Last modified: 2005-03-05 by ivan sache
Keywords: yvelines | ile-de-france | general council | tree | heart (red) |
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Code: 78
Region: Ile-de-France
Traditional provinces:
Ile-de-France,
Orléanais
Bordering departments: Eure,
Eure-et-Loir,
Essonne,
Hauts-de-Seine,
Val-d'Oise
Area: 2,284 km2
Population (1995): 1,367,700 inhabitants
Préfecture:
Versailles
Sous-préfectures: Mantes-la-Jolie, Rambouillet,
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Subdivisions: 4 arrondissements, 39 cantons, 262 communes.
In the Middle Ages, the big forest located in the south of Paris was
called silva equalina, aquilina, evelina, acquilina... The main
remains of this forest are the forests of Fontainebleau, Rambouillet
and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
The word aquilina comes from Latin aqua, water. The forest was
watered by several rivers and was rich in sources, marshes and ponds.
A law passed on 10 July 1964 created the department of Yvelines, carved
from the former department of Seine-et-Oise. The new department came
into real existence on 1 January 1968.
General de Gaulle wanted to name the new department Versailles. The
National Assembly rejected this proposal, as well as the name of Val de
Seine. In 1962, the poet Jehan Despert, born in Versailles in 1921,
proposed to add an S to the name of the legendary forest. The new name
was adopted by the National Assembly upon proposal by Jean-Paul
Palewski, Deputy and President of the General Council of Seine-et-Oise.
In November 1997, the place des Yvelines