Before 1860, the territory of the modern Haute-Savoie and Savoie departments had been part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, as a Duchy, since 1713. Annexation of the region by France was made in 1860. In that year, the Emperor Napoléon III divided the territory in two departments: "Savoie", to the south, with the city of Chambéry, and "Haute-Savoie", to the north, with the city of Annecy.