Ain

Ain is a department in the east of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is named after the river Ain. Its prefecture is Bourg-en-Bresse.
History.
Ain is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Bourg-en-Bresse as is capital. It was formed with four former provinces: Bresse, Bugey, Dombes, Pays de Gex and part of the province of Franc-Lyonnais.
It was divided in nine districts: Pont-de-Vaux, Bourg, Nantua, Gex, Belley, Saint-Rambert, Montluel, Trévoux and Châtillon-les-Dombes.
The department was called "départment of Bresse" but in 1791 was changed to its present name: "départment de l'Ain".
In 1798, Gex was separated from Ain for the creation of the old department of Léman.
In 1800, with the creation of the "arrondissements" in France, the nine districts were changed into four "arrondissements": Bourg, Belley, Nantua and Trévoux.
The department of Léman was eliminated in 1814 and Gex was again part of the department of Ain. In 1815, some "communes" of Gex are passed to Switzerland and the "arrondissement" of Gex is created.
On 10 September 1926, the "arrondissements" of Gex and Trévoux were eliminated but in 1933 Gex was made again an "arrondissement".
Geography.
Ain is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It has an area of .
The department borders with Switzerland and 6 other departments in 2 regions:
The territory of the Ain department is formed by five regions:
The lowest point of the department is on the Rhône river, high.
Several rivers flow through the department; the main rivers are the Rhône, the Ain and the Saône. The largest natural lake is the Nantua lake, with an area of .
Climate.
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Château-Gaillard (Ain) is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype Cfb.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Château-Gaillard is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .
The average temperature for the year in Château-Gaillard is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
Administration.
Ain is managed by the "Departmental Council of Ain" in Bourg-en-Bresse. The department is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Administrative divisions.
There are 4 "arrondissements" (districts), 23 "cantons" and 410 "communes" (municipalities) in Ain.
The following is a list of the 23 cantons of the Ain department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Demographics.
There is not an official demonym for the inhabitants of the Ain department; people are named after the regions:
Ain had a population, in 2014, of 626,127, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The "arrondissement" of Bourg-en-Bresse, with 354,177 inhabitants, is the "arrondissement" with more inhabitants.
The "communes" in the department with more than 8,000 inhabitants are: