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**Haut-Rhin**
Haut-Rhin
	Coat of Arms of Haut-Rhin
	Location
Administration
Department number:	68
Region:	Alsace
Prefecture:	Colmar
Subprefectures:	Altkirch; Guebwiller; Mulhouse; Ribeauvillé; Thann
Arrondissements:	6
Cantons:	31
Communes:	377
President of the General Council:	Charles Buttner; UMP
Statistics
Population	Ranked 29th
-2006	736475
Population density:	208,9/km2
Land area¹:	3525 km2
	¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

Haut-Rhin (Alsatian: Owerelsàss) is a département of the Alsace region France, named after the Rhine river. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departements of Alsace.

[edit] Subdivisions

The department consists of the following arrondissements:

[edit] History

Haut-Rhin is one of the original 83 départements, created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790 by application of the law of December 22, 1789 on 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;
1800, it absorbed the whole département of Mont-Terrible;
1814, it lost the territories which had been part of Mont-Terrible, returned to Switzerland, except the old principality of Montbéliard;
1816, it lost Montbéliard, which was attached to the département of Doubs;
1871, it was mostly annexed by Germany (Treaty of Frankfurt). The remaining French part formed the Territoire de Belfort;
1919, it was reverted to France (Treaty of Versailles) but is still separated from Belfort.
1940, it was effectively annexed by Nazi Germany.
1944, it was captured by France.

[edit] Geography

Haut-Rhin is bordered by the Territoire de Belfort and 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 River Rhine. In the centre of the département lies a fertile plain. The climate is semi-continental.

[edit] Economy

Haut-Rhin is one of the richest French départements. Mulhouse is the home of a Peugeot automobile factory, manufacturing the 106 and 206 models. 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 prefer to live in France for its cheaper cost of living.