Eure-et-Loir is a department in north-central France in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is named after the two main rivers that flow through the department: Eure and Loir.

Its prefecture is Chartres and there are three subprefectures: Châteaudun, Dreux and Nogent-le-Rotrou.

History

The department is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was created mainly from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais (Beauce) and Maine (Perche), but also parts of the old Île-de-France.

The new department had six districts: Chartres, Châteaudun, Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais, Dreux, Janville and Nogent-le-Rotrou. The capital (now prefecture) was Chartres.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the six districts were changed into four arrondissements: Chartres, Châteaudun, Dreux and Nogent-le-Rotrou.

On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Nogent-le-Rotrou was eliminated but in 1943 Nogent-le-Rotrou became again an arrondissement of the department.

Geography
Eure-et-Loir is part of the Centre-Val de Loire region. It has an area of .

The department is bordered by the 7 departments in 4 regions:

 Centre-Val de Loire region
 Loiret
 Loir-et-Cher
 Île-de-France region
 Essonne
 Yvelines
 Pays de la Loire region
 Sarthe
 Normandy region
 Eure
 Orne

The highest point of the department is the Butte de Rougemont (), in the commune of Vichères, and that is  above sea level.

The rivers in the department are in two watersheds:
 The watershed of the Seine to the north of the department, with its tributary the Eure river.
 The watershed of the Loire river to the south of the department, with its tributary the Loir river.

Climate 
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Chartres 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 Chartres is . The month with the most precipitation on average is November with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Chartres 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
The department is managed by the Departmental Council of the Eure-et-Loir in Chartres. Eure-et-Loir is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

Administrative divisions
There are 4 arrondissements (districts), 15 cantons and 375 communes (municipalities) in Eure-et-Loir.

The following is a list of the 21 cantons of the Eure-et-Loir department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Anet (2801)
 Auneau (2802)
 Brou (2803)
 Chartres-1 (2804)
 Chartres-2 (2805)
 Chartres-3 (2806)
 Châteaudun (2807)
 Dreux-1 (2808)
 Dreux-2 (2809)
 Épernon (2810)
 Illiers-Combray (2811)
 Lucé (2812)
 Nogent-le-Rotrou (2813)
 Saint-Lubin-des-Joncherets (2814)
 Voves (2815)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Eure-et-Loir are known, in French, as Euréliens (women: Euréliennes).

Eure-et-Loir has a population, in 2014, of 433,762, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Chartres, with 207,869 inhabitants, is by far the largest.

Evolution of the population in Eure-et-Loir

The main cities in the department are:

Gallery

References

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Eure-et-Loir department
 Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website 

Departments in Centre-Val de Loire