Meuse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Meuse | |
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| Coat of arms of the Meuse department | |
| Location | |
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| Administration | |
| Department number: | 55 |
| Region: | Lorraine |
| Prefecture: | Bar-le-Duc |
| Subprefectures: | Commercy Verdun |
| Arrondissements: | 3 |
| Cantons: | 31 |
| Communes: | 498 |
| President of the General Council: | Christian Namy |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 88th |
| -1999 | 192,198 |
| Population density: | 31/km² |
| Land area¹: | 6211 km² |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². | |
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Meuse (IPA: [møːz]) is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.
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[edit] History
Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former provinces of Barrois (area of Bar-le-Duc) and Three Bishoprics (area of Verdun).
The department was one of the great battlefields of World War I; an important battle was fought in 1916 at Verdun.
[edit] Geography
Meuse is part of the current region of Lorraine and is surrounded by the French departments of Ardennes, Marne, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle, and Belgium on the north.
The important rivers are the following:
[edit] Demographics
The population has decreased sharply since the 19th century, with the rural exodus to the cities.
[edit] See also
- Cantons of the Meuse department
- Communes of the Meuse department
- Arrondissements of the Meuse department
[edit] External links
- (French) Prefecture website
- (French) General council website
- (English) Meuse Tourism Guide
- (French) Official Tourist Board website
- (English) Rhine-Meuse delta studies
