Saône-et-Loire
From Genealogy
| Saône-et-Loire | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Coat of arms of the Saône-et-Loire department | |
| Location | |
| |
| Administration | |
| Department number: | 71 |
| Region: | Bourgogne |
| Prefecture: | Mâcon |
| Subprefectures: | Autun Chalon-sur-Saône Charolles Louhans |
| Arrondissements: | 5 |
| Cantons: | 57 |
| Communes: | 573 |
| President of the General Council: | Christophe Sirugue |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 42nd |
| -1999 | 544,893 |
| Population density: | 64/km² |
| Land area¹: | 8575 km² |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². | |
Saône-et-Loire (Sona-et-Lêre in Arpitan
language) is a French department
, named after the Saône
and the Loire
rivers between which it lies.
Contents |
[edit] History
When it was formed during the French Revolution
, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces
of southern Burgundy
and Bresse
, uniting lands that had no previous common history nor political unity and which have no true geographical unity. Thus its history is that of Burgundy
, and is especially to be found in the local histories of Autun
, Mâcon
, Chalon-sur-Saône
, Charolles
and Louhans
.
[edit] Geography
Saône-et-Loire is the seventh largest department of France and the most densely populated in the region
of Bourgogne
. In the west the department is composed of the hills of the Autunois, the region around Autun
, of the Charollais
and of the Mâconnais
. In the center it is traversed from north to south by the Saône in its wide plain; the Saône is a tributary of the River Rhône
that joins it at Lyon
and thus is connected to the Mediterranean Sea
. The Loire makes its way in the opposite direction, draining into the Atlantic Ocean
. A canal (canal du centre) links the Saône to the Loire between Chalon-sur-Saône
and Digoin
, thereby linking the Mediterranean Sea
to the Atlantic ocean
. In the east the department occupies the northern part of the plain of Bresse. In the west its industrial heart is in Le Creusot
and Montceau-les-Mines
.
[edit] See also
- Mâcon
- Capital
- Cantons of the Saône-et-Loire department
- Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department
- Arrondissements of the Saône-et-Loire department
[edit] External links
- (French) General Council website
- (French) Prefecture website
| This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Saône-et-Loire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Genealogy wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |

