Rhône (; ) is a French department located in the east-central administrative region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Rhône, its prefecture is Lyon. Its sole subprefecture is Villefranche-sur-Saône. Including the Metropolis of Lyon, it had a population of 1,914,667 in 2023; excluding the Metropolis of Lyon, it had 478,313 inhabitants.
History
The department was created on 12 August 1793, when the former Rhône-et-Loire was split into two departments: Rhône and Loire.
Originally, the eastern border of Rhône was the City of Lyon itself, so that the communes immediately east of Lyon belonged to neighbouring departments. With the growth of Lyon and the extension of its urban area into communes such as Villeurbanne, Vénissieux and Saint-Priest, the limits of the department were judged impractical as they left the suburbs of Lyon outside of Rhône. Thus, Rhône was enlarged several times to incorporate into it the suburbs of Lyon from neighbouring department:
- In 1852, four communes from Isère were incorporated into Rhône.
- In 1967, 23 communes of Isère and six communes of Ain were incorporated into Rhône.
- In 1971, one commune from Isère was incorporated into Rhône.
With these enlargements, the area of the department increased from 2,791 km<sup>2</sup> to 3,249 km<sup>2</sup> (16.4% larger). At the 1999 census, the original department of Rhône 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.
In 2015 the Metropolis of Lyon was administratively separated from the department of Rhône, with the competencies of an intercommunality and department. It functions with its own council which does not rely on cantons. The separation made Rhône lose 16% of its territory and 75% of its population. Lyon, although no longer part of the department, remains its administrative centre, since its prefect sits there. This makes Rhône the sole department with a prefecture that is outside its territory. The departmental council also did not move to Villefranche-sur-Saône, meaning that it sits outside the territory on which it has jurisdiction. The department and metropolis share a prefect.
Geography
Rivers include the Rhône and the Saône (which joins the Rhône in Lyon). The neighboring departments are Ain, Isère, Loire and Saône-et-Loire.
Demographics
Population development since 1801 (including the Lyon Metropolis):
Before the Metropolis of Lyon was separated from the department, over 75% of its population lived within Greater Lyon, which included all of the largest cities of the Rhône department, apart from Villefranche-sur-Saône.
The most populous commune of the new department of Rhône is Villefranche-sur-Saône. As of 2023, there are 5 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:!!Party
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 1st constituency
| Anaïs Belouassa-Cherifi
| LFI
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 2nd constituency
| Boris Tavernier
| LÉ–EELV
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 3rd constituency
| Marie-Charlotte Garin
| LÉ–EELV
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 4th constituency
| Sandrine Runel
| PS
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 5th constituency
| Blandine Brocard
| MoDem
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 6th constituency
| Gabriel Amard
| LFI
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 7th constituency
| Alexandre Vincendet
| LR
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 8th constituency
| Jonathan Géry
| RN
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 9th constituency
| Alexandre Portier
| LR
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 10th constituency
| Thomas Gassilloud
| RE
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 11th constituency
| Jean-Luc Fugit
| RE
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 12th constituency
| Cyrille Isaac-Sibille
| MoDem
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 13th constituency
| Tiffany Joncour
| RN
|-
|style="background-color: " |
| Rhône's 14th constituency
| Idir Boumertit
| LFI
|}
This list includes representatives from the Lyon Metropolis created in 2015 as a separate collectivity.
Tourism
<gallery>
File:View from Chiroubles Cru Beaujolais.jpg|Beaujolais vineyards
File:Oingt, July 2012 (3).jpg|Oingt, one of The Most Beautiful Villages of France
File:Château de Jarnioux 1.JPG|Château de Jarnioux
</gallery>
See also
- Cantons of the Rhône department
- Communes of the Rhône department
- Arrondissements of the Rhône department