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.[4]
With the creation of the arrondissements, the three districts became three arrondissements: Montbrison, Roanne and Saint-Étienne.[4]
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-Alpesregion, in east-central France, with an area of 4,780.6 km2 (1,846 sq mi).[2] From north to south, it is 136 km (85 mi) long but from east to west it is only 50 km (31 mi) wide.
The department borders with 7 other departments in 2 regions:
The average temperature for the year in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, at an altitude of 389 m (1,276 ft), is 11.5 °C (52.7 °F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 20.5 °C (68.9 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 3.2 °C (37.8 °F).
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Andrézieux-Bouthéon is 896.6 mm (35.3 in). The month with the most precipitation on average is December with 88.9 mm (3.5 in) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is April with an average of 61.0 mm (2.4 in).[6]
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.
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:[10]
The inhabitants of Loire are known, in French, as Ligériens (women: Ligériennes).[11]Ligérien comes from Liger, the Latin name of the Loire river.
Loire has a population, in 2014, of 757,305,[3] for a population density of 158.4 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.[8]
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.[8]
↑ 2.02.1"Département de la Loire (42)". Comparateur de territoire (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
↑"Département de la Loire (42)". Comparateur de territoire (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 11 October 2017.