Bas-Rhin

Bas-Rhin is a French département. The name means "Lower Rhine".

History

The département was created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution.

In the mid-1790s, following the French occupation of the entire left bank of the Rhine, the département's northern boundary was extended north beyond the Lauter to the Queich river to include the areas of Annweiler am Trifels, Landau an der Pfalz, Bad Bergzabern, and Wörth an der Rhein. However, upon Napoleon's second defeat in 1815, the Congress of Vienna reassigned the areas north of the Lauter to Bavaria; and those territories are now presently located in the neighboring German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The département has twice been incorporated into Germany: from 1871 (after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War) until the end of World War I in 1918, and again briefly during World War II (from 1940 to 1945).

Geography

The Rhine River has always been of importance to the area.

Political Subdivisions

Communes of the Bas-Rhin département sorted by arrondissements and cantons

Arrondissements of the Bas-Rhin département

Cantons of the Bas-Rhin département

Economy

Demographics

Culture

Miscellaneous topics

Strasbourg is the seat of the European parliament.

External links

* Conseil Général website