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