Lys (department)

The north-western departments of the empire in 1812

Lys is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium. It is named after the river Lys. It was created on 1 October 1795, when the Southern Netherlands were annexed by France. Before its occupation, its territory was part of the county of Flanders.

Its capital was Bruges. The département was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons (situation in 1812):^[1]

Bruges, cantons: Ardooie, Bruges (5 cantons), Gistel, Ostend, Ruiselede, Tielt and Torhout (2 cantons).
Kortrijk, cantons: Avelgem, Harelbeke, Ingelmunster, Kortrijk (4 cantons), Menen, Meulebeke, Moorsele, Oostrozebeke and Roeselare.
Veurne, cantons: Diksmuide, Haringe, Nieuwpoort and Veurne.
Ypres, cantons: Elverdinge, Hooglede, Mesen, Passendale, Poperinge, Wervik and Ypres (2 cantons).

Its population in 1812 was 491,143, and its area was 366,911 hectares.^[1]

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the département became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its territory corresponds more or less with the present Belgian province West Flanders.

References

1 2 Almanach Impérial an bissextil MDCCCXII, p. 427-428, accessed in Gallica 25 July 2013 (French)

Territories annexed to the First French Empire (1804–1814)

44 départements (now parts of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland) created from annexed territories

Alpes-Maritimes Apennins Arno Bouches-de-l'Èbre / Bouches-de-l'Èbre-Montserrat Bouches-de-l'Elbe Bouches-de-l'Escaut Bouches-de-l'Yssel Bouches-de-la-Meuse Bouches-du-Rhin Bouches-du-Weser Deux-Nèthes Doire Dyle Ems-Occidental Ems-Oriental Ems-Supérieur Escaut Forêts Frise Gênes Jemmape Léman Lippe Lys Marengo Méditerranée Meuse-Inférieure Mont-Blanc Montserrat Mont-Terrible Mont-Tonnerre Montenotte Ombrone Ourthe Pô Rhin-et-Moselle Roer Rome Sambre-et-Meuse Sarre Sègre / Sègre-Ter Sésia Simplon Stura Tanaro† Taro Ter Tibre Trasimène Yssel-Supérieur Zuyderzée †The Tanaro department was established in 1802 and disbanded in 1805. Its territory was divided between the three départments of Marengo, Stura, and Montenotte (the latter was created after the annexation of the Ligurian Republic).

Coordinates: 51°12′N 3°13′E / 51.200°N 3.217°E / 51.200; 3.217

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, February 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.