Background: The Kingdom of France and the Ancien Régime

The Kingdom of France: Historic Provinces, Duchies and Territories (pre-1790)

The Kingdom of France comprised individual Provinces, Duchés and Comtés (medieval "duchies" and "counties" ruled by Dukes and Counts respectively), and associated lands that had come under overarching control of the King of France at various times and with differing degrees of integration. They were often culturally, historically and in some cases linguistically distinct - under a multi-tiered system that would eventually be called the Ancien régime.^[1][2]

The French Revolution began in 1789 and culminated with the establishment of the first French Republic in 1792. In implementing the post-revolutionary era, the French provinces of the ancien régime were all subjected to re-organization - often in a manner intended to reconfigure and alter the historic regions and alliances. The French provinces were therefore often divided into portions, and in many cases these were recombined to create the new set of départements that would form the modern French Republic.^[3][4]

The French Republic: Départements (from 1790) - Civil Registration and Civic Archives (from 1792)

An overview of the transition from French provinces to subsequent departments is provided by the France Project, along with maps of individual provinces at France from Provinces to Departments.^[5]

An expandable map entitled France Provinces en 1789 by Vidal-Lablache shows the geographic relationships between historic provinces and modern departments as of 1789 and is also available via the France Project.^[6]

Historic Province to Modern Départements

Province	Capital and Origins	Years as French Province	Map with Adjacent Provinces Kingdom of France (as of 1789)	Map of 1790 Departmentalisation	Images and References	Succeeding départements République française
DUCHÉ d'ANJOU	Angers - Duché d'Anjou	1482 - 1789	Anjou	Anjou (1790)	Angers ANJOU [7]	Maine-et-Loire, parts of Mayenne, Sarthe, Indre-et-Loire, Vienne, two communes in Deux-Sèvres and one in Loire-Atlantique

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia France - Ancien Régime
2. ↑ Wikipédia Territoires du royaume de France
3. ↑ Wikipedia Departments of France
4. ↑ Wikipédia Département français
5. ↑ WikiTree France Project France from Provinces to Departments
6. ↑ WikiTree France Project Carte des provinces avec les limites des départements de 1791
7. ↑ Wikipédia Anjou