View source for Haut-Rhin

{{short description|Department of France}}
{{Expand French|topic=geo|date=November 2009|Haut-Rhin}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
| name                    = Haut-Rhin
| native_name             = {{native name|gsw|'s Owerlànd / Owerelsàss}}
| type                    = [[Departments of France|Department of France]]
| image_skyline           = Colmar Prefecture.JPG
| image_alt               = 
| image_caption           = [[Prefectures in France|Prefecture]] building of the Haut-Rhin department, in [[Colmar]]
| image_flag              = Drapeau Haut-Rhin.svg
| flag_alt                = 
| image_shield            = Blason département fr Haut-Rhin.svg
| shield_alt              = 
| nickname                = 
| motto                   = 
| image_map               = Haut-Rhin-Position.svg
| map_alt                 = 
| map_caption             = Location of Haut-Rhin in France
| pushpin_map             = 
| pushpin_label_position  = 
| pushpin_map_alt         = 
| pushpin_map_caption     = 
| coordinates             = {{coord|47|57|51|N|7|19|11|E|region:FR_type:adm2nd_source:GNS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint           = 
| coordinates_footnotes   = 
| subdivision_type        = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name        = [[France]]
| subdivision_type1       = [[Regions of France|Region]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Grand Est]]
| established_title       = 
| established_date        = 
| founder                 = 
| seat_type               = [[Prefectures in France|Prefecture]]
| seat                    = [[Colmar]]
| parts_type              = [[Subprefectures in France|Subprefectures]]
| parts_style             = para
| p1                      = [[Altkirch]]<br>[[Mulhouse]]<br>[[Thann, Haut-Rhin|Thann]]
| government_footnotes    = 
| leader_party            = 
| leader_title            = [[Prefect (France)|Prefect]]
| leader_name             = Louis Laugier<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000042171198 Décret du 29 juillet 2020 portant nomination du préfet du Haut-Rhin], Légifrance</ref>
| unit_pref               = Metric<!-- or US or UK -->
| area_magnitude          = 
| area_footnotes          = {{ref|area|1}}
| area_total_km2          = 3525
| area_note               = 
| elevation_footnotes     = 
| elevation_m             = 
| elevation_min_m         = 
| elevation_max_m         = 
| population_total        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
| population_as_of        = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
| population_footnotes    = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes2}}
| population_rank         = [[List of French departments by population|29th]]
| population_density_km2  = auto
| population_demonym      = 
| population_note         = 
| blank_name_sec1         = [[Departments of France|Department number]]
| blank_info_sec1         = 68
| blank_name_sec2         = [[Arrondissements of France|Arrondissements]]
| blank_info_sec2         = [[arrondissements of the Haut-Rhin department|4]]
| blank1_name_sec2        = [[Cantons in France|Cantons]]
| blank1_info_sec2        = [[cantons of the Haut-Rhin department|17]]
| blank2_name_sec2        = [[Communes in France|Communes]]
| blank2_info_sec2        = [[communes of the Haut-Rhin department|366]]
| timezone1               = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset1             = +1
| timezone1_DST           = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST         = +2
| postal_code_type        = 
| postal_code             = 
| area_code_type          = 
| area_code               = 
| iso_code                = 
| website                 = 
| footnotes               = {{note|area|1}} French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries and lakes, ponds and glaciers larger than 1 km<sup>2</sup>
}}
{{Alsace sidebar}}
'''Haut-Rhin''' ({{IPA|fr|oʁɛ̃|-|Fr-Paris--Haut-Rhin.ogg}})<ref>{{literally|Upper Rhine}}; [[Alsatian language|Alsatian]]: ''Owerelsàss'' or ''{{lang|gsw|'s Iwerlànd}}''; {{cite web|title=Wàs brücht m'r im Elsàss ? Petit lexique français-alsacien|url=http://www.olcalsace.org/sites/default/files/lexique_indispensable_2011.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.olcalsace.org/sites/default/files/lexique_indispensable_2011.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|author=Office pour la Langue et la Culture d’Alsace|website=oclalsace.org|language=fr|access-date=10 December 2013}} {{langx|de|Oberelsass}}, {{literally|Upper Alsace}}.</ref> is a [[Departments of France|department]] in the [[Grand Est]] [[Regions of France|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 [[Bas-Rhin]] (Lower Rhine), especially after the [[Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)|1871 cession]] of the southern territory known since 1922 as the [[Territoire de Belfort]], although it is still rather densely populated compared to the rest of [[metropolitan France]]. It had a population of 767,083 in 2021.<ref name=pop2021>{{cite web |title=Populations légales en vigueur à compter du 1er janvier 2024: 68 Haut-Rhin |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/7728806/dep68.pdf |publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]] |access-date=16 January 2024}}</ref>

On 1 January 2021, the départemental collectivities 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 [[Provinces of France|province]] of [[Alsace]] (Haute-Alsace).

Its boundaries have been modified many times:
* 1798, it absorbed [[Mulhouse]], formerly a [[City-state|free city]], and the last [[Switzerland|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 (department)|Doubs]];
* 1871, it was mostly annexed by the [[German Empire]] ([[Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)|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.

== Geography ==
Haut-Rhin is bordered by the [[Territoire de Belfort]] and [[Vosges (department)|Vosges]] ''départements'' and the [[Vosges Mountains]] to the west, the [[Bas-Rhin]] ''département'' to the North, Switzerland to the south and its eastern border with Germany is also the [[Rhine]]. In the centre of the ''département'' lies a fertile plain. The climate is semi-continental.

===Subdivisions===
The department consists of the following ''[[Arrondissements of France|arrondissements]]'':
*[[Arrondissement of Altkirch|Altkirch]]
*[[Arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé|Colmar-Ribeauvillé]]
*[[Arrondissement of Mulhouse|Mulhouse]]
*[[Arrondissement of Thann-Guebwiller|Thann-Guebwiller]]

===Principal towns===

The most populous commune is [[Mulhouse]]; the prefecture [[Colmar]] is the second-most populous. As of 2021, there are 11 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:<ref name=pop2021/>

{| class=wikitable
! Commune
! Population (2021)
|-
| [[Mulhouse]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 106,341
|-
| [[Colmar]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 67,730
|-
| [[Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin|Saint-Louis]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 22,698
|-
| [[Wittenheim]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 15,262
|-
| [[Illzach]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 14,829
|-
| [[Rixheim]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 13,795
|-
| [[Kingersheim]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 13,178
|-
| [[Riedisheim]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 12,163
|-
| [[Cernay, Haut-Rhin|Cernay]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 11,745
|-
| [[Guebwiller]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 11,137
|-
| [[Wittelsheim]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 10,334
|}

== Demographics ==
Population development between 1801 and 2016:
{{historical populations|cols=2|align=none|percentages=pagr|footnote=source:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://splaf.free.fr/68his.html|title=Historique du Haut-Rhin|website=Le SPLAF}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4176909?geo=DEP-68|title=Évolution et structure de la population en 2016|publisher=INSEE}}</ref>|13=1801|14=272,334|15=1806|16=299,877|17=1821|18=326,633|19=1831|20=375,473|21=1841|22=409,683|23=1851|24=436,744|25=1861|26=459,554|27=1871|28=458,873|29=1880|30=461,942|31=1890|32=471,609|33=1900|34=495,209|35=1910|36=517,865|37=1921|38=468,943|39=1931|40=516,726|41=1936|42=507,551|43=1946|44=471,705|45=1954|46=509,647|47=1962|48=547,920|49=1968|50=585,018|51=1975|52=635,209|53=1982|54=650,372|55=1990|56=671,319|57=1999|58=708,025|59=2006|60=736,475|61=2011|62=753,056|63=2016|64=762,743|65=2022|66=767,800}}

== Economy ==
Haut-Rhin is one of the richest French ''départements''. [[Mulhouse]] is the home of the [[Stellantis Mulhouse Plant]] automobile factory, where the [[Peugeot 2008]] and [[Peugeot 508]] are currently built. The lowest unemployment rate in France can be found in the Southern Sundgau region (approximately 2%). The countryside is marked by hills. Many ''Haut-Rhinois'' work in Switzerland, especially in the chemical industries of [[Basel]], but commute from France where living costs are lower. However, the region does have some of France's worst socio-economic inequalities; Mulhouse has long been one of France's poorest major cities.

== Law ==

Alsace and the adjacent [[Moselle (department)|Moselle department]] have a [[Local law in Alsace-Moselle|legal system]] slightly different from the rest of France. The statutes in question date from the period 1871–1919 when the area was part of the [[German Empire]]. With the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France by the [[Treaty of Versailles]] in 1919, Paris accepted that Alsace and Moselle should retain some local laws in respect of certain matters, especially with regard to hunting, economic life, local government relationships, health insurance and social rights. It includes notably the absence of any [[Laïcité|formal separation between church and state]]: several mainstream denominations of the Christian church benefit from state funding, in contrast to principles applied in the rest of France.

==Politics==

=== Presidential elections 2nd round ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Election!!Winning Candidate!!Party!!%!!2nd Place Candidate!!Party!!%
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|La République En Marche!}}" |
| [[2022 French presidential election|2022]]
| [[Emmanuel Macron]]
| [[La République En Marche!|LREM]]
| 52.90
| [[Marine Le Pen]]
| [[National Front (France)|FN]]
| 47.10
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|La République En Marche!}}" |
| [[2017 French presidential election|2017]]<ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Elections/Les-resultats/Presidentielles | title=Présidentielles }}</ref>
| [[Emmanuel Macron]]
| [[La République En Marche!|LREM]]
| 57.97
| [[Marine Le Pen]]
| [[National Front (France)|FN]]
| 42.03
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Union for a Popular Movement}}" |
| [[2012 French presidential election|2012]]
| [[Nicolas Sarkozy]]
| [[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]]
| 63.33
| [[François Hollande]]
| [[Socialist Party (France)|PS]]
| 36.67
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Union for a Popular Movement}}" |
| [[2007 French presidential election|2007]]
| [[Nicolas Sarkozy]]
| [[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]]
| 65.39
| [[Ségolène Royal]]
| [[Socialist Party (France)|PS]]
| 34.61
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Rally for the Republic}}" |
| [[2002 French presidential election|2002]]<ref name="auto"/>
| [[Jacques Chirac]]
| [[Rally for the Republic|RPR]]
| 77.65
| [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]]
| [[National Rally|FN]]
| 22.35
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Rally for the Republic}}" |
| [[1995 French presidential election|1995]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.politiquemania.com/presidentielles-1995-departement.html | title=Résultats de l'élection présidentielle de 1995 par département - Politiquemania }}</ref>
| [[Jacques Chirac]]
| [[Rally for the Republic|RPR]]
| 57.26
| [[Lionel Jospin]]
| [[Socialist Party (France)|PS]]
| 42.74
|}

===Current National Assembly Representatives===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Constituency!!Member<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/|title=Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français|first=Assemblée|last=Nationale|website=Assemblée nationale}}</ref>!!Party
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|The Republicans (France)}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 1st constituency]]
| [[Éric Straumann]]
| [[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|The Republicans (France)}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 2nd constituency]]
| [[Jacques Cattin]]
| [[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|The Republicans (France)}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 3rd constituency]]
| [[Jean-Luc Reitzer]]
| [[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|The Republicans (France)}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 4th constituency]]
| [[Raphaël Schellenberger]]
| [[The Republicans (France)|The Republicans]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|Agir (France)}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 5th constituency]]
| [[Olivier Becht]]
| [[Agir (France)|Agir]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|La République En Marche!}}" |
| [[Haut-Rhin's 6th constituency]]
| [[Bruno Fuchs (politician)|Bruno Fuchs]]
| [[La République En Marche!]]
|}

==Tourism ==

<gallery>
File:Mulhouse - Town hall.jpg|[[Mulhouse]] town hall
File:Colmar - Alsace.jpg|[[Colmar]]
File:67-Riquewihr-arcade.jpg|[[Riquewihr]]
File:2012-11-16 16-00-31-vallee-doller.jpg|View from the [[Ballon d'Alsace]]
File:Hunawihr1P7.jpg|[[Hunawihr]] and [[Alsace wine|Alsatian vineyards]]
</gallery>

==Transport==
The department's main airport is served by [[EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg]] located in [[Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin|Saint-Louis]], it provides air travel for the department as well as [[Basel-Stadt]] in the nearby border of Switzerland and [[Freiburg im Breisgau]] in Germany. [[Strasbourg Airport]] is another alternative airport that the department also uses, it is located {{convert|109|km|0|abbr=on}} north of Mulhouse.

== Culture ==
* [[Alsatian language]]

==See also==
*[[Cantons of the Haut-Rhin department]]
*[[Communes of the Haut-Rhin department]]
*[[Arrondissements of the Haut-Rhin department]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.haut-rhin.gouv.fr/ Prefecture website]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.alsace.eu/ Collectivité européenne d'Alsace]
{{Alsace topics}}
{{Departments of France}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Haut-Rhin| ]]
[[Category:1790 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Grand Est region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Departments of Grand Est]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1790]]