Essonne

Essonne
Department
Prefecture building of the Essonne department, in Évry
Coat of arms
Location of Essonne in France
Coordinates: 48°30′N 02°17′E / 48.500°N 2.283°E / 48.500; 2.283Coordinates: 48°30′N 02°17′E / 48.500°N 2.283°E / 48.500; 2.283
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Prefecture	Évry
Subprefectures	Étampes Palaiseau
Government
• President of the General Council	François Durovray (LR)
Area
• Total	1,804 km2 (697 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	1,253,931
• Rank	15th
• Density	700/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	91
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	21
Communes	196
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Essonne (pronounced: [ɛ.sɔn]) is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.

It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.

The Essonne department was created on 1 January 1968, from the southern portion of the former department of Seine-et-Oise.

In June 1963 Carrefour S.A. opened the first hypermarket in the Paris region at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (although the word "hypermarché" was first used only in 1966). Based on the ideas put forward by the American logistics pioneer , the centre offered on a single 2,500 m² (26,909.78 sq ft) site a hitherto unknown combination of wide choice and low prices, supported by 400 car parking spaces.

In 1969, the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble were separated from Essonne and added to the department of Yvelines.

Essonne belongs to the region of Île-de-France.

It has borders with the departments of:

All of northern Essonne department belongs to the Parisian agglomeration and is very urbanized. The south remains rural.

In descending order, the cities over 25,000 population are: Évry, Corbeil-Essonnes, Massy, Savigny-sur-Orge, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, Viry-Châtillon, Athis-Mons, Palaiseau, Draveil, Yerres, Les Ulis, and Vigneux-sur-Seine. Milly-la-Forêt is an example of its more rural communes.