Department of Isère

Isère
Department
Prefecture building of the Isère department, in Grenoble
Coat of arms
Location of Isère in France
Coordinates: 45°20′N 05°30′E / 45.333°N 5.500°E / 45.333; 5.500Coordinates: 45°20′N 05°30′E / 45.333°N 5.500°E / 45.333; 5.500
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Grenoble
Subprefectures	La Tour-du-Pin Vienne
Government
• President of the General Council	André Vallini
Area
• Total	7,431 km2 (2,869 sq mi)
Elevation	846 m (2,776 ft)
Highest elevation	4,088 m (13,412 ft)
Lowest elevation	134 m (440 ft)
Population (2013)
• Total	1,235,387
• Rank	16th
• Density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	38
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	29
Communes	521
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Isère (French pronunciation: ​[izɛːʁ]; Arpitan: Isera, Occitan: Isèra) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.

Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné. Its area has been reduced twice, in 1852 and again in 1967, on both occasions losing territory to the department of Rhône.

In 1852 in response to rapid urban development round the edge of Lyon, the (hitherto Isère) communes of Bron, Vaulx-en-Velin, Vénissieux and Villeurbanne were transferred to Rhône. In 1967 the redrawing of local government borders led to the creation of the Urban Community of Lyon (more recently known simply as Greater Lyon / Grand Lyon). At that time intercommunal groupings of this nature were not permitted to straddle departmental frontiers, and accordingly 23 more Isère communes (along with 6 communes from Ain) found themselves transferred to Rhône. The affected Isère communes were Chaponnay, Chassieu, Communay, Corbas, Décines-Charpieu, Feyzin, Genas, Jonage, Jons, Marennes, Meyzieu, Mions, Pusignan, Saint-Bonnet-de-Mure, Saint-Laurent-de-Mure, Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu, Saint-Priest, Saint-Symphorien-d'Ozon, Sérézin-du-Rhône, Simandres, Solaize, Ternay and Toussieu.