Haut-Rhin

Haut-Rhin (, ; Alsatian: Owerelsàss or ; , ) is a département in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departments of the former administrative Alsace region, the other being the Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine). Especially after the 1871 cession of the southern territory known since 1922 as Territoire de Belfort, although it is still densely populated compared to the rest of metropolitan France. It had a population of 767,842 in 2020. On 1 January 2021, the départements of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin were merged into the European Collectivity of Alsace. History Haut-Rhin is one of the original 83 départements, created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790 through the application of the law of 22 December 1789 in respect of the southern half of the province of Alsace (Haute-Alsace). Its boundaries have been modified many times: 1798, it absorbed Mulhouse, formerly a free city, and the last Swiss enclave in the south of Alsace; 1800, it absorbed the whole département of Mont-Terrible; 1814, it lost the territories which had been part of Mont-Terrible, which were returned to Switzerland, except for the former County of Montbéliard; 1816, it lost Montbéliard, which was transferred to the département of Doubs; 1871, it was mostly annexed by the German Empire (Treaty of Frankfurt); the remaining French part formed the Territoire de Belfort in 1922; 1919, it was reverted to France (Treaty of Versailles) but remains administratively separated from Belfort. 1940, it was annexed de facto by Nazi Germany. 1944, it was recovered by France.