New Names for Fewer French Regions
As of Jan. 1, 2016, France only has 13 official regions, not the former 22 (not counting overseas departments)
19.02.2017
Tiles and tables in Provence - Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue
Starting January 1, 2016 there was a big change in France. This will affect people looking for ancestors and people planning trips with older maps or guide books. Here is a brief summary: (Many maps will take another edition to catch up to the new names.)
France changes the boundaries and names of regions fairly often (historically speaking) so it can be hard to follow ancestral leads or information in older guide books and maps. January 1, 2016 was another very large change. Here is a brief summary. The numbers are mine for convenience; the names are from the French government. Keep in mind that each region is further divided into Departments.
Before Jan. 1, 2016 there were 22 distinct governing regions in France. These were named:
01) Nord pas de Calais
02) Picardie
03) Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy)
04) Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy)
05) Champagne-Ardenne
06) Lorraine
07) Alsace
08) Île-de-France (with Paris, capital of the country)
09) Bretagne (Brittany in English)
10) Pays de la Loire
11) Centre
12) Bourgogne (Burgundy in English)
13) Franche-Compté
14) Poitou-Charentes
15) Limousin
16) Auvergne
17) Rhône-Alpes
18) Aquitaine
19) Midi-Pyrénées
20) Languedoc-Roussillon
21) Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
22) Corse (the island of Corsica off the southern coast)
Starting Jan. 1, 2016 there are only 13 regions. Each Regional Council proposed its own name and these were confirmed by the Conseil d'Etat on July 1, 2016. Here are the official New Names:
01) Hauts-de-France (a combination of Nord pas de Calais and Picardie, the first two above)
02) Normandie (a combination of Haute-Normandie and Basse-Normandie or #3 and #4 above)
03) Grand Est (a combination of Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine and Alsace or #5, #6 and #7 above)
04) Île-de-France (unchanged)
05) Bretagne (unchanged)
06) Pays de la Loire (unchanged)
07) Centre-Val de la Loire (Centre added Val de la Loire to the name; area is unchanged)
08) Bourgogne-Franche-Compté (a combination of Bourgogne and Franche-Compté or #12 and #13 above)
09) Nouvelle-Aquitaine (a combination of Poitou-Charentes, Limousin and Aquitaine or #14, #15 and #18 above)
10) Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (a combination of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes or #16 and #17 above)
11) Occitanie (a combination of Midi-Pyrénées and Languedoc-Roussillon or #19 and #20 above)
12) Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (unchanged)
13) Corse (unchanged)
Following are the regions with each capital. (listed alphabetically by new region name)
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Lyon
Bourgogne, Franche-Comté: Dijon
Bretagne: Rennes
Centre-Val de la Loire: Orléans
Corse: Ajaccio
Grand Est: Strasbourg
Hauts-de-France: Lille
Île-de-France: Paris
Normandie: Rouen
Nouvelle-Aquitaine: Bordeaux
Occitanie: Toulouse
Pays de la Loire: Nantes
Provence-Alpes, Côte-d'Azur: Marseille
You can get maps and further information at: Website: New Map of France web site
Posted by Beausoleil 12:57 Archived in France Tagged regions regions_of_france french_regions
It seems to me there was some resistance in Franche-Compté, at the time, about being 'taken over' by Bourgogne. But I don't know if they are reconciled to the new arrangement in the meantime.
by Nemorino