Rhône (depairtment)

Rhône (; Franco-Provençal : Rôno) is a French depairtment locatit in the central Eastren region o Rhône-Alpes. It is namit efter the Rhône River.

 History 

The Rhône depairtment wis creatit on 12 August 1793 when the umwhile département o Rhône-et-Loire wis split intae twa depairtments: Rhône an Loire.

Oreeginally, the eastren border o Rhône wis the ceety o Lyon itsel, so that the communes immediately east o Lyon belangit tae neighborin depairtment. Wi the growth o Lyon an the spillin o the urban aurie ower the suburban communes o Lyon, the limits o the depairtment wur judged impractical as they left the suburbs o Lyon ootside o Rhône. Thus, Rhône wis enlairged several times tae incorporate intae it the suburbs o Lyon frae neighborin depairtment:
 In 1852, 4 communes frae Isère wur incorporatit intae Rhône.
 In 1967, 23 communes o Isère and 6 communes o Ain wur incorporatit intae Rhône.
 In 1971, 1 commune frae Isère wis incorporatit intae Rhône.

Wi these enlairgements, the aurie o the Rhône depairtment increased frae 2,791 km² tae the current 3,249 km² (16.4% lairger). At the 1999 French census, the oreeginal Rhône depairtment wad hae haed anerlie 1,071,288 inhabitants, which means that the population in the territories addit in the last twa centuries wis 507,581 inhabitants in 1999.

In 2015 the Metropolis o Lyon wis separatit frae the Rhône depairtment.La Métropole de Lyon Lyon, awtho nae langer pairt o the department, remains its admeenistrative center.

 Geografie 

Rivers include the Rhône an the Saône (which joins the Rhône in Lyon).

The neighborin depairtments are Ain, Isère, Loire an Saône-et-Loire.

Afore the Metropolis o Lyon wis separatit frae the depairtment, ower 75% o its population lives athin the Lyon metropolitan aurie, which includit aw o the lairgest ceeties o the Rhône depairtment, apairt frae Villefranche-sur-Saône (2011 census).

 Lyon: 491,268 inhabitants
 Villeurbanne: 145,034 inhabitants
 Vénissieux: 60,159 inhabitants
 Vaulx-en-Velin: 42,726 inhabitants
 Saint-Priest: 42,535 inhabitants
 Caluire-et-Cuire: 41,357 inhabitants
 Bron: 38,881 inhabitants
 Villefranche-sur-Saône: 35,640 inhabitants

 Politics 

The President of the General Council is the independent centrist Senator Michel Mercier, who leads a coalition atween centrists and the local UMP, led by Dominique Perben.

 See an aw 
 Cantons o the Rhône depairtment
 Communes o the Rhône depairtment
 Arrondissements o the Rhône depairtment
 French leid
 Arpitan leid

 Freemit airtins 
  Prefecture website  
  General Council website 
  69.pagesd.info - Webportal and directory of communes and web sites of the Rhône (69) département website