Overseas departments and regions of France

[citation needed] In 1798, the Russian Admiral Fyodor Ushakov evicted the French from these islands, and though France regained them via the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, the three departments were not revived.

Because of the one-to-one correspondence, informal usage does not distinguish the two, and the French media use the term département d'outre-mer (DOM) almost exclusively.

As integral parts of France and the European Union, overseas departments are represented in the National Assembly, Senate, and Economic and Social Council.

Guadeloupe and Réunion each have separate departmental and regional councils, while in Mayotte, Guiana and Martinique, the two layers of government are consolidated so one body wields both sets of powers.

Due to distance from the EU and local proximity some areas participate in economic fora and organizations of mutual interest geographically close-by.