Where the waters meet
Seine-et-Marne is the largest département in the Ile-de-France region, with a surface area of around 6,000 m², i.e. almost 50% of the region's total surface area, and comprises five arrondissements: Meaux (771), Melun (772) , Provins (773), Fontainebleau (774), Torcy (775), 37 cantons and over 500 communes. But under the Ancien Régime, it didn't exist as such. It wasn't until December 1790 that its boundaries were definitively fixed. And that's not all, as its name was changed several times: "Brie, Meaux et Melun", "Melun", "Brie et Gâtinais"... until March 4, 1790, when it was finally named "Seine-et-Marne". The department is all about water! Indeed, water runs through it on all sides. To the south, the Seine and its tributaries, the Yonne, Loing, Ecole and Yerres, run for 100 km. To the north, the Marne flows for almost 110 km, reinforced by the two Morins, the Thérouanne and the Ourcq. This is an entire network of some twenty watersheds. In all, Seine-et-Marne has more than 1,100 watercourses, including over 4,000 km of rivers and 395 km of canals. In short, an entire hydrographic network structuring a territory made up of limestone plateaus separated by the valleys of the Seine, Yerres, Marne, Ourcq, Grand and Petit Morin.
A mischievous goddess?
Did you know that it's not the Seine that flows towards Paris, but the Yonne? This anomaly originates from Montereau-Fault-Yonne in the Seine-et-Marne region. When two rivers meet, the tributary is the one with the lower flow. The Yonne has a higher flow than the Seine. Some believe this is due to Sequana, a goddess who once resided in a spring on the Langres plateau in the Côte-d'Or region. The name Seine or Sequana was undoubtedly retained to win her good graces. And with good reason, as we shall see..
Water, a source of enrichment
Water has always been a source of nourishment, enabling crops to be irrigated, fishing to be carried out, hydropower to be harnessed and groundwater to be exploited, as in Chelles, in an area whose name and that of the bottled water evoke the song of the tree frogs that once croaked in the area... With its rivers and diverse soils, Seine-et-Marne has been a land of mills, breweries and sugar mills, as in Souppes-sur-Loing, but also of numerous activities: mining, metallurgy, ceramics and lime production, paper mills... Since prehistoric times, water has been used to transport people and goods - on pirogues, coches d'eau, marnois, nacelles, flettes, bachots or péniches... For a long time, it has also been a source of wealth through the collection of toll taxes.
Capricious waves
If water is precious and a guarantee of enrichment and development, it is no less threatening, and can wipe out everything, as it did in 1910. That year, the Seine, Marne, Yonne, Loing and Fusain rivers flooded, causing considerable damage and many casualties. In December 1801 and January 1802, flooding hit the Seine basin just as hard. The waters of the Yonne and Seine rivers encircled Montereau. Melun was also affected, with houses collapsing, roads cut off, arches and bridges obstructed by debris and wood. In Nemours, the waters of the Loing flooded the streets, drowning goods, bread ovens and many animals. In June 2016, following torrential rain and flooding of the Grand Morin, more than 140 communes in the Seine-et-Marn region were flooded. In 2018, further floods were to be deplored.
Landscapes: changing with the times
Prior to around 1850, riverbanks were lower and less regular, making the water untamed and the land vulnerable. These dangers were already managed in ancient times, not only through offerings to goddesses or nymphs, but also through well-honed techniques that over time modified the course of rivers and landscapes: aqueducts and canals were also created, such as the Ourcq, dug in the 19th century to bring drinking water to Paris, then for river navigation. These transformations also affected the south-east of Meaux, where ponds, numerous before the Revolution, were eventually abandoned and disappeared. It was also the drainage of clay soils that, over the centuries, transformed the Multien, Goële and central Brie plateaus into farmland. In short, the landscape we know today is very different from that of yesteryear! While the management of waterways, ponds and arable land, and the development of housing and industry have had a lasting impact on the landscape, many of today's place names reflect the richness of the area, or bear witness to activities that have now been forgotten. For example, the name of the commune of Veneux-les-Sablons refers to the presence of sand, while Grez-sur-Loing refers to the presence of sandstone. Localities with the word "Tuilerie" refer to former craft activities.
Never say fountain, I won't drink your water
While towns such as Noisiel, Saint-Mammès and Melun were built around waterways, the development of craft and industrial activities, river transport (of foodstuffs and raw materials), the mechanization of inland waterway transport, and the increasing spread of housing, all contributed to water pollution (discharges from tanners, dyers, butchers...) and the spread of epidemics) and the spread of epidemics, which led to improvements in water supply, both in terms of quality and quantity, as demonstrated by the large number of washhouses built in the 19th century. Today, water is enjoying renewed interest in all areas: river transport, soft mobility, local leisure activities (guinguettes, beaches, water sports). It's a new way of looking at water as a natural heritage to be preserved and maintained. On this subject, we've been told that some people will even be taking a dip in the Seine in the summer of 2024, as part of the Olympic Games!
