Loire () is a French department in the east-central part of France in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and named after the Loire river. Its prefecture is the city of Saint-Étienne.

History
Rhône-et-Loire was one French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was divided in two departments in 1793: Rhône and Loire. The department of Loire had three districts: Montbrison, Roanne and Saint-Étienne. The capital was Feurs but in 1795 the capital was moved to Montbrison.

With the creation of the arrondissements, the three districts became three arrondissements: Montbrison, Roanne and Saint-Étienne.

After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the department was occupied by troops from Austria from June 1815 to November 1818.

The capital was moved from Montbrison to Saint-Étienne in 1855.

Geography
Loire is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in east-central France, with an area of . From north to south, it is  long but from east to west it is only  wide.

The department borders with 7 other departments in 2 regions:
 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
 Saône-et-Loire (north)
 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
 Rhône (east)
 Isère (southeast)
 Ardèche (southeast)
 Haute-Loire (south)
 Puy-de-Dôme (west)
 Allier (northwest)

The department is in eastern Massif Central and there are several mountain chains; some of the chains and mountains are:
 Monts du Forez, to the west of the department. Here is the highest mountain of the department: Pierre-sur-Haute (); it is  high, and is on the border with the Puy-de-Dôme department.
 Monts de la Madeleine, to the north of the Monts du Forez and form the limit between the Loire and the Allier departments.
 Monts du Lyonnais form the eastern limit of the Loire department.
 Pilat, a short chain that is in the Loire department but borders with other 4 departments: Rhône, Isère, Ardèche and Haute-Loire.

The main rivers of Loire are:
 Loire, that gives its name to the department and flows through the department from southwest to northeast for a distance of .
 Rhône, in the southeast of the department.

Climate
The climate of the Loire department, in the city of Andrézieux-Bouthéon (near Saint-Étienne and where is the Saint-Étienne-Loire Airport), is an oceanic climate, Cfb (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The average temperature for the year in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, at an altitude of , 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 .

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Andrézieux-Bouthéon is . The month with the most precipitation on average is December with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is April with an average of .

Administration
Loire is part of the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The department is managed by the Departamental Council of the Loire in Saint-Étienne.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 21 cantons and 326 communes (municipalities) in Loire.

The following is a list of the 21 cantons of the Loire department (with their INSEE codes), in France, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Andrézieux-Bouthéon (4201)
 Boën-sur-Lignon (4202)
 Charlieu (4203)
 Le Coteau (4204)
 Feurs (4205)
 Firminy (4206)
 Montbrison (4207)
 Le Pilat (4208)
 Renaison (4209)
 Rive-de-Gier (4210)
 Roanne-1 (4211)
 Roanne-2 (4212)
 Saint-Chamond (4213)
 Saint-Étienne-1 (4214)
 Saint-Étienne-2 (4215)
 Saint-Étienne-3 (4216)
 Saint-Étienne-4 (4217)
 Saint-Étienne-5 (4218)
 Saint-Étienne-6 (4219)
 Saint-Just-Saint-Rambert (4220)
 Sorbiers (4221)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Loire are known, in French, as Ligériens (women: Ligériennes). Ligérien comes from Liger, the Latin name of the Loire river.

Loire has a population, in 2014, of 757,305, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Saint-Étienne, with 411,402 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other two, Montbrison and Roanne, have respectively 188,635 and 157,268 inhabitants.

The city with more people living in it is the capital, Saint-Étienne (170,761 inhabitants). The subprefectures of Roanne and Montbrison have, respectively, 35,200 and 15,689 inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Loire

The most important cities in the department are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Loire department
 Communes of the Loire department

References

Other websites

 Departamental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Loire Tourisme 

Departments in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes