The French departments of Spain were territorial subdivisions of the territory conquered in
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
in 1812 by the
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...
at the outset of the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
. Their annexation by France was never officially validated even by France itself and they were officially suppressed on 10 March 1814 before being returned to Spain.
Departments of 1812
The territory annexed by the Empire by a decree of 26 January 1812 was divided by the same decree into four departments:
*
Bouches-de-l'Èbre (prefecture:
Lleida)
*
Montserrat (prefecture:
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
)
*
Sègre (prefecture:
Puigcerdà
Puigcerdà (; es, Puigcerdá) is the capital of the '' Catalan comarca'' of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts directly onto the French town of Bourg-Ma ...
)
*
Ter
Ter or TER may refer to:
Places
* River Ter, in Essex, England
* Ter (river), in Catalonia
* Ter (department), a region in France
* Torre (river), (Slovene: ''Ter''), a river in Italy
* Ter, Ljubno, a settlement in the Municipality of Ljubno ob ...
(prefecture:
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...
)
* The
Valley of Aran was included into the
Haute-Garonne
Haute-Garonne (; oc, Nauta Garona, ; en, Upper Garonne) is a department in the Occitanie region of Southwestern France. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country' ...
department.
The decree was never published in the ''
Bulletin des Lois
The ''Bulletin des lois'' (''Bulletin of the laws'') was a publication created during the French Revolution, as an "official anthology of the laws, orders and regulations that govern" the people. It was created by the decree of 14 Frimaire of ye ...
de l'Empire français'', but is quoted in the decree of 15 January 1813 that organizes the Valley of Aran communes.
[See]
Les modifications intérieures et extérieures du Premier Empire
In the museum at
Figueres
Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...
in the
province of Girona is a reproduction of the ''Le Moniteur'' which created these four departments.
Departments of 1813
On 7 March 1813 the above four departments were merged into two:
*
Bouches-de-l'Èbre-Montserrat, by merging des Bouches-de-l'Èbre and Montserrat (prefecture : Barcelona)
*
Sègre-Ter, by merging Sègre and Ter (prefecture : Girona)
See also
*
List of French possessions and colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over , the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuri ...
References
External links
*
SPLAF: page on the départements of the First Republic and First Empire
{{DEFAULTSORT:French Departments of Spain
History of Catalonia