Ain is a department in the east of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is named after the river Ain. Its prefecture is Bourg-en-Bresse.

History
Ain is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Bourg-en-Bresse as is capital. It was formed with four former provinces: Bresse, Bugey, Dombes, Pays de Gex and part of the province of Franc-Lyonnais.

It was divided in nine districts: Pont-de-Vaux, Bourg, Nantua, Gex, Belley, Saint-Rambert, Montluel, Trévoux and Châtillon-les-Dombes.

The department was called départment of Bresse but in 1791 was changed to its present name: départment de l'Ain.

In 1798, Gex was separated from Ain for the creation of the old department of Léman.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the nine districts were changed into four arrondissements: Bourg, Belley, Nantua and Trévoux.

The department of Léman was eliminated in 1814 and Gex was again part of the department of Ain. In 1815, some communes of Gex are passed to Switzerland and the arrondissement of Gex is created.

On 10 September 1926, the arrondissements of Gex and Trévoux were eliminated but in 1933 Gex was made again an arrondissement.

Geography

Ain is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It has an area of .

The department borders with Switzerland and 6 other departments in 2 regions:
 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
 Haute-Savoie (east)
 Savoie (southeast)
 Isère (south)
 Rhône (southwest)
 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
 Jura (north)
 Saône-et-Loire (northwest)

The territory of the Ain department is formed by five regions:
 Bresse, a plain between the Saône river to the east and the Jura mountains to the west.
 Bugey-Valromey, surrounded by the Rhône and the Ain rivers, in the southern end of the Jura mountains.
 Dombes-Plain of the Ain, in the southeast of the department, surrounded by the Rhône and the Saône rivers. Here there are many ponds and small lakes where fishes are commercially grown.
 Pays de Gex. It has the Swiss border to the east, the mountains of Bugey to the west and the Jura mountains to the north. Here is the highest point of the Jura mountains and of the Ain department: Crêt de la Neige (),  high.
 Revermont. Here there are two ranges of low mountains that go from north to south with a valley between them: the valley of the Suran river. This region is between the Bresse and Bugey-Valromey regions.

The lowest point of the department is on the Rhône river,  high.

Several rivers flow through the department; the main rivers are the Rhône, the Ain and the Saône. The largest natural lake is the Nantua lake, with an area of .

Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Château-Gaillard (Ain) is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype Cfb.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Château-Gaillard is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Château-Gaillard is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

Administration
Ain is managed by the Departmental Council of Ain in Bourg-en-Bresse. The department is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Administrative divisions
There are 4 arrondissements (districts), 23 cantons and 410 communes (municipalities) in Ain.

The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the Ain department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Ambérieu-en-Bugey (0101)
 Attignat (0102)
 Bellegarde-sur-Valserine (0103)
 Belley (0104)
 Bourg-en-Bresse-1 (0105)
 Bourg-en-Bresse-2 (0106)
 Ceyzériat (0107)
 Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne (0108)
 Gex (0109)
 Hauteville-Lompnes (0110)
 Lagnieu (0111)
 Meximieux (0112)
 Miribel (0113)
 Nantua (0114)
 Oyonnax (0115)
 Pont-d'Ain (0116)
 Replonges (0117)
 Saint-Étienne-du-Bois (0118)
 Saint-Genis-Pouilly (0119)
 Thoiry (0120)
 Trévoux (0121)
 Villars-les-Dombes (0122)
 Vonnas (0123)

Demographics
There is not an official demonym for the inhabitants of the Ain department; people are named after the regions:
 Bresse - Bressans
 Bugey - Bugistes
 Revermont - Revermontois
 Dombes - Dombistes
 Pays de Gex - Gessiens

Ain had a population, in 2014, of 626,127, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Bourg-en-Bresse, with 354,177 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.

The communes in the department with more than 8,000 inhabitants are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Ain department
 Communes of the Ain department

References

Other websites

 Prefecture website 
 General Council website 
  Tourism site

Departments in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes