Ain

**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.
# 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.

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

## Gallery

File:Bleu de Gex.jpg|Bleu de Gex cheese
File:200606 - Eglise de Brou - arrière 1.JPG|Church of Brou (Bourg-en-Bresse)
File:Préfecture de l'Ain.JPG|Prefecture (view from the parc)
File:Lac de Nantua et Nantua (Ain).JPG|Lake of Nantua
File:Le Reculet top.jpg|The summit of Le Reculet peak

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

## References
## Other websites
* Prefecture website 
* General Council website 
*  Tourism site