Sémelay is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Nièvre

Nièvre

Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 department in central France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The town of Sémelay belongs to the canton of Luzy

Luzy

Luzy is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Geography:The village is located in the middle of the commune, on the right bank of the river Alène.-Demographics:...

 and the district of Château-Chinon

Château-Chinon

Château-Chinon is the name of two communes of the Nièvre département, in France:* Château-Chinon * Château-Chinon The two towns are neighboring each other. They were separated during the French Revolution....

(Ville).

Geography

The river Alène

Alène

The Alène is a long river in the Nièvre département, central France. Its source is at Poil, about west of the village, in the parc naturel régional du Morvan. It flows generally west...

 flows westward through the southern part of commune.

The town's surface is 33.4 km². It is situated at an altitude of about 292 meters. It Is situated "at altitude of about 292 year meters.

Demographics

At the 1999 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, the population was 279. On 1 January 2004, the estimate was 268.