MOSELLE, a department of north-eastern France, formed of the portion of Lorraine which was annexed by Germany as the result of the war of 1870. Area, 2,403 sq. miles. Pop. (1930, 693,408. It is bounded on the north and north-east by Luxem bourg and Germany, including the Saar territory, on the east and south-east by the department of Bas-Rhin, and on the south, south-west and west by the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. The department is largely floored by Triassic rocks, which form a surface, for the most part, between 600 and i,000 ft. above sea level, and are drained by the Moselle and its feeders, and it has a number of small lakes towards the east. Across the German border, south-east of the Moselle, stand the heights of The Hunsrtick and the Palatinate, but the valley of the Moselle and the passes of Saverne and Haguenau across to the Rhine valley have made this area a double gateway between Germany and France, and it has long been in spirit a frontier province of the latter. The average winter temperature, reduced to sea-level, is below 35.5°, the average summer temperature is above 66°, thus giving conditions not very different from those of the Vosges.
Being almost surrounded by higher land, the department has a rainfall for the most part below 3o in. per annum. Moselle is a region in which, partly because it has taken great effort to transform the soil, and partly because wars have retarded social change, the traditional system of concentrated villages and infinite subdivision of strips has persisted. The valley of the Moselle in the region of Metz is famous for its vineyards. There are very important mines of coal and iron in the department, and famous salt deposits. The chief industries are salt-working, metal-founding, lime-burning and cement-making, and the manu facture of glass, crystal, pottery and porcelain (Sarreguemines), machinery, chemical products, textiles, paper, wooden objects, preserved foods, brushes, boots and shoes, pipes and leather goods. There are nine arrondissements (Metz-urbain, the capital, Metz-rural, Boulay, Château-Salins, Forbach, Sarrebourg, Sarre guemines, Thionville-east and Thionville-west), 36 cantons and 763 communes. The department forms part of the VIth. and XXth. military regions, and Metz is the seat of a bishopric.