Bas-Rhin ()traditional ; Alsatian: Unterelsàss, or ; . is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) department. Both belong to the European Upper Rhine region. It is, with the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine), one of the two departments of the traditional Alsace region which until 1871, also included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort. The more populous and densely populated of the pair, it had 1,163,810 inhabitants in 2023. The prefecture is based in Strasbourg. The INSEE and Post Code is 67.
On 1 January 2021, the departemental councils of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin merged into the European Collectivity of Alsace.
The inhabitants of the department are known as or .
Geography The Rhine has always been of great historical and economic importance to the area, and it forms the eastern border of Bas-Rhin. The area is also home to some of the foothills of the Vosges Mountains.
To the north of Bas-Rhin lies the Palatinate forest (Pfälzerwald) in the German State of Rhineland-Palatinate, and the German State of Baden-Württemberg lies to the east. To the south lies the department of Haut-Rhin, the town of Colmar and southern Alsace, and to the west the department of Moselle. On its south-western corner, Bas-Rhin also joins the departments of Vosges and Meurthe-et-Moselle.
Principal towns
The most populous commune is Strasbourg, the prefecture. As of 2023, there are 7 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:Populations de référence 2023: 67 Bas-Rhin, INSEE
Commune Population (2023) Strasbourg 293,771 Haguenau 36,391 Schiltigheim 34,708 Illkirch-Graffenstaden 27,872 Lingolsheim 20,826 Sélestat 19,589 Bischheim 18,558
Climate The Bas-Rhin has a continental-type climate, characterised by cold, dry winters and hot, stormy summers, due to the western protection provided by the Vosges. The average annual temperature is in the lowlands (Entzheim) and on high ground. The annual maximum temperature is high (). The average rainfall is per year.
Established according to data from the Infoclimat station at Strasbourg-Entzheim (the airport), over the period from 1961 to 1990.
Lowest temperature −23.2 °C Coldest day 2 January 1971 Highest temperature 37.4 °C Hottest day 2 July 1952 Highest 24-hour rainfall 62.9 mm Wettest day 23 May 1978 Wettest year 1987 (811.1mm) Dryest year 1949 (392.6mm)
Etymology Bas-Rhin is the last French department to have kept the term Bas meaning "Lower" in its name. Other departments using this prefix preferred to change their names—e.g.: Basses-Pyrénées in 1969 became Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Basses-Alpes in 1970 became the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. The same phenomenon was observed for the inférieur (also meaning "lower") departments such as Charente-Inférieure, Seine-Inférieure, and Loire-Inférieure.
History Bas-Rhin is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution.
On 14 January 1790 the National Constituent Assembly decreed:
"- That Alsace be divided into two departments with Strasbourg and Colmar as their capitals; - That the Department of Strasbourg will be divided into three districts [...]; - That the land of the German princes, coming under the sovereignty of France will be included in the division of districts; - That Landau, an enclave in the Palatinate, will have special justice [...]."
The borders of Bas-Rhin have changed many times:
In 1793 it absorbed the following territories newly annexed by France: The County of Sarrewerden; The County of Drulingen; The lordship of Diemeringen; The lordship of Asswiller of the Steinkallenfels family; Several communes from the PalatinateDecree of 14 March 1793, which reunited 32 communes on the edge of the Rhine with France: "The National Convention, after hearing the report of the diplomatic committee, declares in the name of the people of France that it accepts the vote freely made by the sovereign people of the following towns and communes: Berglabren, Glengenmenster, Billirchein, Oberhofen, Barbelrod, Winten, Dierbach, Pleisweiler, Klingen, Oberhausen, Kleishorbach, Fiderhorbach, Kleiszellen, Kaplen, Herchiersveiler, Horbach, Erlebach, Mertzheim, Steinweiler, Volsfisbeim, Appenhoffen, Heichelheim, Mulheffen, Volmersheim, Nidershorst, Oberhorst, Effingen, Aldorff, Germersheim, Freisbach, Ilvesheim, their enclaves and dependencies; in their primary assemblies, for their reunification with France, and, accordingly, the said towns and communes are an integral part of the French Republic. - Commissioners of the National Convention in the departments of Meurthe, Moselle, and Bas-Rhin are responsible for taking all necessary measures for the execution of the laws of the Republic in those towns and communes as well as sending delegates to the National Convention to enable the setting up of a permanently organization. - These towns and communes form the fifth district of Bas-Rhin. The capital [of the district] will be Landau." In 1795Decree of 30 Pluviôse III (18 February 1795), which reunites several communes in the District of Schelestadt with the district of Senones the region of Schirmeck, where the people did not speak Alsatian, was detached from the district of Sélestat and attached to Vosges (District of Senones);Decree of 30 Pluviôse III (18 February 1795): "The communes of Russ, Wisches, Schirmeck, Rothau, Neuviller, Natzwiller, Wildersbach, Waldersbach, and Barembach, part of the district of Sélestat in the department of Bas-Rhin are to be reunited with the District of Senones in the Vosges department." In 1808 some territories east of the Rhine were annexed, especially the city of Kehl; In 1814, after the first Treaty of Paris, France gained the territories north of the Lauter from the former department of Mont-Tonnerre and including the city of Landau,The Peace Treaty, signed in Paris on 30 May 1814, Article 3: "5° The Fortress of Landau, having been built before the year 1792, is an isolated point in Germany, France is to retain beyond its borders part of the Departments of Mont-Tonnerre and Bas-Rhin to link the fortress of Landau and its radius to the rest of the Kingdom. The new boundaries are, starting from a point near Obersteinbach (which remains outside the limits of France), the boundary between the department of Moselle and Mont-Tonnerre until the department of Bas-Rhin then following the line that separates the Cantons of Weissenbourg and Bergzabern (on the French side), the cantons of Pirmasens, Dahn, and Annweiler (on the German side), to the point where this line, near the village of Wolmersheim, touches the edge of the radius of the fortress of Landau. From this area, which remains as it was in 1792, the new frontier will follow the arm of the Queich river which, on leaving the radius near Queichheim (which remains in France), passes near the villages of Mertenheim, Knittelsheim, and Belheim (also remaining French) to the Rhine, which then continues to form the boundary of France and Germany." but lost all the territories east of the Rhine;The Treaty of Peace signed in Paris on 30 May 1814, Article 3: "5° [...] On the Rhine, the Thalweg will be the border so that any changes that may occur later in the course of the River will have no effect on the ownership of the islands therein. The state of possession of these islands will be established as it existed at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Luneville." In 1815, following the second Treaty of Paris, France lost all the territories north of the LauterThe Peace Treaty signed at Paris on 20 November 1815 Article I: "The borders of France will be as they were in 1790 except for changes and other matters which are summarized in this present article. 1. [...] Of the border of the country of Saarbrücken: the line of demarcation will be the same that now separates Germany from the departments of Moselle and Bas-Rhin to the Lauter [river], which will then serve as the border until its intersection with the Rhine. All the territory on the left bank of the Lauter, including Landau, will be part of Germany, but the city of Wissenbourg, traversed by the river, will remain wholly in France, with a radius on the left bank not exceeding one thousand Toises [two thousand metres], and will be specifically determined by the commissioners who are responsible for the final boundary. 2. From the mouth of the Lauter, along the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Doubs and Jura to the canton of Vaud [Switzerland], the boundaries remain as they were set by the Treaty of Paris. The Thalweg of the Rhine forms the boundary between France and the German states but the ownership of the islands, as will be fixed after a new survey of the course of the river, will remain unchanged with some changes to be submitted in the course of time. Commissioners will be appointed from both sides by the High Contracting Parties within a period of three months to proceed with such survey. Half the bridges between Strasbourg and Kehl belong to France, and the other half to the Grand Duchy of Baden [...]." and the department was occupied by troops from Baden and Saxony from June 1815 to November 1818. In 1871 Bas-Rhin was annexed by Germany (by the Treaty of Frankfurt) and then became Bezirk Unterelsass in Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen; In 1919 Bas-Rhin became French again (Treaty of Versailles) and retained the territories that Germany had taken from the department of Vosges in 1871 (the Canton of Schirmeck and Canton of Saales); Between 1941 and 1944, the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp was in operation In 1944 Kehl was attached to Bas-Rhin before being reassigned to the new West Germany in 1953; In 1982 the department was included in the newly created Alsace region; On 7 April 2013 a referendum was held on the creation of a single community in Alsace for joining the Alsace region and the two departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin.
Strasbourg, the chef lieu (principal city) of Bas-Rhin is the official seat of the European Parliament as well as of the Council of Europe.
Heraldry
Demography The demography of Bas-Rhin is characterized by high density and high population growth since the 1950s.
In January 2023 Bas-Rhin officially had 1,163,810 inhabitants and was 19th by population at the national level. In sixteen years, from 2007 to 2023, its population grew by 79,000 people, or about 4,900 people per year. But this variation is differentiated among the 514 communes that make up the department.
The population density of Bas-Rhin is 245 inhabitants per square kilometre in 2023, which is more than twice the average in France, which was 121 in 2023.
Changing demographics in Bas-Rhin
With 540,213 inhabitants in 1831, the department represented 1.66% of the total French population, which was then 32,569,000 inhabitants. From 1831 to 1866, the department gained 48,757 people, an increase of 0.26% on average per year compared to the national average of 0.48% over the same period.
Demographic change between the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the First World War was higher than the national average. Over this period, the population increased by 100,532 inhabitants, an increase of 16.74%, compared to 10% nationally. The population increased by 9.23% between the two world wars from 1921 to 1936 compared to a national growth of 6.9%.
Like other French departments, Bas-Rhin experienced a population boom after the Second World War, higher than the national level. The rate of population growth between 1946 and 2007 was 83.83%, compared to 57% nationally.
Economy