The department is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was created from part of the former province of Orléanais.
The new department had seven districts: Orléans, Beaugency, Neuville, Pithiviers, Montargis, Gien and Boiscommun. The capital (now prefecture) was Orléans.[4]
In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the seven districts were changed into four arrondissements: Orléans, Gien, Montargis and Pithiviers.[4]
After the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), the department was occupied by the Bavarian army from June 1815 to November 1818.
On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Gien and Pithiviers were eliminated but in 1942 Pithiviers became again an arrondissement of the department.[4]
There are several natural regions in the Loiret department:
The Loire Valley, the valley around the Loire river.
Beauce, to the northwest of the department; it is a limestoneplateau and an important farming region where wheat is grown.
Gâtinais, to the east around the city of Montargis.
The Forêt d'Orléans ("Forest of Orléans"), the largest national forest of France; it is to the north of the Loire river and to the south of the Beauce region.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Orléans is 599.4 mm (23.6 in). The month with the most precipitation on average is August with 58.4 mm (2.3 in) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is March with an average of 38.1 mm (1.5 in).
The average temperature for the year in Orléans is 10.6 °C (51.1 °F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 18.3 °C (64.9 °F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of 2.8 °C (37.0 °F).
Administration
The department is managed by the Departmental Council of the Loiret in Orléans. Loiret is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.
The following is a list of the 21 cantons of the Loir-et-Cher department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:[10]
The inhabitants of Loiret are known, in French, as Loiretains (women: Loiretaines).[11]
Loiret has a population, in 2014, of 669,737,[3] for a population density of 98.9 inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Orléans, with 435,676 inhabitants, is by far the largest.[8]
↑"Hugues Saury" (in French). Département du Loiret. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
↑ 2.02.1"Département du Loiret (45) - Résumé statistique". Publications et statistiques pour la France ou les régions (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
↑"Département du Loiret (45)". Géographie administrative et d'étude (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
↑"Département du Loiret (45)". Comparateur de territoire (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
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