LORRAINE - Geography and history
Lorraine comprises four départements (Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges) and occupies 23 547 km2 in a regular-shaped and well-balanced whole. The region thus matches fairly well the average French region.
The Lorraine region is divided by relief into two distinct parts: the plateau of Lorraine, occupying some five-sixths of the land area, and the Vosges mountains in the east, rising to almost 1 400 m.
The region's climate is continental and wet. Lorraine is rich in watercourses, the most important of which are the Meuse and the Moselle.
With 36.7% of the region under trees, Lorraine has a considerable and diversified wealth in forestry.
Situated on France's borders, Lorraine borders Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. Its geographical location is today a considerable asset, after a tumultuous past. Lorraine has been invaded countless times, and remained a divided patchwork until very recently. A late addition to pre-Revolutionary France, twice annexed by Germany, at scarcely any time in history had Lorraine been united until the recent creation of France's regions. The region has known three very different periods after the Second World War. From 1945 to 1962 the region was one of the greatest industrial regions of France and enjoyed considerable growth. Then the three main industries, steel, mining and textile brought the region 30 years of crisis and decline both on the economic and demographic scale. The nineties seem relatively calm even if compared to other regions Lorraine seems less dynamic.
The Moselle département maintains specific jurisdiction in certain fields, and its linguistic borderline, with Germany, runs well inside the département's frontier.
The role of regional capital is shared between Nancy and Metz. This sharing is both an asset and a liability. If the two cities add together their potential and their complementarity, the resulting conurbation may claim to be an urban region of European dimension. Taken separately, neither represents much more than an intermediate-scale urban centre.
The Meuse département, Luneville, the western flank of the Vosges and Sarrebourg tend to be more isolated and more rural. They appear rather fragile, with the problems of rural exodus and an ageing population.
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