.

 

[Nanwe]

Right yeah. But what were the criteria for picking the prefectures on the basis of which the departments were determined? Population? Or some sort of public election from amongst 80-something important towns?

Thanks btw.

 

[Matteo]

Right yeah. But what were the criteria for picking the prefectures on the basis of which the departments were determined? Population? Or some sort of public election from amongst 80-something important towns?

Thanks btw.

There was a mix of criteria :
- distance from the chosen "capital" (or chef-lieu" in french), that is around a half-day distance,
- historic divisions. Most departements were drawn within the borders of provinces and their borders often corresponded to those of ancient feudal fiefs (for example, Nièvre was a county).

For the chef-lieu, It was often the biggest city of the departement, contrary to the US.

 

[Circonflexe]

Right yeah. But what were the criteria for picking the prefectures on the basis of which the departments were determined? Population? Or some sort of public election from amongst 80-something important towns?

Thanks btw.

The main criterium was population: in most of the départements, the capital was designated as the largest city. There are however a few exceptions: namely,

- Châlons-sur-Saône instead of Reims: to keep distance from the monarchy (as Reims was the city where the king would be sacred);
- Quimper and Saint-Lô instead of Brest and Cherbourg: because port cities were more vulnerable to attack from the English (and also because Cherbourg is very off-center).

There might also have been a few cities selected for political reasons (because their inhabitants were more republican), but I am unable to give an example.

 

[Matteo]

...
There might also have been a few cities selected for political reasons (because their inhabitants were more republican), but I am unable to give an example.

Not because those cities had more republicans. The departements were created in 1790 when France was still a monarchy, when Louis XVI was still very popular, and when there was basically no republican in France yet.

 

[Circonflexe]

Not because those cities had more republicans. The departements were created in 1790 when France was still a monarchy, when Louis XVI was still very popular, and when there was basically no republican in France yet.

Counter-example: as I wrote, this happened at least in the case of Châlons-sur-Marne (-en-Champagne now), which was chosen instead of Reims, because of the association of the latter with the sacre of the king.

Actually the principle of dividing the territory in départements was fixed in 1790, but the actual division dates from 1794, well into the Republican era. (And the capital of each département may have been moved - for example when Napoléon turned them into préfectures a few years later. I know for sure that he had great projects for Pontivy (Morbihan) and La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée), which were both briefly renamed "Napoléonville".)

*edit: the French wikipedia page has a list of capitol changes. In 1790, it was apparently decided to rotate the capitols each year...

 

[Matteo]

Well, at least Reims w


Counter-example: as I wrote, this happened at least in the case of Châlons-sur-Marne (-en-Champagne now), which was chosen instead of Reims, because of the association of the latter with the sacre of the king.

Actually the principle of dividing the territory in départements was fixed in 1790, but the actual division dates from 1794, well into the Republican era. (And the capital of each département may have been moved - for example when Napoléon turned them into préfectures a few years later. I know for sure that he had great projects for Pontivy (Morbihan) and La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée), which were both briefly renamed "Napoléonville".)

*edit: the French wikipedia page has a list of capitol changes. In 1790, it was apparently decided to rotate the capitols each year...

The actual division was made way after 1794 : there were quite many marginal changes. And it is barely different from the original division of 1790.