The kingdom of France was organized into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces. The change was an attempt to eradicate local loyalties based on feudal ownership of land and focus all loyalty on the central government in Paris.
The names of the former provinces are still used by geographers to designate natural regions, and several French administrative regions carry their names.
French départments, their names, and their borders were chosen by the central government. In contrast, the existence of provinces came from the droit coutumier ("customary law") and was merely certified by the state. A province, also called a pays ("country"), was characterized by the laws that belonged to it. A province itself could encompass several other provinces. For example, Burgundy was a province but Bresse — another province — was nevertheless a part of Burgundy.
There is therefore no official list of provinces. The list of généralités, administrative subdivisions of the kingdom, is often presented when one wants to establish the list of provinces on the eve of the French Revolution. The list below is much larger, encompassing provinces throughout French history.
List of former provinces of France
Généralités
Pre-Republican provinces of France, numbered according to their union with France, with provincial capitals marked. Listed as English name (French name, year of union with France; capital).
France is the largest nation in Western Europe with a population in excess of 60,000,000, over a third of who are internet users.
France borders Andorra 56.6 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy 488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, and Switzerland 573 km.
The economy of France is fairly widespread and covers diverse activities such as machinery, chemicals, automobiles, metallurgy, aircraft, electronics; textiles, food processing; and of course tourism.
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