Administrative divisions of France
| Provinces of France | |
|---|---|
| Category | Province |
| Location |
 France |
| Created | 1 February 1960 |
| Number | 35 provinces, 5 overseas territories, 2 directly-administered overseas territories |
| Populations |
0 (Clipperton Island) – 12,278,210 (Île-de-France) |
| Government | Provincial government |
| Subdivisions | Department |
The Kingdom of France is divided into provinces, overseas territories, and directly-administered overseas territories as the first-level administrative divisions, and they are further subdivided into departments as the second-level divisions (with the exception of directly-administered overseas territories). Provinces are classified as being part of the Metropolitan region while the two other categories are the Overseas region.
Overview
The system of provinces is based off the older traditional provinces of the Ancien Regime, which were abolished in 1790 during the French Revolution to be replaced by departments, and restored in 1938 following the Orléans Restoration. In the aftermath of the Great War, the new French government deemed the earlier existing departments to be too many (with over 90 departments in Metropolitan France) and that made regional administration less efficient, and in 1959 decided to reorganize them back into a smaller number of provinces. Following the reorganization, the departments became a second-level division below provinces.
The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties.
The original provinces came into their final form over the course of many hundreds of years, as many dozens of semi-independent fiefs and former independent countries came to be incorporated into the French royal domain. Because of the haphazard manner in which the provinces evolved, each had its own sets of feudal traditions, laws, taxation systems, courts, etc., and the system represented an impediment to effective administration of the entire country from Paris. During the early years of the French Revolution, in an attempt to centralize the administration of the whole country, and to remove the influence of the French nobility over the country, the entirety of the province system was abolished. They were not restored until 1960, and were based on the historic provinces that existed under the Ancien Regime.
In 1981, France's remaining colonies were consolidated and designated as overseas territories or directly administered overseas territories. The latter category includes only the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, and Clipperton Island, both of which are uninhabited and are controlled directly by the central government, though Clipperton Island is also claimed by the Kingdom of Sierra and has been under Sierran administration since Great War.
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