French Regional Information

The people in each region are proud of their heritage and try to preserve regional characteristics, as does their government (e.g. champagne wine can be produced only in the region Champagne). This is not done out of any mean-spiritedness or desire for isolation, but to promote and preserve valued traditions, from clothing to local types of food. It is also supported by the French belief and sense of terroir (for discussion, see French Culture). This deliberate effort by both individuals and government to preserve regional characteristics, combined with different cultures and geography, has maintained the unique flavour of the different areas of France.

Each of the 22 regions are sub-divided into several departments (départements) for administrative purposes. These were established in 1790, at the time of the French revolution (much of France's administrative and legal frameworks were created by Napoleon), and like regions reflect local historical divisions and geographic characteristics (many departments are named after a river or mountain within the department).

There are ninety-five departments in France and each department has both a name and a number. The numbers run from one to ninety-five and are assigned to the departments in rough alphabetical order, so number one is department Ain and number ninety-five is department Val-d'Oise. The following table lists the names and numbers. Sometimes you may hear reference to 96 departments instead of 95; this is because some people count department number 20 twice (as department 2a and department 2b, instead of department 20). You may also hear reference to 100 departments; this number includes the overseas departments in addition to the European French departments.