1.
Blois
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Blois is a city and the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours. In 1171, Blois was the site of a libel against its Jewish community that led to 31 Jews being burned to death. Their martyrdom also contributed to a prominent and durable school of poetry inspired by Christian persecution, in 1196, Count Louis granted privileges to the townsmen, a commune, which survived throughout the Middle Ages, probably dated from this time. The counts of the Châtillon line resided at Blois more often than their predecessors, in 1429, Joan of Arc made Blois her base of operations for the relief of Orléans. Joan of Arc rode the thirty-five miles on Wednesday 29 April to Blois to relieve Orléans, after his captivity in England, Charles of Orléans in 1440 took up his residence in the château, where in 1462 his son, afterwards Louis XII, was born. In the 16th century Blois was often the resort of the French court, the Treaty of Blois, which temporarily halted the Italian Wars, was signed there in 1504–1505. The citys inhabitants included many Calvinists, and in 1562 and 1567 it was the scene of struggles between them and the supporters of the Catholic Church, the bishopric, seated at Blois Cathedral, dates from the end of the 17th century. In 1814 Blois was for a time the seat of the regency of Marie Louise. Blois was occupied during World War II by the German army, the city was liberated by American soldiers during the last two weeks of August 1944. On both occasions, the city withstood several days of bombing, the Château de Blois, a Renaissance château once occupied by King Louis XII, is located in the centre of the city, and an 18th-century stone bridge spans the Loire. As Blois is built on a pair of hills, winding and steep pathways run through the city. To the south of the city, the Forêt de Russy is a reminder of the woods that once covered the area. La Maison de la Magie Robert-Houdin is a museum fronting on the Château, the Gare de Blois railway station offers direct connections to Paris, Orléans, Tours, Nantes and several regional destinations. The A10 motorway connects Blois with Paris, Orléans and Tours, Blois was the birthplace of, Thubois Stephen, King of England from 1135 to 1154. Official website Documentary photography of Blois by Sayf Jewish Encyclopedia entry INSEE commune file
2.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
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France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
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Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
6.
English people
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The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
7.
Charles IX of France
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Charles IX was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1560 until his death. He ascended the throne of France upon the death of his brother Francis II, after decades of tension, war broke out between Protestants and Catholics after the massacre of Vassy in 1562. This event, known as the St. Bartholomews Day Massacre, was a significant blow to the Huguenot movement, Charles sought to take advantage of the disarray of the Huguenots by ordering the Siege of La Rochelle, but was unable to take the Protestant stronghold. He died without male issue in 1574 and was succeeded by his brother Henry III. He was born Charles Maximilian, third son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici, in the royal chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Styled since birth as Duke of Angoulême, he was created Duke of Orléans after the death of his older brother Louis, his parents second son, on 14 May 1564, Charles was presented the Order of the Garter by Henry Carey. His father died in 1559, and was succeeded by his elder brother, after Franciss short rule, the ten-year-old Charles was immediately proclaimed king on 5 December 1560. When Francis II died, the Privy Council appointed his mother, Catherine de Medici, as governor of France, with sweeping powers, on 15 May 1561, Charles was consecrated in the cathedral at Reims. Antoine of Bourbon, himself in line to the French throne, Charles reign was dominated by the French Wars of Religion, which pitted various factions against each other. Queen Catherine, though nominally a Catholic, initially tried to steer a course between the two factions, attempting to keep the peace and augment royal power. The regent Catherine tried to foster reconciliation at the Colloquy at Poissy and, after that failed, made several concessions to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain in January 1562. Nonetheless, war broke out when some retainers of the House of Guise, hoping to avenge the attempt of Amboise, in return, the monarchy revoked the concessions given to the Huguenots. After the military leaders of both sides were killed or captured in battles at Rouen, Dreux, and Orléans. The war was followed by four years of an armed peace. After this victory, Charles declared his legal majority in August 1563, however, Catherine would continue to play a principal role in politics and often dominated her son. In March 1564, the King and his mother set out from Fontainebleau on a tour of France. Their tour spanned two years and brought them through Bar, Lyon, Salon-de-Provence, Carcassonne, Toulouse, Bayonne, La Rochelle, during this trip, Charles IX issued the Edict of Roussillon, which standardised 1 January as the first day of the year throughout France. War again broke out in 1567 after reports of iconoclasm in Flanders prompted Charles to support Catholics there
8.
Eure-et-Loir
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Eure-et-Loir is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. Eure-et-Loir is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790 pursuant to the Act of December 22,1789 and it was created mainly from parts of the former provinces of Orléanais and Maine, but also parts of Île-de-France. The current department corresponds to the part of the land of the Carnutes who had their capital at Autricum. The Carnutes are known for their commitment, real or imagined, a holy place in the Forest of the Carnutes used to host the annual Druidic assembly. In the north of the department another pre-Roman people, the little-known Durocasses, had their capital at Dreux, the inhabitants of the department are called Euréliens. Its agricultural economy is heavily dependent on economic and regulatory environment of the markets for crops. The Eure-et-Loir region is the first grain producer of France and it is also the national leader in the production of rapeseed and peas. Wheat production is by far the most dominant in the area, nearly 40% of all farmland is devoted to the cultivation of wheat, which has generated an average of 29% of the commercial agricultural production of the department over the last 5 years. The Cosmetic Valley represents 2.5 billion euros of turnover, includes 200 companies, collaborates with the Universities of Orleans and Paris, the pharmaceutical industry, around Dreux and the Polepharma cluster. The cluster represents 50% of drug production in France and 30,000 jobs, the Pharma cluster is also one of the creators of the inter-regional alliance Pharma Valley that has partner networks, Polepharma, CBS and Grepic. This alliance represents 60% of the sites located in France and 2.5 billion euros of turnover. The agri-food industry, promoted by Agrodynamic, with two companies in the sector, Ebly at Chateaudun and an Andros at Auneau. Woodcraft and furniture industry around the association Perchebois, the rubber and plastics industry, through the cluster Elastopole]]. The elevator manufacturer Octé has its office in Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais The department also has the lead in renewable energy. Given in February 2011 by the General Council to the operator, EDF Energies Nouvelles, the President of the General Council is Albéric de Montgolfier of the Union for a Popular Movement. The most important tourist attraction is the cathedral of Chartres, with its magnificent stained-glass windows, british intellectual, friend of Thomas Becket. Bishop of Chartres from 1176 to 1180, bernard of Tiron, founder of the monastic order of Tiron and of the abbey of Thiron-Gardais
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Loiret
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Loiret is a department in north-central France. The department is named after the river Loiret, a tributary of the Loire, the capital of the department is Orléans, which is about 110 km southwest of Paris. As well as being the capital, it is a historic city on the banks of the Loire. It has a central area with many historic buildings and mansions. The Loire Valley is famous for its several châteaux, Loiret is one of the original 83 departments that was created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790 by order of the National Constituent Assembly. The new departments were to be administered and approximately equal to one another in size. It was created from the province of Orléanais which was too large to continue in its previous form. The Loire Valley was occupied in Palaeolithic times as attested by archaeological sites in the department. The Celts were here, bringing crafts and trades, and the Romans occupied the area after the Gallic Wars and they built roads and founded cities such as Cenabum, on the site of present-day Orléans, and Sceaux-du-Gâtinais. Around 451, the Huns invaded the region but were repelled before reaching Cenabum, the Franks reached the Loire and Clovis I reigned in the area. A time of peace and prosperity ensued during the reign of Charlemagne, the department of Loiret was historically in the province of Orléans in north central France, and along with the departments of Loir-et-Cher and Eure-et-Loir now forms the region Centre-Val de Loire. To the north of Loiret lie the departments of Eure-et-Loir, Essonne and Seine-et-Marne, to the east lies Yonne, to the southeast Nièvre, to the south Cher, the department consists of mostly flat low-lying land through which flows the River Loire. This river enters the department near Châtillon-sur-Loire in the southeast, flows northwestwards to Orleans where it turns to south west. The Canal dOrléans connects the Loire River at Orléans to a junction with the Canal du Loing, the River Loire and these canals formed important trading routes before the arrival of the railways. The River Loiret, after which the department is named, is 12 km long and its source is at Orléans-la-Source, and its mouth at Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Mesmin. Other rivers in the department, are the River Loing, a tributary of the Loire. The department has an area of 6,757 km2 and is 119 km from west to east and 77 km from north to south. Large parts of the land are used for agriculture, and these are separated by low wooded hills, the northwestern part of the department is in the wheat-growing region known as Beauce, an undulating plateau with some of Frances best agricultural land
10.
Cher (department)
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Cher is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. It is named after the Cher River, Cher is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. Most of it was created, along with the adjacent department of Indre from the province of Berry. The southeastern corner of the department was part of the Duchy of Bourbon, the department is part of the current administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire. It is surrounded by the departments of Indre, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, Nièvre, Allier, the inhabitants of the department are called Berrichons from the former province of Berry. The President of the General Council is Alain Rafesthain of the Socialist Party, the Bourges Cathedral of St. Étienne is a major tourist attraction. Cantons of the Cher department Communes of the Cher department Arrondissements of the Cher department The historical languages are Berrichon and these are both dialects of French, or the Langues doïl. They are named respectively after the former Province of Berry and the former Duchy of Bourbon, some 11 communes in the extreme South used to speak Occitan. During the twentieth century government educational policy promoted a more standardised version of the French language
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Indre
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Indre is a department in the centre of France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are called Indriens, Indre is part of the current region of Centre-Val de Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Cher, Creuse, Vienne, and Haute-Vienne. The préfecture is Châteauroux and there are three subpréfectures at Le Blanc, La Châtre and Issoudun, Indre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, by order of the National Constituent Assembly. The new departments were to be administered and approximately equal in size. The department was created from part of the province of Berry. Before the Roman conquest, the Celtic Bituriges tribe occupied an area that included Indre, Cher and their capital was Avaricum, and another important settlement was at Argenton-sur-Creuse. The area then part of Roman Gaul after its conquest by Julius Caesar around 58 BC. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, the Frankish tribes living in Gaul were united under the Merovingians, from this time, the Franks controlled most of Gaul and the Carolingian Empire was the last stage of their rule. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak with the crowning of Charlemagne and after his death in 814, the Carolingian territories were divided into three sections in 843 at the Treaty of Verdun, and the area that is now the department of Indre, became part of West Francia. In 869, the king of Middle Francia died without leaving a legitimate heir, a castle was built at Châteauroux in the late tenth century. In the eleventh century, the lords of Châteauroux were powerful in the region, Indre is a department in central France and is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire. The capital and largest town in the department is Châteauroux, to the north of Indre lies Loir-et-Cher, to the east Cher, to the south lies Creuse and Haute-Vienne, to the southwest lies Vienne, and to the northwest lies Indre-et-Loire. Most of the department is relatively level plains in the broad Loire Valley, the area of the department is 2,269 square miles and it is some 60 miles from north to south and some 54 miles wide. The land is undulating and slopes gently towards the northwest, the main rivers are the Creuse, the Claise and the Indre. The Creuse, a tributary of the Vienne, is 264 kilometres long and has been impounded in places, at the time it was built in 1926. The Claise is 88 kilometres long and is a tributary of the Creuse, the Indre is a longer waterway and flows centrally through the department from south to north, through the major towns of La Châtre, Châteauroux and Loches. It is a tributary of the Loire, joining it at Chinon in the department of Loir-et-Cher. The highest point of the department is near the town of Pouligny-Notre-Dame where the land rises to 459 m above sea level, the remaining land is heathland, urban land and waterways
12.
Indre-et-Loire
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Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers. Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 and it was created from the former province of Touraine. Tours, the prefecture, was a centre of learning in the early Middle Ages. After the creation of the department it remained conservative, as Honoré de Balzac recorded in several of his novels. Conservative Tours refused to welcome the railways which instead were obliged to route their lines by way of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps on the eastern edge. The moderate temper of the departments politics remained apparent after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, for most of the nineteenth century, Indre-et-Loire was a rural department, but pockets of heavy-duty industrialisation began to appear towards the centurys end, accompanied by left-wing politics. 1920 saw the birth of the French Communist Party at the Congress of Tours, by 1920 Saint-Pierre-des-Corps had become a major railway hub and a centre of railway workshops, it had also acquired a reputation as a bastion of working class solidarity. Indre-et-Loire is part of the current region of Centre-Val de Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Vienne, Maine-et-Loire, the President of the General Council is Marisol Touraine of the Socialist Party
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