Provinces of France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the département system superseded provinces.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.
The meaning of "province"French départements, 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 characterised 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 FranceProvinces
Parts of France in 1789
Provinces not part of France in 1789
See alsofrp:Ancianes provinces de France de:Historische Provinzen Frankreichs fr:Anciennes provinces de France ko:프랑스의 옛 프로뱅스 it:Province storiche della Francia nl:Provincies van Frankrijk ja:フランスの州 (フランス革命以前) pt:Antigas províncias da França ru:Исторические области Франции sl:Seznam francoskih provinc sv:Frankrikes provinser vec:Provinçe storiche de ła Francia vi:Tỉnh (Pháp) |
