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'Rhône-et-Loire' was a ''département'' of France whose ''préfecture'' (capital) was Lyon. Created on March 4, 1790 like the other French ''départements'', Rhône-et-Loire was abolished on August 12, 1793 when it was split into two ''départements'': Rhône (''préfecture'': Lyon) and Loire (''préfecture'': Feurs, then Montbrison, then now Saint-Étienne).
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Rhône ''département'' was enlarged several times by incorporating into it areas from neighboring ''départements'', so that today the two ''départements'' of Rhône and Loire combined are larger than the ancient Rhône-et-Loire ''département''.
If Rhône-et-Loire still existed, its population at the 1999 French census would have been 1,799,812 inhabitants, whereas in 1999 the Rhône ''département'' had 1,578,869 inhabitants, and the Loire ''département'' had 728,524 inhabitants.