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Seine (Dpartement)Seine was a dpartement of France encompassing Paris and its immediate suburbs. Its prfecture (capital) was Paris and its official number was 75. The Seine dpartement was abolished in 1968. General characteristics The Seine dpartement was created on March 4, 1790 under the name Paris dpartement. In 1795 the name was changed into Seine dpartement after the Seine River flowing through it. From 1929 to its end in 1968, Seine consisted of the city of Paris and 80 independent suburban communes surrounding Paris. It had an area of 480 km² (185 sq. miles), 22% of that area being the city of Paris, and 78% being independent suburbs. It was divided into three arrondissements: Paris, Sceaux, and Saint-Denis. Split-up At the first French census in 1801, the Seine dpartement had 631,585 inhabitants (87% of them living in the city of Paris, 13% in the independent suburbs) and was the second most populous dpartement of the vast Napoleonic Empire (behind the Nord dpartement), more populous than even the dense dpartements of what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. With the growth of Paris and its suburbs, the population of the Seine dpartement increased tremendously, and by 1968 it had reached a staggering 5,700,754 inhabitants figure (45% of them living in the city of Paris, 55% in the independent suburbs), being now by far the most populous dpartement of France. It was judged that the Seine dpartement was now too large and ungovernable, and so on January 1, 1968 it was split into four smaller dpartements: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne. In detail, the splitting up of the Seine dpartement was carried out like this: the city of Paris was turned into a dpartement in its own right, with no other communes inside this dpartement. The official number 75 which was used for the Seine dpartement was given to the new Paris dpartement. 29 communes of the Seine dpartement were grouped with 18 communes of the Seine-et-Oise dpartement (which was also abolished in 1968) to form the new Val-de-Marne dpartement, and the official number 94 was assigned to this dpartement (a number previously used for the Territoires du Sud territory in the Saharan part of French Algeria). 27 communes of the Seine dpartement were grouped with 9 communes of the Seine-et-Oise dpartement to form the new Hauts-de-Seine dpartement, and the official number 92 was assigned to this dpartement (a number previously used for the dpartement of Oran in French Algeria). Finally, the 24 remaining communes of the Seine dpartement were grouped with 16 communes of the Seine-et-Oise dpartement to form the new Seine-Saint-Denis dpartement, and the official number 93 was assigned to this dpartement (a number previously used for the dpartement of Constantine in French Algeria). Thus, it should be noted that Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, and Seine-Saint-Denis, three dpartements known in France as the petite couronne (i.e. "small ring", as opposed to the "large ring" of the more distant suburbs), plus the city of Paris, are altogether larger than the former Seine dpartement (480 km² for the Seine dpartement vs. 762 km² for Paris and petite couronne). Population At the 1999 French census, if the Seine dpartement still existed its population would have been 5,203,818 inhabitants. 1968 was the highest point in the population of this dpartement, and it has lost inhabitants ever since, as people relocate more and more from the center to the distant suburbs of the metropolitan area of Paris. Of the new dpartements created in 1968, Paris (75) was the most populous in 1999 with 2,125,246 inhabitants. The Paris dpartement is now only the second most populous of France behind the Nord dpartement. Controversy over the split-up Today, there are some people in France who regret the old Seine dpartement. In the 1960s it was felt that the dpartement was too large to be properly governed, and everybody welcomed the change. However, in the last 40 years large ghettos have appeared in the suburbs of Paris, while the city of Paris itself was becoming more and more a place for wealthy people with the departure of lower-middle-class people to the suburbs. The building of the large Priphrique freeway all around the city of Paris also contributed to the feeling of marked segregation between Paris proper and its suburbs. Many politicians and intellectuals regret the old Seine dpartement in the sense that before there existed a common administration for the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs, creating a sense of community throughout the metropolitan area, whereas today rich Paris administers itself solely and leaves the suburbs to their own fate. However, so far there are no real plans to revive the old Seine dpartement. Moreover, the creation of the le-de-France rgion in the 1970s, which encompasses not only the territory of the former Seine dpartement, but also the more distant suburbs of Paris, may in time prove to be the unifying structure for the metropolitan area that was once the Seine dpartement.
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