Meurthe

Meurthe is a former département of France. Its préfecture (capital) was Nancy. It ceased to exist following the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany in 1871.

General characteristics

The department of Meurthe was created on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution, out of a part of the former province of Lorraine. It took its name from the Meurthe River flowing through it.

As of 1866, Meurthe had 714 communes. Its area was 6,070 km² (2,344 sq. miles). It was divided into 5 arrondissements: Nancy, Château-Salins, Lunéville, Sarrebourg and Toul.

History

After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the northeastern part of the Meurthe département was annexed to the German Empire by the Treaty of Frankfurt. On May 18, 1871, about one-third of the Meurthe, corresponding approximately to the arrondissements of Château-Salins and Sarrebourg in the northeast of the département, were detached from Meurthe and annexed to Germany, becoming part of the Reichsland of Elsaß-Lothringen.

The remaining two-third of Meurthe were merged with the one-fifth of the Moselle département (arrondissement of Briey, in the extreme west of Moselle, to the northwest of Meurthe) which had escaped German annexation, and on September 7, 1871, the merger gave birth to the new Meurthe-et-Moselle département (area: 5,246 km², compared to 6,070 km² for the former Meurthe), with its préfecture at Nancy.

In 1919, with the French victory in the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France by Germany at the Treaty of Versailles. However, it was not decided to recreate the old départements of Meurthe and Moselle by reverting to the old département borders of before 1871. Instead, Meurthe-et-Moselle was left untouched, and the one-third of Meurthe and four-fifth of Moselle that had been annexed by Germany in 1871 were merged to create the new département of Moselle, whose name is the same as the old département of Moselle, but whose borders are quite different.

Population

At the 1866 French census, the Meurthe département had a population of 428,387 inhabitants. In 1872, after the annexation and merger, the new Meurthe-et-Moselle département had a population of 365,137 inhabitants.

At the 1999 French census, if Meurthe still existed it would have had a population of 647,307 inhabitants. On the other hand, in 1999 Meurthe-et-Moselle had a population of 713,779 inhabitants (the industrial area of Briey and Longwy merged in 1871 is more populated than the rural areas of Château-Salins and Sarrebourg lost in 1871).

See also

Meurthe River

Coordinates: 48°35′N 6°10′E / 48.583°N 6.167°E / 48.583; 6.167