Map of France Regions

The region constitutes the first level of division of France.

Before the French Revolution of 1789, France was divided into provinces from the historical feudal history. Some of these regions roughly correspond to the current regions.
During the revolution these provinces were abolished and the French territory was divided into 83 departments.

On 5 April 1919, the first ministerial decree establishes the first regional grouping called "regions Clémentel".
From the First World War, the development of transport, urban, building regionalist ideas, leading some to question the desirability of creating larger administrative divisions as departments.

Skills in the region include: the planning, economic development, vocational training, construction, maintenance of schools, railways, ...

Following the Act of March 2, 1982, and the first election of Regional Councillors by universal suffrage March 16, 1986, the region becomes a territorial as well as the department and the municipality.
18 regions consist of France, which in turn cut into 101 departments, 343 counties, 4058 districts and 36,699 communes.

As mentioned above, deletion of one or more local levels is being debated in France for several years and especially the option to remove maps department level.
For now there is no question of abolishing the departments.