The Rhône département was created on August 12, 1793 when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire was split into two départements (Rhône and Loire).
Originally, the eastern border of Rhône was the city of Lyon itself, so that the communes immediately east of Lyon depended from neighboring départements. With the growth of Lyon and the spilling of the urban area over the suburban communes of Lyon, the limits of the département were judged impractical as they left the suburbs of Lyon outside of the Rhône département. Thus, Rhône was enlarged several times to incorporate into it the suburbs of Lyon depending from the neighboring départements:
In 1852, 4 communes from the Isère département were incorporated into Rhône.
In 1967, 23 communes of Isère and 6 communes of the Aindépartement were incorporated into Rhône.
In 1971, 1 commune from Isère was incorporated into Rhône.
With these enlargements, the area of the Rhône département increased from 2,791 km² to the current 3,249 km² (16.4% larger). At the 1999 French census, the original Rhône département would have had only 1,071,288 inhabitants, which means that the population in the territories added in the last two centuries was 507,581 inhabitants in 1999.
Geography
Rivers include: Rhône, Saône (which joins the Rhône in Lyon).
This departement is one of vast contrasts, It ranges from mountains (the Alpilles to the north, the Saint Baume and the Saint Victoire to the east) to plains and flat country (Camargue).
The annual meeting place for gypsies is at Saintes Maries de la Mer and the Cannebière was chosen for the card game scene in the film of the comic Raimu.
In Arles the typical Feria or bull runs attracts visitors from both far and near, This departement represents Provence in all its splendor.
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