Bas-Rhin

**Bas-Rhin** (French pronunciation: [bɑ.ʁɛ̃]; Alsatian: *Unterelsàss*, *‘s Unterlànd* or *‘s Ingerlànd*; traditional German: *Niederrhein*; English: Lower Rhine) is a department in the Grand Est region of France, named after the Rhine river that flows along its eastern border. The prefecture (capital) of Bas-Rhin is Strasbourg.

Bas-Rhin means "Lower Rhine", however, geographically speaking it belongs to the *Upper Rhine* region. This is the last French department to have kept the term *Bas*, meaning "Lower", in its name. Other departments using this word preferred to change their names.

## History
Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was divided in four districts: Haguenau, Benfeld, Strasbourg and Wissembourg, with Strasbourg as is capital. Soon, the district of Sarre-Union was created and the name of the district of Benfeld was changed to Sélestat (in its origins, Schlettstadt).

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the five districts were changed into four *arrondissements*: Strasbourg, Barr, Saverne and Wissembourg. The subprefecture of Barr was moved to Schlestadt (Sélestat) in 1806. and only 5 were kept: Haguenau-Wissembourg, Molsheim, Saverne, Sélestat-Erstein and Strasbourg.

## Geography
The Bas-Rhin department is in the Grand Est region and borders 5 departments, all in the Grand Est region: Haut-Rhin to the south, Vosges to the southwest, Meurthe-et-Moselle to the west and Moselle to the northwest. To the north and east, the department borders Germany along the Rhine river.

Bas-Rhin has an area of .

The main river in the department is the Rhine that forms the eastern border of the department, and of France.

### Climate
The area around Strasbourg, at an altitude of about , is characterized by climates with few extremes of temperature. The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Strasbourg is a "Marine West Coast Climate" and of the subtype "**Cfb**".

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Strasbourg is . The month with the most precipitation on average is July with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Strasbourg 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
Bas-Rhin is managed by the *Departmental Council of Bas-Rhin* in Strasbourg. The department is part of the Grand Est region.

### Administrative divisions
There are 5 *arrondissements* (districts), 23 *cantons* and 517 *communes* (municipalities) in Bas-Rhin.

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

# Bischwiller (6701)
# Bouxwiller (6702)
# Brumath (6703)
# Erstein (6704)
# Haguenau (6705)
# Hœnheim (6706)
# Illkirch-Graffenstaden (6707)
# Ingwiller (6708)
# Lingolsheim (6709)
# Molsheim (6710)
# Mutzig (6711)
# Obernai (6712)
# Reichshoffen (6713)
# Saverne (6714)
# Schiltigheim (6715)
# Sélestat (6716)
# Strasbourg-1 (6717)
# Strasbourg-2 (6718)
# Strasbourg-3 (6719)
# Strasbourg-4 (6720)
# Strasbourg-5 (6721)
# Strasbourg-6 (6722)
# Wissembourg (6723)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of the Bas-Rhin department are known, in French, as *Bas-Rhinois* or (women: *Bas-Rhinoises*),

Bas-Rhin had a population, in 2014, of 1,112,815, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Strasbourg, with 484,157 inhabitants, is the *arrondissement* with more inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Bas-Rhin**

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 bar:2008 at: 1091015 fontsize:S text: 1,091,015 shift:(-20,5)
 bar:2014 at: 1112815 fontsize:S text: 1,112,815 shift:(-20,5)

The 10 *communes* with more inhabitants in the Bas-Rhin department are:

## Gallery

File:Absolute ponts couverts 02.jpg|Covered Bridge at Strasbourg.
File:Haut Koenigsbourg 08.jpg|*Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg* in Orschwiller.
File:Palais Rhin Strasbourg 6.jpg|*Palais du Rhin* in Strasbourg.
|European Court of Human Rights.
File:Selestat Tour de l’horloge.jpg|Clock Tower at Sélestat.

## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Bas-Rhin department
* Communes of the Bas-Rhin department

## References
## Other websites
* Departmental Council website  
* Prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department