Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne
Department
Prefecture building of the Seine-et-Marne department, in Melun
Coat of arms
Location of Seine-et-Marne in France
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Prefecture	Melun
Subprefectures	Fontainebleau Meaux Provins Torcy
Government
• President of the General Council	Vincent Eblé
Area
• Total	5,915 km2 (2,284 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Total	1,353,946
• Rank	10th
• Density	230/km2 (590/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	77
Arrondissements	5
Cantons	23
Communes	514
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Seine-et-Marne (pronounced: [sɛn e maʁn]) is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.

History

Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789. It had previously belonged to the former province of Île-de-France.

Geography

Seine-et-Marne forms a part of the Île-de-France region; the department covers 49% of the region's land area. It is bordered by Val-d'Oise, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Essonne to the West; Loiret and Yonne to the South; Aube and Marne to the East; and Aisne and Oise to the North.

The department has many natural reserves, notably Brie and Gâtinais.

Principal towns include: Chelles, Torcy, Pontault-Combault, Lagny-sur-Marne, Coulommiers, Champs-sur-Marne, Nemours, Meaux, Melun, Montereau-Fault-Yonne, Brie-Comte-Robert, Provins, Fontainebleau as well as the new towns of Marne-la-Vallée and Sénart.

The highest point of the département is Saint-George's Hill (215 m).

Climate

Seine-et-Marne has a temperate Atlantic climate. The average rainfall is based upon that of Fontainebleau, giving an average rainfall of 650 mm, which is higher than the average of Île-de-France (600 mm). Average temperature in Melun during the period 1953–2002 for January is 3.2 °C and 18.6 °C for July.

The storm of 26 December 1999 led to five deaths in Seine-et-Marne and caused several trees to fall.

Economy

Wheat field near Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry

With 60% of the region used as farmland, Seine-et-Marne is where most agricultural activity occurs within the Île-de-France. Cereals and sugar beet are the principal exports from Seine-et-Marne.

The other key industrial structures are the refinery at Grandpuits and the Snecma research plant. The two new towns are the centre of tourism for the department, mainly due to theme parks such as Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris.

Demographics

People from Seine-et-Marne are known as the Seine-et-Marnais.

Originally Seine-et-Marne was very rural and lightly populated. Over the past 50 years, however, its population has tripled, due to the development of the Paris conurbation and the building of new towns in the northwest of the region. The population was estimated to be 1,267,496 inhabitants in 2006. The region has changed from consisting only of small villages to forming a large part of the Paris conurbation.

Seine-et-Marne as a whole shares a sister city relationship with Orlando, Florida, United States, as both host Disney theme parks.

Place of birth of residents

Place of birth of residents of Seine-et-Marne in 1999 Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France 86.6% 13.4% Born in Overseas France Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants 1.4% 2.3% 3.8% 5.9% ¹This group is made up largely of former French settlers, such as pieds-noirs in Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France in 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics. ²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Tourism

• Collège de Juilly
• Forest of Fontainebleau

• 

  Throne Room in the Palace of Fontainebleau

• 

  The walls of the medieval city of Provins

• 

  Vaux-le-Vicomte

• Horse Tram at Disneyland Paris.jpg

  Disneyland Paris

• 

  Knights Templar's commandry in Coulommiers

See also

• Cantons of the Seine-et-Marne department
• Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department
• Arrondissements of the Seine-et-Marne department

Bibliography

• Lion, Christian, La Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne contre l'incendie de 1819 à 1969. Mutualité, assurance et cycles de l'incendie (Bruxelles etc., Peter Lang, 2008).

External links

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website