Bas-Rhin means "LowerRhine", however, geographically speaking it belongs to theUpper Rhine region. This is the last French department to have kept the termBas, meaning "Lower", in its name. Other departments using this word preferred to change their names.
Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 departments created during theFrench Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was divided in fourdistricts: Haguenau, Benfeld, Strasbourg and Wissembourg, with Strasbourg as iscapital. Soon, the district of Sarre-Union was created and the name of the district of Benfeld was changed to Sélestat (in its origins, Schlettstadt).[4]
In 1800, with the creation of thearrondissements in France, the five districts were changed into fourarrondissements: Strasbourg, Barr, Saverne and Wissembourg. The subprefecture of Barr was moved to Schlestadt (Sélestat) in 1806.[4]
The Bas-Rhin department was eliminated in 1871 when the territory became part ofGermany.
In 1919, Bas-Rhin is again an department when the territory became part of France with thearrondissements Strasbourg-Ville, Strasbourg-Campagne, Erstein, Haguenau, Molsheim, Saverne, Sélestat and Wissembourg.
Thearrondissements Sélestat and Erstein were combined in 1974 to form thearrondissement of Sélestat-Erstein.
In 2015, thearrondissements Strasbourg-Campagne and Wissembourg were eliminated and theirterritories passed to the remainingarrondissements,[5] and only 5 were kept: Haguenau-Wissembourg, Molsheim, Saverne, Sélestat-Erstein and Strasbourg.
The Bas-Rhin department is in theGrand Est region and borders 5 departments, all in the Grand Est region:Haut-Rhin to the south,Vosges to the southwest,Meurthe-et-Moselle to the west andMoselle to the northwest. To the north and east, the department bordersGermany along theRhine river.
Theaverage amount ofprecipitation for the year in Strasbourg is629.9mm (24.8in). The month with the most precipitation on average is July with76.2mm (3.0in) of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of33mm (1.3in).
The average temperature for the year in Strasbourg is10.6°C (51.1°F). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of19.4°C (66.9°F). The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of1.7°C (35.1°F).
The following is a list of the 23cantons of the Bas-Rhin department (with theirINSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:[11]
The inhabitants of the Bas-Rhin department are known, inFrench, asBas-Rhinois or (women:Bas-Rhinoises),[12]
Bas-Rhin had a population, in 2014, of 1,112,815,[3] for a population density of234.0 inhabitants/km2. Thearrondissement of Strasbourg, with 484,157 inhabitants, is thearrondissement with more inhabitants.[10]
Evolution of the population in Bas-Rhin
The 10communes with more inhabitants in the Bas-Rhin department are:
12"Département du Bas-Rhin (67)".Comparateur de territoire (in French). Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques - INSEE. Retrieved14 November 2017.
![Prefecture]building of the Bas-Rhin department, in Strasbourg](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fsimple.wikipedia.org%2f%2fsimple.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aStrasbourg-Préfecture.jpg)
