Jemmape (department)

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Jemmape is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium. It was named after the Battle of Jemappes, fought between the French and the Austrians in 1792 near the village Jemappes, near Mons. Its territory corresponds more or less with that of the Belgian province Hainaut. Its capital was Mons.

The département came into existence in 1795, when the Southern Netherlands were occupied by the French. The département de Jemmape was formed from most of the County of Hainaut, the city of Tournai, a part of the county of Namur (Charleroi) and of the Bishopric of Liège (Thuin). See the 130 départements of the Napoleonic Empire.

The département was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons:

• Mons, cantons: Boussu, Chièvres, Dour, Enghien, Lens, Le Roeulx, Mons, Pâturages and Soignies.
• Charleroi, cantons: Beaumont, Binche, Charleroi, Chimay, Fontaine-l'Evêque, Gosselies, Merbes-le-Château, Seneffe and Thuin.
• Tournai, cantons: Antoing, Ath, Celles, Ellezelles, Frasnes-lez-Anvaing, Lessines, Leuze-en-Hainaut, Péruwelz, Quevaucamps, Templeuve and Tournai.

After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the département became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as the province of Hainaut. Its territory corresponds more or less with the present Belgian province Hainaut.