The Vaucluse department was created on August 12, 1793, by bringing together the Avignon and Carpentras districts to which were added those of Apt and Orange previously in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, as well as the canton of Sault in the Basses-Alpes. In 1800, the attachment of Suze-la-Rousse to the Drôme department modified the boundaries of Vaucluse and completely enclosed the Vaucluse canton of Valréas into Drôme. In 2018, the department had almost 560,000 inhabitants spread over 1,359 square miles (3,520 km²), with an average density of 159 inhabitants per square kilometer.