From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Essonne is a French department in the region of
Île-de-France. It is named after
the Essonne River.
It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller
departments.
History
The Essonne department was created on 1 January 1968, from the
southern portion of the former department of Seine-et-Oise.
In 1969, the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble were separated from
Essonne and added to the department of Yvelines.
Geography
Essonne belongs to the region of Île-de-France.
It has borders with the departments of:
All of northern Essonne department belongs to the Parisian
agglomeration and is very urbanized. The south remains rural.
In descending order, the cities over 25,000 population are: Évry, Corbeil-Essonnes, Massy, Savigny-sur-Orge, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois,
Viry-Châtillon, Athis-Mons, Palaiseau, Draveil, Yerres, Les
Ulis, and Vigneux-sur-Seine. Milly-la-Forêt is an example of its more
rural communes.
Notable
places
- L'École
Polytechnique: Founded in 1794, L'Ecole Polytechnique is one of the most
prestigious engineering universities in France. This university was ranked 10th in the
world by the Times
Higher Education Supplement in 2005. Its campus is in the town
of Palaiseau.
- Université de
Paris-Sud: One of the best public schools in France,
it is ranked 52nd by Academic Ranking of
World Universities. It is best known for its physics
department. Located in Orsay,
Essonne, about 26,000 students are enrolled.
- The Headquarters of the Arianespace Company: A major
commercial aerospace launcher, servicing companies who wish to
launch satellites into space.
- Château de Montlhéry: Originally having been an
ancient fort during Roman times, the first feudal lords began to
inhabit the castle around 1000 AD. One major battle was fought in
the castle during its lifetime. In 1465, Charles the Rash and French King Louis XI
fought in the plains in front of the castle. In 1842, the
reconstruction of the castle was started, and currently is being
maintained by the local town of Montlhery
- Château de Courances
- The Forest of Sénart:
Covering 3,500 hectares in area, this forest is very important to
the local population. The local government has kept roads and
agricultural companies from cutting down parts of this forest. The
forest receives between two and three million visitors annually,
and the government spends 1.2 million euros a year maintaining
it.
Demographics
Place of birth of
residents
Place of birth of residents of Essonne in 1999
| Born in Metropolitan France |
Born outside
Metropolitan France |
| 84.7% |
15.3% |
Born in
Overseas France |
Born in foreign countries
with French citizenship at birth¹ |
EU-15
immigrants² |
Non-EU-15
immigrants |
| 1.8% |
2.8% |
4.0% |
6.7% |
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest
Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French
citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native
elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born
children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is
understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person
born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral
part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign
country in French statistics.
² An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not
having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have
acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still
considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand,
persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of
immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. |
|
See also
External
links
Coordinates: 48°30′N 02°17′E / 48.5°N
2.283°E / 48.5;
2.283
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