Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime | |
|---|---|
 Prefecture building of the Seine-Maritime department, in Rouen | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
 Location of Seine-Maritime in France | |
| Coordinates: 49°40′N 0°50′E / 49.667°N 0.833°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Prefecture | Rouen |
| Subprefectures | Dieppe Le Havre |
| Government | |
| • President of the Departmental Council | Bertrand Bellanger[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 6,278 km2 (2,424 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[2] | |
• Total | 1,260,964 |
| • Rank | 16th |
| • Density | 200.9/km2 (520.2/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | FR-76 |
| Department number | 76 |
| Arrondissements | 3 |
| Cantons | 35 |
| Communes | 707 |
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |
Seine-Maritime (French pronunciation: [sɛn maʁitim] ⓘ) is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inférieure. It had a population of 1,260,964 in 2023.[3]
History
[edit]The department of Seine-Inférieure was created from part of the old province of Normandy during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 by the application of a law of 22 December 1789.
After the victory at Waterloo of the coalition armies, the department was occupied by the British Army from June 1815 to November 1818.
In Rouen, Elbeuf and Bolbec, the number of textile factories increased. Metallurgy and naval construction were other industries in the department.
After President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte's coup d'état in 1851, Seine-Inférieure was one of several departments to be placed under a state of emergency (in French, literally, state of siege) [4] because fears of significant republican resistance to the new government.
In 1942, during the German occupation of the Second World War, two Allied raids, the Bruneval and Dieppe, took place in towns of the English Channel coast.
In 1955, the department's name was officially renamed to Seine-Maritime.
Heraldry
[edit] |
The arms of the departement Seine-Maritime are blazoned : Gules a fess wavy argent between two lions passant gardant or armed and langued azure.
|
Geography
[edit]The department can be split into three main areas:[5]
- The Seine valley. The Seine flows through the provincial capital Rouen.
- The chalk plateau Pays de Caux, with its abrupt coastline (the Alabaster Coast).
- The Norman Pays de Bray, with its hills and bocage landscape.
Administration
[edit]The département was created in 1790 as Seine-Inférieure, one of five departements that replaced the former province of Normandy. In 1800 five arrondissements were created within the département, namely Rouen, Le Havre, Dieppe, Neufchatel and Yvetot, although the latter two were disbanded in 1926. On 18 January 1955 the name of the département was changed to Seine-Maritime, in order to provide a more positive-sounding name and in-keeping with changes made in a number of other French departements.
Principal towns
[edit]The most populous commune is Le Havre, followed by the prefecture, Rouen. As of 2023, eight communes had more than 20,000 inhabitants:[6]
| Commune | Population (2023) |
|---|---|
| Le Havre | 166,687 |
| Rouen | 117,662 |
| Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray | 29,518 |
| Sotteville-lès-Rouen | 29,003 |
| Dieppe | 28,496 |
| Le Grand-Quevilly | 25,789 |
| Le Petit-Quevilly | 22,208 |
| Mont-Saint-Aignan | 20,165 |
Demographics
[edit]Historical population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sources:[7][3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previously lacking a demonym, the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime (as the department had been renamed in 1955) chose, following a public consultation, to be identified in official documents as "Seinomarins" [8] (males) and "Seinomarines" (females).
Politics
[edit]The president of the Departmental Council is Bertrand Bellanger, elected in 2019.
Presidential elections 2nd round
[edit]| Election | Winning candidate | Party | % | 2nd place candidate | Party | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 55.28 | Marine Le Pen | FN | 44.72 | |
| 2017[9] | Emmanuel Macron | LREM | 60.42 | Marine Le Pen | FN | 39.58 | |
| 2012 | François Hollande | PS | 54.94 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 45.06 | |
| 2007 | Nicolas Sarkozy | UMP | 50.20 | Ségolène Royal | PS | 49.80 | |
| 2002[9] | Jacques Chirac | RPR | 82.58 | Jean-Marie Le Pen | FN | 17.42 | |
Current National Assembly Representatives
[edit]Transport
[edit]In 1843 the railway from Paris reached the region. The département is connected to the adjacent Eure department via the Tancarville and Pont de Normandie bridge crossings of the Seine.
Culture
[edit]Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is set in Seine Maritime.
The novel La Place by Annie Ernaux largely takes place in Seine-Maritime and describes events and changes that take place in relation to French society in the 20th century especially in relation to the rural population.
The first story of the long-running series Valérian and Laureline is set in Seine-Maritime, with the character Laureline originating from the area.
Cauchois is the dialect of the Pays de Caux, and is one of the most vibrant forms of the Norman language beyond Cotentinais.
Tourism
[edit]
Notre-Dame of Rouen
Element of the Atlantic Wall near Fécamp
Limestone cliffs of Étretat
the jardin jungle of Eu
_0018.JPG)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 4 May 2022.
- ↑ "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
- 1 2 Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE
- ↑ Jacques Olivier Boudon, Les Bonaparte : regards sur la France impériale. La Documentation photographique, dossier 8073, janvier-février 2010, p. 11 (carte de Gilles Pécout)
- ↑ "Seine Maritime". France-For-Visitors.com. Rough Guides. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ↑ Populations de référence 2023: 76 Seine-Maritime, INSEE
- ↑ "Historique de la Seine-Maritime". Le SPLAF.
- ↑ "Seinomarins, un beau nom !". Commune76.
- 1 2 l'Intérieur, Ministère de. "Présidentielles". interieur.gouv.fr.
- ↑ Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.
External links
[edit]
- (in French) Departmental Council website Archived 2019-06-24 at the Wayback Machine
- (in French) Prefecture website
- (in French) Communes 76
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
