The department was created on 12 August 1793, when the formerRhône-et-Loire was split into two departments: Rhône andLoire.
Originally, the eastern border of Rhône was the City of Lyon itself, so that thecommunes immediately east of Lyon belonged to neighbouring departments. With the growth of Lyon and the extension of its urban area into communes such asVilleurbanne,Vénissieux andSaint-Priest, the limits of the department were judged impractical as they left the suburbs of Lyon outside of Rhône. Thus, Rhône was enlarged several times to incorporate into it the suburbs of Lyon from neighbouring department:
In 1852, four communes fromIsère were incorporated into Rhône.[4]
In 1967, 23 communes of Isère and six communes ofAin were incorporated into Rhône.
In 1971, one commune from Isère was incorporated into Rhône.
With these enlargements, the area of the department increased from 2,791 km2 to 3,249 km2 (16.4% larger). At the 1999 census, the original department of Rhône would have had only 1,071,288 inhabitants, which means that the population in the territories added in the last two centuries was 507,581 inhabitants in 1999.
In 2015 theMetropolis of Lyon was administratively separated from the department of Rhône, with the competencies of an intercommunality and department.[5] It functions with its own council which does not rely on cantons. The separation made Rhône lose 16% of its territory and 75% of its population.[6] Lyon, although no longer part of the department, remains its administrative centre, since itsprefect sits there. This makes Rhône the sole department with a prefecture that is outside its territory. The departmental council also did not move toVillefranche-sur-Saône, meaning that it sits outside the territory on which it has jurisdiction. The department and metropolis share a prefect.
Before the Metropolis of Lyon was separated from the department, over 75% of its population lived withinGreater Lyon, which included all of the largest cities of the Rhône department, apart from Villefranche-sur-Saône.
The most populous commune of the new department of Rhône isVillefranche-sur-Saône. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:[3]
Rhône elects its representatives in Paris within the same electoral constituency as the Lyon Metropolis, the departmental constituency of Rhône (circonscription départementale du Rhône).
.jpg)
.jpg)
