Yvelines

Infobox_Department_of_France
department=Yvelines|number=78
region=Île-de-France
prefecture=Versailles
subprefectures=Mantes-la-Jolie
Rambouillet
Saint-Germain-
en-Laye
population=1,398,496
1,354,304|pop_date=Jan.1, 2006 estimate
-March 8, 1999 census|pop_rank=8th|density=612
area=2,284|area_scale=9
arrond=4|cantons=39|communes=262
president=Pierre Bédier|pres_party=
img_coa=Blason département fr Yvelines.svg

Yvelines is a French department in the region of Île-de-France.

History

Yvelines was created from the western part of the defunct department of Seine-et-Oise on January 1, 1968 in accordance with a law passed on January 10, 1964 and a "décret d'application" (a decree specifying how a law should be enforced) from February 26, 1965.

It gained the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble from the adjacent department of Essonne in 1969.

Geography

Yvelines is bordered by the departments of Val-d'Oise on the north, Hauts-de-Seine on the east, Essonne on the southeast, Eure-et-Loir on the southwest, and Eure on the west.

The eastern part of the department, as well as its northern part along the Seine, are part of the Paris metropolitan area, but the rest of the department is rural, much of it covered by the Rambouillet Forest.

Besides Versailles (the prefecture) and the subprefectures of Mantes-la-Jolie, Rambouillet, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, important cities include Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Poissy, Les Mureaux, Houilles, Plaisir, Sartrouville, Chatou, Le Chesnay, and the new agglomeration community of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

Two regional national parks can be found in Yvelines: the "parc de la Haute Vallée de Chevreuse" and part of the "parc du Vexin Français".

Yvelines is home to one of France's best known golf courses, La Tuilerie-Bignon, in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche.

See also Map of Yvelines.

Demographics

In French, a man from Yvelines is called "Yvelinois" (plural "Yvelinois"); a woman is "Yvelinoise" (plural "Yvelinoises).

Immigration

France immigration
collectivity_name=Yvelines
census_year=1999
metropolitan_France=85.5
outside_metropolitan_France=14.5
overseas_France=1.1
foreign_French= 3.0
EU-15=4.2
non-EU-15=6.2

Tourism

Palaces and Châteaux

* Palace of Versailles
* Château of Breteuil
* Château of Dampierre
* Château of Maisons-Lafitte
* Château of Rambouillet
* Château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
* Château of Thoiry
* Château of Vaux-sur-Seine
* Château of Mauvières
* Château du Pont
* Château Villette

Museums

* Museum of National Antiques (Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
* Museum of River and Canal Craft (Conflans-Sainte-Honorine)
* Horse-drawn Coach Museum (Versailles)
* Toy Museum (Poissy)
* Sheep Museum (Rambouillet)
* Cloth Museum of Jouy (Jouy-en-Josas)
* National Barn Museum of Port-Royal (Magny-les-Hameaux)
* International Museum of Naive Art
* Musee Lambinet (Versailles)

Artist's and Writer's Houses

* André Derain's house (Chambourcy)
* Elsa Triolet-Aragon's house (Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines)
* Émile Zola's house (Médan)
* Maurice Ravel's house/museum (Montfort-l'Amaury)
* Ivan Turgenev House (Bougival)
* Alexandre Dumas, père's Château de Monte-Cristo (Port-Marly)
* Jean-Claude Richard's family estate (Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche)

Parks and Gardens

* Chèvreloup Arboretum (Rocquencourt)
* Marly Estate (Marly-le-Roi)
* Vaux sur Seine Castle Garden (Vaux sur Seine)
* The King's Vegetable Garden (Versailles)

Politics of Yvelines

enators from Yvelines

* Nicolas About (Centrist Union)
* Jacques Bellanger (Socialist Party)
* Dominique Braye (UMP)
* Alain Gournac (UMP)
* Gérard Larcher (UMP)

ee also

*Cantons of the Yvelines department
*Communes of the Yvelines department
*Arrondissements of the Yvelines department

External links

* [http://www.yvelines.pref.gouv.fr/ Prefecture of Yvelines]
* [http://www.cg78.fr/ General council of Yvelines]