Sambre-et-Meuse

{{Short description|Former French department}}

{{Infobox former country

|native_name = {{native name|fr|Département de Sambre-et-Meuse}}

|conventional_long_name = Department of Sambre-et-Meuse

|common_name = Sambre-et-Meuse

|year_start = 1795

|year_end = 1814

|flag =

|image_flag =

|image_map = Sambre-et-Meuse departement (1812).svg

|image_map_caption = Location of Sambre-et-Meuse in France (1812)

|official_languages = French

|status = Department of the French First Republic and the French First Empire

|admin_center_type = Chef-lieu

|admin_center = Namur
{{coord|50|28|N|4|52|E|display=inline}}

|stat_year1 = 1814

|stat_pop1 = 180,655

|ref_pop1 = {{cite book |last=Tulard|first=Jean & Marie-José|title=Napoléon et 40 millions de sujets: La centralisation et le premier empire|date=2014 |page=354|publisher=Tallandier |isbn=9791021001480|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kp5SCwAAQBAJ&q=sous%20pr%C3%A9fets%20de%20furnes%20van%20den%20busche&pg=PA291}}

|era =

|event_start = Creation

|date_start = 1 October

|event_end = Treaty of Paris, disestablished

|date_end = 30 May

|p1 = Austrian Netherlands

|flag_p1 = Austrian Netherlands national flag - Marko de Haeck.png

|p2 = Prince-Bishopric of Liège

|flag_p2 = LuikVlag.svg

|s1 = Province of Namur

|flag_s1 = Flag_of_the_Netherlands.svg

|today = {{Plainlist}}

• Belgium

{{Endplainlist}}

}}

Sambre-et-Meuse ({{IPA|fr|sɑ̃bʁ e møz|lang}}) was a department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium. It was named after the rivers Sambre and Meuse. It was created on 1 October 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège were officially annexed by the French Republic.{{cite book |last=Duvergier |first=Jean-Baptiste |title=Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglemens et avis du Conseil d'état, t. 8|date=1835 |page=300 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEcUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA300}} Prior to this annexation, the territory included in the department had lain in the County of Namur, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Duchies of Brabant and Luxembourg.

File:Departments of French Empire SambreMeuse 1811.svg

File:Dep-sambre-et-meuse.jpg

The Chef-lieu of the department was Namur. The department was subdivided into the following four arrondissements and cantons:

• Namur: Andenne, Dhuy, Fosses, Gembloux and Namur (2 cantons).
• Dinant: Beauraing, Ciney, Dinant, Florennes and Walcourt.
• Marche: Durbuy, Érezée, Havelange, La Roche, Marche and Rochefort.
• Saint-Hubert: Gedinne, Nassogne, Saint-Hubert and Wellin.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the department was dissolved and later became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Namur and Luxembourg.