is a ''
Département '' in the east-central part of
France occupying the
Loire River 's upper reaches.
Loire was created in 1793 when the original ''département'' of
Rhône-et-Loire was split.
Its capitals have been the following:
Loire is part of the current region of
Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the ''départements'' of
Rhône ,
Isère ,
Ardèche ,
Haute-Loire ,
Puy-de-Dôme ,
Allier , and
Saône-et-Loire .
The Loire crosses the ''département'' from south to north.
The inhabitants of the ''département'' are called ''Ligériens''.
The industrial city of
Saint-Étienne with its suburbs contains some 290,000 of the area's 728,542 inhabitants.
