Rhone is a French department situated in the central Eastern region of Rhône-Alpes. It is named following the Rhône River. The Rhône department was created on August 12, 1793 when the previous department of Rhône-et-Loire was split into two departments: Rhône and Loire. The landscape is composed of mountains and mounts: Monts du Beaujolais and Monts du Lyonnais. The 1,669,655 residents of Rhone are called the Rhodaniens, the ¾ of which subsist in Lyon agglomeration. The Rhone associates the Mediterranean with the Rhineland and the Atlantic with the rest of Europe. Over the duration it has emerged as an area of immense cultural and industrial importance.