Seine-et-Marne

Disneyland Park

Seine-et-Marne (French: [sɛn e maʁn]) is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its eastern half. In 2019, it had a population of 1,421,197. Its prefecture is Melun, although both Meaux and Chelles have larger populations.

History

Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of 22 December 1789. It had previously belonged to the former province of Île-de-France.

Geography

Situation

Seine-et-Marne forms a part of the Île-de-France region; the department covers 49% of the region's land area. It is bordered by Val-d'Oise, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Essonne to the west; Loiret and Yonne to the south; Aube and Marne to the east; and Aisne and Oise to the north. It is served by RER A, RER B, RER D and RER E amongst other services.

Melun is Seine-et-Marne's prefecture. Fontainebleau, Meaux, Provins and Torcy are its subprefectures. The department comprises part of Paris's outer eastern suburbs; much of Charles de Gaulle Airport sits within its far northwestern boundaries, including a majority of the terminals. The department has many natural reserves, notably Brie and Gâtinais. The department's highest point is butte Saint-George (215 m).

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Meaux; the prefecture Melun is the third-most populous. As of 2019, there are 17 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The 10 most populous communes are:

Commune	Population (2019)
Meaux	55,750
Chelles	55,154
Melun	40,844
Pontault-Combault	37,617
Savigny-le-Temple	29,987
Bussy-Saint-Georges	26,597
Villeparisis	26,580
Champs-sur-Marne	25,654
Roissy-en-Brie	22,851
Dammarie-lès-Lys	22,128

Demographics

People from Seine-et-Marne are known as the Seine-et-Marnais.

Originally Seine-et-Marne was very rural and lightly populated. Over the past 50 years, however, its population has tripled, due to the development of the Paris conurbation and the building of new towns in the northwest of the region. The population was estimated to be 1,267,496 inhabitants in 2006. The region has changed from consisting only of small villages to forming a large part of the Paris conurbation.

Seine-et-Marne as a whole shares a sister city relationship with Orlando, Florida, United States, as both host Disney theme parks.