If you are not familiar with the Départments of France, they were created during the Napoleonic era when there were 101 administrative capitals which were all established at a distance of one day’s horse ride from each other. Prior to the Regions merging there were 22 Regions with familiar names such as Midi-Pyrénées, Languedoc-Roussillon and Alsace, each of which of course offered their own distinct culture, local cuisine, geography and architectural styles.
In 2016 after 25 years of political wrangling the original 22 regions were whittled down to create 14 “super” regions each of which hold administrative and economic responsibility.
The regions are subdivided into 101 Départments each of which maintained their names but with much of their power being devolved to “Communes” lying within the Départment or into new “Métropoles” which have been described as super cities.
This caused much consternation amongst the population who still identify with the original names. Let’s consider for example a name change for the winemakers of the new Occitanie, formerly Languedoc-Roussillon, which name is recognised worldwide? Or residents of Strasbourg in Alsace who are now Grand Eastern?!That is why we still display the old map on https://chateauxescapesfrance.com/escape-to-the-chateau-diy-map since most of our readers, like the locals, still identify with the original names.
