SEINE and MARNE, a department of the north of France. It has been formed out of parts of the ancient provinces of the Isle of France and of Champagne, called French Gaîtinois, and the Upper and Lower Brie. It is bounded on the north by the department of the Oise, on the east by the Aisne and the Marne and Aube, on the south by the Yonne and Loiret, and on the west by the Seine and Oise. It extends over 1981 square miles, is divided into five arrondissements, twenty-nine cantons, and 556 communes, and in 1836 contained 325,881 inhabitants. The capital of the department is the city of Melun, with a population of 6816 inhabitants in 1836. Besides the two rivers from which it is named, it is watered by the Great and Little Morin, the Bouzie, the Yonne, the Essonne, the Yres, the Therouanne, the Beuvronne, and the Otrin, all of whose waters reach the sea through the Seine. The surface is a plain, but intersected by some hills of very moderate height. The soil is fruitful, especially near the principal rivers; and though woods cover more than one tenth of the department, it is the chief granary from whence the capital draws its supply of corn, flour, garden-fruits, and fattened cattle.
The rivers abound with fish, and the woods with game. The meadows are of great fertility, yielding abundance of hay and other fodder, and supporting numerous cows, whose dairies supply Paris with the greater part of its milk, butter, and veal, whilst the cheese of Brie has attained great celebrity. It yields some wine, but its quality is only moderate, and does not equal the consumption. There is much manufacturing industry applied to the making of glass, of paper of the best kind, of leather, of steel articles, of hosiery, of linen goods, and of various smaller articles. The chief towns are Coulommiers, Meaux, Fontainebleau, and Provins.