Meuse

Meuse
Meuse
	— Department —
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Location of Meuse in France
	Coordinates: 49°00′N 05°20′E / 49°N 5.333°ECoordinates: 49°00′N 05°20′E / 49°N 5.333°E
Country	France
Region	Lorraine
Prefecture	Bar-le-Duc
Subprefectures	Commercy; Verdun
	Government
• President of the General Council	Christian Namy
	Area
• Total	6,211 km2 (2,398 sq mi)
	Population (1999)
• Total	192,198
• Rank	88th
• Density	31/km2 (80/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	55
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	31
Communes	498
	^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

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For the river, see Meuse (river).

Meuse (French pronunciation: [møz]) is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.

[edit] History

Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from the former provinces of Barrois (area of Bar-le-Duc) and Three Bishoprics (area of Verdun).

The department was one of the great battlefields of World War I; an important battle was fought in 1916 at Verdun.

Meuse is part of the current region of Lorraine and is surrounded by the French departments of Ardennes, Marne, Haute-Marne, Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle, and Belgium on the north. Parts of Meuse belong to Parc naturel régional de Lorraine.

The important rivers are the following:

The population has decreased sharply since the 19th century, with the rural exodus to the cities.