1.
Regions of France
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France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
2.
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
3.
Prefectures in France
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There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
4.
Nantes
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Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River,50 km from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with almost 300,000 inhabitants within its limits. Together with Saint-Nazaire, a located on the Loire estuary. Nantes is the seat of the Loire-Atlantique département and of the Pays de la Loire région. Historically and culturally, Nantes belongs to Brittany, a former duchy, the fact that it is not part of the modern administrative Brittany région is subject to debate. Nantes appeared during the Antiquity as a port on the Loire and it became the seat of a bishopric at the end of the Roman era, before being conquered by the Breton people in 851. Nantes was the residence of the dukes of Brittany in the 15th century. The French Revolution was a period of turmoil resulted in an economic decline. Nantes managed to develop a strong industry after 1850, chiefly in ship building, however, deindustrialisation in the second half of the 20th century pushed the city to reorient its economy towards services. In 2012, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Gamma- world city and it is the fourth highest ranking city in France after Paris, Lyon and Marseilles. The Gamma- category gathers other large cities such as Algiers, Orlando, Porto, Turin, Nantes has often been praised for its quality of life and it was awarded the European Green Capital Award in 2013. The settlement is mentioned in Ptolemys Geography as Κονδηούινϰον and Κονδιούινϰον, during the Gallo-Roman period, this name was latinised and adapted as Condevincum, Condevicnum, Condivicnum, Condivincum, etc. Condevincum seems to be related to the Gaulish word condate meaning confluence, at the end of the Roman period, Condevincum became known as Portus Namnetum and civitas Namnetum. This phenomenon can be observed on most of the ancient cities of France throughout the 4th century, for instance, Lutecia became Paris, city of the Parisii, Darioritum became Vannes, city of the Veneti. Portus Namnetum evolved in Nanetiæ and Namnetis in the 5th century, the name of the Namnetes people could either come from the Gaulish root *nant-, from the pre-Celtic root *nanto or from the other tribe name Amnites, which could mean men of the river. The name Nantes is pronounced and the city inhabitants are called Nantais, in Gallo, the romance dialect traditionally spoken in the region around Nantes, the city is called Naunnt or Nantt, according to the various spelling systems. The Gallo pronunciation is the same as the French one, although northern speakers pronounce it with a long, in Breton language, Nantes is known as Naoned or An Naoned. The latter, meaning the Nantes, is common and reflects the fact that articles are more frequent in Breton toponyms than in French ones
5.
Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
6.
Loire-Atlantique
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Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean. Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790, originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in 1957 to Loire-Atlantique. The area is part of the historical Duchy of Brittany, and contains what many still consider to be Brittanys capital. However, when the system of French Regions was reviewed by the Vichy Government, whilst these administrative changes were reversed after the war, they were re-implemented in the 1955 boundary changes intended to optimise the management of the regions. There has since been a series of reflecting a strong local mood to have the department reintegrated with Brittany. Loire-Atlantique is part of the current region of Pays-de-la-Loire and is surrounded by the department of Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine, Maine-et-Loire, Upper Brittanys indigenous language is Gallo, a romance language related to French. The number of Gallo language speakers has been in decline since the early 20th century. The language is neither official nor taught in primary or secondary education, the Breton language, a Celtic language, native to Lower Brittany, was historically spoken in the western area of Loire-Atlantique, and up to 1920 in Batz-sur-Mer. This area has a rather Breton toponymy, for instance, Guérande originates from the Breton Gwenn Rann, the folklore and musical traditions of eastern or Lower Brittany are generally similar to those of western or Upper Brittany. The département operates the Lila network of buses, which link its villages, towns. The urban areas of Nantes and Saint-Nazaire operate their own urban transport networks, by rail, the regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire link major towns and cities of the Pays de la Loire and adjoining regions, including those of the département. Nantes is on the TGV network, with high speed trains running to Paris by the LGV Atlantique in just over 2 hours, Nantes Atlantique Airport, located 8 km to the southwest of the city of Nantes, serves the département and surrounding areas. It is the biggest airport in northwestern France, linking with several French, North African and European cities and it is currently planned that this airport will be replaced by a new Aéroport du Grand Ouest, situated 30 km to the north-west of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with construction expected to start in 2012 and an opening date in 2015
7.
Maine-et-Loire
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Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France, in the Pays de la Loire region. See also, Anjou and History of Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790, originally it was called Mayenne-et-Loire, but its name was changed to Maine-et-Loire in 1791. It was created from part of the province of Anjou. Its present name is drawn from the province of Maine and the Loire River. It has a landscape, with forested ranges of hills in the south and north separated by the valley of the Loire. The highest point is Colline des Gardes, the area has many navigable rivers such as the Loire, Sarthe, Mayenne, Loir, and Authion. The inhabitants of Maine-et-Loire have no official qualifier and they are sometimes known as Angevins, from the former province of Anjou, or Mainéligériens, from the name of the département. The Loire Valley and its castles, the largest vineyard of the Loire Valley. The boule de fort, the traditional game in Anjou Angers and around, The Angers castle and the Apocalypse Tapestry. The Cointreau museum, in Saint-Barthélemy-dAnjou The Château de Brissac, the tallest castle of the Loire Valley, the crooked spires in Baugé region. Saumur and around, The Cadre Noir, one of the most famous school in the world. Around Saumur, the largest concentration of troglodyte house in Europe, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud and the graves of the House of Plantagenet, including Richard I of England. The Tank museum of Saumur, which display the largest tank collection in France, Cholet and around, The textile museum of Cholet, and the creation of the famous red and white handkerchief. The Château de Touvois The Parc Oriental de Maulévrier, the largest Japanese garden of France Segré and around, The fortified city of Pouancé, the Blue Mine, a slate mine, with a funicular which goes 130 meters under the surface
8.
Mayenne
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Mayenne is a department in northwest France named after the Mayenne River. Mayenne is part of the current region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. The northern two thirds correspond to the part of the former province of Maine. The southern third of Mayenne corresponds to the portion of the old province of Anjou. The inhabitants of the department are called Mayennais, like 82 other departments, Mayenne was created on March 4,1790 during the early stages of the French Revolution by order of the National Constituent Assembly. The new departments were to be administered and approximately equal to one another in size. The former province of Maine was partitioned into two, Upper Maine, centred on Le Mans, became the new department of Sarthe, Anjou, to the south, being too big to form a single department, was reduced in size and became Maine-et-Loire. In this partition, Sarthe received the region of La Flèche, flax was a feature of the Mayenne economy, and the southern limit for the cultivation of flax was used to determine the new border between Mayenne and Maine-et-Loire. Mayenne is a department in northwestern France and is part of the region of Pays de la Loire, the department does not have a sea coast, but about thirty kilometres to the northwest is Mont Saint-Michel Bay. The capital and largest town is Laval in the centre of the department, to the north lies the department of Orne, to the east lies Sarthe, to the south lies Maine-et-Loire, to the west lies Ille-et-Vilaine and to the northwest lies Manche. The department forms a rectangular shape, being 90 km long by 77 km wide. The River Mayenne flows centrally through it from north to south, passing through the towns of Mayenne, Laval, after leaving the department, the river joins the River Sarthe to form the River Maine which later joins the River Loire. The department is varied in topography, much of it is largely flat, but there are also hilly areas, some with steep-sided valleys and ravines. Of the total area of 1,275,532 acres, some 875,000 acres are arable,170,000 acres are grassland,65,000 acres are forests and woodland and 50,000 acres are heathland and moorland. To the north lies the Armorican Massif, a plateau that has eroded over time, the highest summit of which. A branch range to the south of this forms the ridge that divides the Mayenne Valley from the Vilaine Valley. Mayenne has a diversity of types such as forest, heathland, bog. Some 1445 species of plants,63 species of mammals,280 species of birds,16 species of amphibians and 11 species of reptiles have been recorded, the woodlands are mostly small with the deciduous trees dominated by oak
9.
Sarthe
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Sarthe is a French department situated in the Grand-Ouest of the country. It is named after the River Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers, in the late 18th century, before it was officially Sarthe, the nobility built their Mansions and Chateaus there, as an escape from Paris. The department was created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790, pursuant to the law of 22 December 1789, the latter was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and Mayenne to the west. In Roman times, this contained the city of Mans. The Roman Thermal Bathhouse attracts many tourists, as does the Theater of Aubigné-Racan, marin Mersenne, perhaps the most important scientific figure in the early 17th century, was born in the vicinity of Sarthe. The department of Sarthe is at the end of the administrative region of Pays-de-la-Loire. It is south of Normandy and on the edge of the Armorican Massif. It is bordered by the departments of Orne, Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, approximately 300,000 people, comprising more than half of the departments population, live in Le Mans, its conurbation, or the essentially urban communes close by. The rest of the department retains a rural character, with agriculture as the part of the economy. The arrival of the railways in 1854 boosted trade for the local economy, a TGV connection was constructed in 1989, connecting the community to high-speed transport. In terms of connections, the A11 autoroute, which was constructed to Le Mans from the east in 1978. The department was the base of former Prime Minister Francois Fillon
10.
The Republicans (France)
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The Republicans is a centre-right political party in France. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 by renaming the Union for a Popular Movement party, the party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Socialist Party. The Republicans are a member of the European Peoples Party, Centrist Democrat International, with the name already chosen, vice-president of the UMP Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet presented Sarkozy and the partys political bureau the proposed new statutes. The new name was adopted by the party bureau on 5 May 2015, the new party statutes were adopted by 96. 3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94. 8%. The change to the name The Republicans was confirmed at the founding congress on 30 May 2015 at the Paris Event Centre in Paris. Angela Merkel, chairwoman of the conservative CDU, sent a message to the congress. The Republicans thus became the successor of the UMP and the leading centre-right party in France. The organisation has been declared in the préfecture de Saône-et-Loire on 9 April 2015 and this party foundation was published in the Journal officiel de la République française on 25 April 2015. On 3 July 2016, Sarkozy announced that he would resign as leader that year in order to compete to be the candidate in the 2017 presidential election. On 27 November 2016, Francois Fillon, the former Prime Minister of France, politics of France List of political parties in France Official web site of Les Républicains
11.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
12.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
13.
Gross domestic product
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
14.
First-level NUTS of the European Union
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The Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics, is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard was developed by the European Union, there are three levels of NUTS defined, with two levels of local administrative units below. Not all countries have every level of division, depending on their size, one of the most extreme cases is Luxembourg, which has only LAUs, the three NUTS divisions each correspond to the entire country itself. Below are the first level NUTS regions of the European Union
15.
Loire
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The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of 1,012 kilometres, it drains an area of 117,054 km2, or more than a fifth of Frances land area, and is the 171st longest river in the world. Its main tributaries include the rivers Nièvre, Maine and the Erdre on its bank, and the rivers Allier, Cher, Indre, Vienne. The Loire gives its name to six departments, Loire, Haute-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, the central part of the Loire Valley, located in the Centre-Val de Loire region, was added to the World Heritage Sites list of UNESCO on December 2,2000. Vineyards and chateaux are found along the banks of the river throughout this area, gallic rule ended in the valley in 56 BC when Julius Caesar conquered the adjacent provinces for Rome. Christianity was introduced into this valley from the 3rd century AD, as missionaries, in this period, settlers established vineyards and began producing wines. They were originally created as feudal strongholds, over centuries past, the name Loire comes from Latin Liger, which is itself a transcription of the native Gaulish name of the river. The Gaulish name comes from the Gaulish word liga, which means silt, sediment, deposit, alluvium, a word that gave French lie, as in sur lie, which in turn gave English lees. Liga comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *legʰ-, meaning to lie, lay as in the Welsh word Lleyg which gave many words in English, such as to lie, to lay, ledge, law, etc. At a certain point during the history of uplift in the Paris Basin. The former bed of the Loire séquanaise is occupied by the Loing, the Loire Valley has been inhabited since the Middle Palaeolithic period from 40–90 ka. Neanderthal man used stone tools to fashion boats out of tree trunks, modern man inhabited the Loire valley around 30 ka. By around 5000 to 4000 BC, they began clearing forests along the edges and cultivating the lands. They built megaliths to worship the dead, especially from around 3500 BC, the Gauls arrived in the valley between 1500 and 500 BC, and the Carnutes settled in Cenabum in what is now Orléans and built a bridge over the river. By 600 BC the Loire had already become an important trading route between the Celts and the Greeks. A key transportation route, it served as one of the highways of France for over 2000 years. The Phoenicians and Greeks had used pack horses to transport goods from Lyon to the Loire to get from the Mediterranean basin to the Atlantic coast, during the Roman period, they successfully subdued the Gauls in 52 BC and began developing Cenabum, which they named Aurelianis. They also began building the city of Caesarodunum, now Tours, the Romans used the Loire as far as Roanne, around 150 km downriver from the source
16.
Brem-sur-Mer
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Brem-sur-Mer is a commune in the Vendée département in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. The main activity of the commune is tourism and it has an industrial area with fourteen companies. It is also known for its vineyard, planted during the Middle Ages by monks, brem-sur-Mer is a twinned with Mammendorf, Germany. Communes of the Vendée department INSEE Commune website Tourist website
17.
Brittany
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Brittany is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Brittany has also referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and its land area is 34,023 km². Since reorganisation in 1956, the administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, at the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department, in 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes, Rennes, and Brest. Brittany is the homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, the word Brittany, along with its French, Breton and Gallo equivalents Bretagne, Breizh and Bertaèyn, derive from the Latin Britannia, which means Britons land. This word had been used by the Romans since the 1st century to refer to Great Britain and this word derives from a Greek word, Πρεττανικη or Βρεττανίαι, used by Pytheas, an explorer from Massalia who visited the British Islands around 320 BC. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica, which close to the sea. Another name, Letauia, was used until the 12th century and it possibly means wide and flat or to expand and it gave the Welsh name for Brittany, Llydaw. Later, authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth used the terms Britannia minor, breton-speaking people may pronounce the word Breizh in two different ways, according to their region of origin. Breton can be divided into two dialects, the KLT and the dialect of Vannes. KLT speakers pronounce it and would write it Breiz, while the Vannetais speakers pronounce it, the official spelling is a compromise between both variants, with a z and an h together. In 1941, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh, on its side, Gallo language has never had a widely accepted writing system and several ones coexist. For instance, the name of the region in that language can be written Bertaèyn in ELG script, or Bertègn in MOGA, Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic. This population was scarce and very similar to the other Neanderthals found in the whole of Western Europe and their only original feature was a distinct culture, called Colombanian. One of the oldest hearths in the world has found in Plouhinec
18.
Brittany (administrative region)
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Brittany is one of the 18 regions of France. It is named after the historic and geographic region of Brittany, the region of Brittany was created in 1941 on 80% of the territory of traditional Brittany. The remaining 20% is now called the Loire-Atlantique department which is included in the Pays de la Loire region, whose capital, part of the reason why Brittany was split between two present-day regions was to avoid the rivalry between Rennes and Nantes. Although Nantes was the capital of the Duchy of Brittany until the sixteenth century. Despite that, the Chambre des comptes had remained in Nantes until 1789, although there were previous plans to create Régions out of the Départements, like the Clémentel plan or the Vichy regionalisation programme, these plans had no effect or else were abolished in 1945. The current French Regions date from 1956 and were created by gathering Departements together, in Brittany, this led to the creation of the new Region of Brittany, which included only four out of the five historical Breton départements. The term region was created by the Law of Decentralisation. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. See History of Brittany Brittany, lying in the northwest corner of France, is one of the historic provinces of France. The most Atlantic of Frances regions, Brittany is proud of its Celtic heritage and it enjoys a mild climate somewhat warmer though not necessarily drier than the climate of the southwest of England. Quimper, the capital of the Finistère, and St. Brieuc and it is also the venue for Brittanys annual Interceltiques music and culture festival. Despite its limited size, Brittany is quite a diverse region, the south coast, facing onto the Bay of Biscay, is flatter, much milder, and graced by a number of large sandy beaches. The sea here is warmer in summer, the backbone of Brittany is a granite ridge stretching from east to west, peaking in the Monts dArrée. But most of inland Brittany is gentle farming country, a famous for its milk and butter. In cultural terms, Brittany is very distinctive, with its own language and Celtic cultural tradition that set it apart from the rest of France. The Breton language, though not much used in life, and not understood by most of the modern population, has made a comeback in recent years. Celtic traditions are alive or recalled today in Breton folk music, its Celtic festivals, the name of Brittany derives from settlers from Great Britain, who fled that island in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England between the fifth and seventh centuries. Unlike the rest of France and Brittany, Lower Brittany has maintained a distinctly Celtic language, Breton and it was the dominant language in Lower, or western, Brittany until the mid-20th century
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Anjou
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Anjou is an historical and cultural region of France, a former French county, duchy, and province. Its capital was the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley, the territory has no very clear geographical borders but instead owes its territory and prominence to the fortunes of its various rulers. Henry Curtmantle, count of Anjou, inherited the kingdom of England on October 25,1154, the resulting Angevin Empire would, at its peak, spread from Ulster to the Pyrenees. Count Arthur was taken prisoner by his uncle the king in 1203, in 1205, the county was seized by Philip II Augustus of France. Its status was elevated to that of a duchy for Prince Louis, Anjou corresponds largely to the present-day department of Maine-et-Loire. It occupied the part of what is now the department of Maine-et-Loire. Anjous political origin is traced to the ancient Gallic state of the Andes, after the conquest by Julius Caesar, the area was organized around the Roman civitas of the Andecavi. The Roman civitas was afterward preserved as a district under the Franks with the name first of pagus—then of comitatus or countship—of Anjou. At the beginning of the reign of Charles the Bald, the integrity of Anjou was seriously menaced by a danger, from Brittany to the west. Lambert, a count of Nantes, devastated Anjou in concert with Nominoé. By the end of the year 851, he had succeeded in occupying all the part as far as the Mayenne. The principality which he carved out for himself was occupied on his death by Erispoé. By him, it was handed down to his successors, in whose hands it remained until the beginning of the 10th century, the Normans raided the country continuously as well. A brave man was needed to defend it, the chroniclers of Anjou named a Tertullus as the first count, elevated from obscurity by Charles the Bald. A figure by that name seems to have been the father of the later count Ingelger but his dynasty seems to have preceded by Robert the Strong. Robert met his death in 866 in a battle at Brissarthe against the Normans, hugh the Abbot succeeded him in the countship of Anjou as in most of his other duties, on his death in 886, it passed to Odo, Roberts eldest son. His descendants continued to bear that rank for three centuries and he was succeeded by his son Fulk II the Good, author of the proverb that an unlettered king is a wise ass, in 938. He was succeeded in turn by his son Geoffrey I Grisegonelle around 958, Geoffrey Greytunic succeeded in making the Count of Nantes his vassal and in obtaining from the Duke of Aquitaine the concession in fief of the district of Loudun
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Maine (province)
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Maine is one of the traditional provinces of France. It corresponds to the former County of Maine, whose capital was also the city of Le Mans, the area, now divided into the departments of Sarthe and Mayenne, contains about 857,000 inhabitants. In the 8th and 9th centuries there existed a Duchy of Normandy and this duchy was a march that may have included several counties including Maine, and extended into Lower Normandy, all the way to the Seine. In 748, Pepin the Short, then Mayor of the Palace and thus the most powerful man in France after the king, in 790 Charlemagne in turn gave it to his younger son, Charles the Younger. Charlemagnes grandson, the future Charles the Bald, and his son Louis the Stammerer inherited the title, ragenold, who may have been the son of Renaud dHerbauges, died in 885 fighting the Vikings who were pillaging Rouen. The son-in-law of Charlemagne, Rorgon, was the count of Maine between 832 and 839, in the last half of the 9th century, Maine took on strategic importance because of invasions from Normandy and Brittany. Rorgons son Gauzfrid in turn became Count of Maine and he fought against Salomon, King of Brittany and in 866 participated in the battle of Brissarthe alongside Robert the Strong, the Frankish Margave of Neustria. In 924 King Rudolph of France was said to give Maine to the Norse nobleman Rollo, bordering the county of Anjou to the south and the Duchy of Normandy to the north, Maine became a bone of contention between the rulers of these more powerful principalities. Hugh III of Maine was forced to recognize Fulk III, Count of Anjou as his overlord, sometime between 1045 and 1047 Hugh IV married Bertha, daughter of Odo II, Count of Blois and widow of Alan III, Duke of Brittany. The Angevins did not want Maine to come under the influence of Blois, but the Normans did not want Maine to return to the Angevin orbit, so were pulled into the conflict. The precise chronology is disputed, but it is clear that in 1051 Hugh IV died, Anjou wound up with effective control of most of the county, but the Normans did take several important strongholds on the Maine–Normandy border. Hugh IVs son Herbert II fled to the Norman court and his death in 1062 precipitated a succession crisis, Herbert died childless in 1062 after declaring William the Bastard, then Duke of Normandy, his heir. His sister Marguerite was engaged to Williams eldest son, Robert Curthose and Herbert had taken refuge at Williams court in 1056 when Geoffrey Martel, Duke of Anjou, while the county was in Angevin hands, Anjou had its own succession problem. Duke William of Normandy claimed the county on their behalf of Herberts young sister Margaret, the other claimant was Herberts aunt Biota, a sister of Hugh IV, and her husband Walter, Count of the Vexin. Biota and Walter were captured at the taking of Le Mans and they died sometime later in 1063, poisoned, it was rumoured, though there is no hard evidence for this. Norman control of Maine secured the border of Normandy against Anjou and is one factor which enabled William to launch his successful invasion of England in 1066. In 1069 the citizens of Le Mans revolted against the Normans, soon some of the Manceaux barons joined the revolt, the Normans were expelled in 1070, and young Hugh V was proclaimed Count of Maine. He was the son of Azzo dEste and his wife Gersendis, Azzo returned to Italy, leaving Gersendis in charge
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Poitou
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Poitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century, there is a marshland called the Poitevin Marsh on the Gulf of Poitou, on the west coast of France, just north of La Rochelle and west of Niort. By the Treaty of Paris of 1259, King Henry III of England recognized his loss of continental Plantaganet territory to France. During the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries Poitou was a hotbed of Huguenot activity among the nobility, many of the Acadians who settled in what is now Nova Scotia beginning in 1604, and later in New Brunswick, came from the region of Poitou. After the Acadians were deported by the British beginning in 1755, a large portion of these refugees were also deported to Louisiana in 1785 and eventually became known as Cajuns. The common thread connecting both phenomena is an assertion of a local identity and opposition to the central government in Paris, whatever its composition. Large parts of the Angelique series of novels are set in 17th century Poitou. Count of Poitiers for a list of the Comtes de Poitou, poitou-Charentes for the present-day région including Poitiers. Poitevin, the French regional language spoken in Poitou
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Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the largest administrative region in France, located in the southwest of the country. The region was created by the reform of French Regions in 2014 through the merger of three regions, Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes. It covers 84,061 km2 – or 1⁄8 of the country – and has approximately 5,800,000 inhabitants, the new region was established on 1 January 2016, following the regional elections in December 2015. It is the largest region in France by area, with a slightly larger than that of Austria. Its largest city, Bordeaux, together with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms the 7th-largest metropolitan area of France, with 850,000 inhabitants. The region has 25 major urban areas, among which the most important after Bordeaux are Bayonne, Limoges, Poitiers, Pau, after Île-de-France, New Aquitaine is the premier French region in research and innovation, with five universities and several Grandes Ecoles. Many companies specializing in surfing and related sports have located along the coast, in terms of culture, the new region includes major parts of Southern France, marked by Basque, Occitan and Oïl cultures. Historically, it is the successor to medieval Aquitaine. In June 2016, a group headed by historian Anne-Marie Cocula. The decision came after the favorite, Aquitaine, faced resistance by regional politicians from Limousin. The other popular favorite, Grande Aquitaine, was rejected for its connotation with a feeling of superiority, alain Rousset, president of the region, concurred with the working groups conclusion, reaffirming that he considered the acronym ALPC no choice at all. On 27 June 2016, just a few days ahead of the 1 July deadline, frances Conseil dÉtat approved New-Aquitaine as the new name of the region on 28 September 2016, effective 30 September 2016. Nouvelle-Aquitaine is delimited by four other French regions, three communities in Spain to the south, and the North Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its largest city and only metropolis is Bordeaux, in the heart of an agglomeration of nearly one million inhabitants. Taking into consideration the area, the new region is home to six of the fifty largest metropolitan areas of French territory. It is part of five watersheds facing the Atlantic Ocean, Loire, Charente, Garonne and Dordogne and Adour, giving rivers bordering land dedicated mostly to viticulture and to agriculture. This diverse area is the area of the oyster, mussel, the Landes forest, by far the most extensive, covering almost one million hectares, making it the largest artificial forest of Western Europe. The Landes forest is included in the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park
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Perche
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Perche is a former province of northwestern France extending over the departments of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher and Sarthe, which were created from Perche during the French Revolution. Perche is bounded by Normandy to the north and west, Maine to the south-west, Vendomois and Dunois to the south, Beauce to the east and Thimerais to the north-east. Stock-raising and dairy-farming are flourishing in the Perche, which is famous for the production of a breed of large and powerful horses, cider-apples and pears are grown throughout the district. In the Middle Ages, the Count of the Perche governed the region between Normandy and Maine, of which Corbon, Mortagne and Nogent-le-Rotrou were successively the capitals and it was held by an independent line of counts until 1226. Geoffroy V, comte du Perche, would have been a leader of the Fourth Crusade had he not died before the forces could depart. The county then became a possession of the crown, which removed part of it to create the county of Alençon, after 1325, both counties were generally held by a member or members of a cadet branch of the House of Valois. Upon the death without children of the last Duke of Alençon in 1525, the returned to the crown. Under the ancient regime it formed, together with Maine, a government of which Mortagne was the capital and it had its own customary law until the French Revolution. In the 17th century, a proportion of immigrants to New France came from Perche. Many Percherons were recruited in the 1630s and 1650s to work for the church missionaries, while the total number of emigrants was small, Perche had a much higher rate of emigration to New France than most other regions of France. Nearly all French Canadians have some ancestors from the villages of Perche, lords, counts and dukes of Perche This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Le Perche, emigration to Quebec in the 17th century Perche in the New York Times’ T-Style magazine
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Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
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Centre-Val de Loire
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Centre-Val de Loire, French for Centre-Loire Valley), is one of the 18 administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley in the interior of the country, the administrative capital is Orléans, but the largest city is Tours. Like many contemporary regions of France, the region of Centre was created from parts of three provinces, Touraine, Orléanais, and Berry. Proposed names for the region included Val de Loire after the Loire Valley or Cœur de Loire, on 17 January 2015, as part of the reorganization of French regions, the regions official name was changed to Centre-Val de Loire. A new logo was also created and this ensures a mission of economic promotion, international support to regional companies and enhancement promotion of regional agrofood products via a regional signature, © du Centre
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Touraine
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Touraine is one of the traditional provinces of France. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Indre, traversed by the Loire and its tributaries the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne, Touraine makes up a part of the Paris Basin. It is well known for its viticulture, the TGV, which connects Tours with Paris in just over an hour, has made Touraine a place of residence for people who work in the capital but seek a different quality of life. Touraine takes its name from a Celtic tribe called the Turones, in 1044, the control of Touraine was given to the Angevins, who became kings of England in 1154, the castle of Chinon being their greatest stronghold. In 1205, Philip II Augustus of France regained Touraine, at this time, Touraine was made into a royal duchy. In 1429, Saint Joan of Arc had a meeting with the future King of France Charles VII at Chinon. These same châteaux became popular tourist attractions in modern times, the royal duchy became a province in 1584, and was divided into departments in 1790. Touraine is celebrated for its many châteaux, examples are those at Amboise, Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceaux, Chinon, Langeais, Loches and Villandry
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Laval, Mayenne
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Laval is a town in western France, about 300 km west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne department. Laval was before the French Revolution part of the province of Maine, the commune of Laval proper, without the metropolitan area, is the 13th most populous in northwestern France and the 119th in France. A part of the province of Maine, Laval also lies on the threshold of Brittany and is not far from Normandy. It was thus an important stronghold in northwestern France during the Middle Ages, Laval became a city during the 11th century, and was the cradle of the House of Laval, one of the most powerful families in Maine and Brittany. The counts of Laval developed an industry around 1300 and made Laval a significant centre for the French Renaissance a century later. The linen industry remained the principal activity in Laval until the 20th century, Laval developed around a promontory, on which the castle was built, and along the river Mayenne. The Laval metropolitan area is an economic centre in western France, particularly active in the industrial sector, dairy production, electronics. Laval is economically oriented towards Rennes, the capital of the region of Brittany. Laval proper covers 34.2 square kilometres and has a population of 51,182 inhabitants, the Laval Agglomération intercommunality is made up of 20 communes covering 433 square kilometres with 95,000 inhabitants. Laval is notably the birthplace of Henri Rousseau, a major Naïve painter, Laval also enjoys a significant architectural heritage, with its castle, portions of city walls, medieval houses, old bridges and churches. Laval is a new foundation in comparison to other French cities. That is to say that the borough was not officially mentioned prior to the 11th century, according to legend glorifying the Counts of Laval, mediaeval chroniclers portrayed the citizens of Laval as being the offspring of Charles Martels grandson Wala of Corbie. By virtue of the accounts, Laval should be a synonym for Vala or Valla—the two spelling variants of Wala. Etymologically spoken, however, the name of Laval, in all likelihood, merely stands for the valley in French, to capture the lush valley of the Mayenne river, wherein Laval is situated. This name commonly appears in other French location names, sometimes with a second word, the first mention of the town was the Latin Vallis Guidonis, meaning Guys valley, because the counts of Laval were all called Guy. On its side, the castle was usually named Castrum Guidonis or Aula Guidonis, during the 11th century, Laval is also called Castrum Vallis or simply Vallis, and Lavallis appears in 1080. Other Latin names include Valles and Castrum de Valibus, lavallum Guidonis is first written in 1239. After the Renaissance, Lavallis and Lavallium are both used by the clergy and the scholars
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Fontevraud Abbey
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It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preacher Robert of Arbrissel. The foundation flourished and became the center of a new monastic Order, the Abbey of Fontevraud itself consisted of four separate communities, all completely managed by the same abbess. The first permanent structures were built between 1110 and 1119, disestablished as a monastery during the French Revolution, it served as a prison from 1804 to 1963. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is situated in the Loire Valley between Chalonnes-sur-Loire and Sully-sur-Loire within the Loire-Anjou-Touraine French regional natural park, Robert had served as the Archpriest of the Diocese of Rennes, carrying out the reformist agenda of its bishop. When the bishop died in 1095, Robert was driven out of the due to the hostility of the local clergy. He then became a hermit in the forest of Craon, where he practiced a life of severe penance and his eloquence and asceticism attracted many followers, for whom in 1096 he founded a monastery of canons regular at La Roë, of which he was the first abbot. In that same year Pope Urban II summoned him to Angers and appointed him an apostolic missionary and his preaching drew large crowds of devoted followers, both men and women, even lepers. As a result, many men wished to embrace the religious life, when the canons of that house objected to the influx of candidates of varying social states, he resigned his office and left the community. Around 1100 Robert and his followers settled in a valley called Fons Ebraldi where he established a monastic community, initially the men and women lived together in the same house, in an ancient ascetic practice called Syneisaktism. They were recognized as a community in 1106, both by the Bishop of Angers and by Pope Paschal II. Robert, who resumed his life of itinerant preaching, appointed Hersende of Champagné to lead the community. Later her assistant, Petronilla of Chemillé, was elected as the first abbess in 1115, Robert wrote a brief Rule of Life for the community, based upon the Rule of St. Benedict. Unlike the other monastic orders characterized by double monasteries, the monks, in his Rule, Robert dealt with four points, silence, good works, food and clothing, encouraging the utmost in simplicity of life and dress. He directed that the abbess should never be chosen from among those who had brought up at Fontevrault. This latter injunction was observed only in the case of the first two abbesses and was canceled by Pope Innocent III in 1201, at the time of Roberts death in 1117, there were about 3,000 nuns in the community. In the early years the Plantagenets were great benefactors of the abbey and while Isabella dAnjou was the abbess, King Henry IIs widow, Eleanor of Aquitaine, made the abbey her place of residence. Abbess Louise de Bourbon left her crest on many of the alterations to the building which she made during her term of office. With the passing of the Plantagenet dynasty, however, Fontevrault, at the end of the 12th century, the Abbess of Fontevrault, Matilda of Flanders, complained about the extreme poverty which the abbey was suffering
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Le Mans
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Le Mans is a city in France, on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department, Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region. Its inhabitants are called Manceaux and Mancelles, since 1923, the city has hosted the internationally famous 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance sports car race. First mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy, the Roman city Vindinium was the capital of the Aulerci, Le Mans is also known as Civitas Cenomanorum, or Cenomanus. Their city, seized by the Romans in 47 BC, was within the ancient Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis, a 3rd-century amphitheatre is still visible. The thermae were demolished during the crisis of the century when workers were mobilized to build the citys defensive walls. The ancient wall around Le Mans is one of the most complete circuits of Gallo-Roman city walls to survive, as the use of the French language replaced late Vulgar Latin in the area, Cenomanus, with dissimilation, became known as Celmans. Cel- was taken to be a form of the French word for this and that, and was replaced by le, gregory of Tours mentions a Frankish sub-king Rigomer, who was killed by King Clovis I in his campaign to unite the Frankish territories. As the principal city of Maine, Le Mans was the stage for struggles in the century between the counts of Anjou and the dukes of Normandy. When the Normans had control of Maine, William the Conqueror successfully invaded England, in 1069 the citizens of Maine revolted and expelled the Normans, resulting in Hugh V being proclaimed count of Maine. Geoffrey V of Anjou married Matilda of England in the cathedral and their son Henry II Plantagenet, king of England, was born here. The airfield was declared operational on 3 September and designated as A-35 and it was used by several American fighter and transport units until late November of that year in additional offensives across France, the airfield was closed. Le Mans has an old town and the Cathédrale St-Julien, dedicated to St Julian of Le Mans. Remnants of a Roman wall are visible in the old town and these walls are highlighted every summer evening in a light show that tells the history of the town. Arboretum de la Grand Prée Part of the former Cistercian abbey de lEpau, founded by Queen Berengaria, jardin des Plantes du Mans Musée de la reine Bérengère, a museum of Le Mans history located in a gothic manor house. Musée de Tessé, the arts museum of the city, displaying painting. Le Mans has an oceanic climate influenced by the mild Atlantic air travelling inland, summers are warm and occasionally hot, whereas winters are mild and cloudy. Precipitation is relatively uniform and moderate year round, at the 1999 French census, there were 293,159 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Le Mans, with 146,105 of these living in the city proper
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Marais Poitevin
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The Marais Poitevin is a large area of marshland in western France, a remnant of the former Gulf of Poitou. With a surface of 970 square kilometres, it is the largest marsh on the Atlantic coast, extending across three departments, it is situated west of Niort, north of La Rochelle, and south of Fontenay-le-Comte. Tourism includes boating in traditional barques, which is a form of punting, there are several piers, from which boats can be hired. The myriad canals are covered in green duckweed and the marsh land is home to a varied fauna. The Marais Poitevin is also the most important area of cultivation in France. The marsh sits on limestone plateau, dating from the Jurassic period,24, 000–10,000 ybp, caused significant marine regression and the recovery of much river erosion, thus exposing the marl-limestone formations. Upon such mounds like the villages of Maillezais, Saint-Michel-en-lHerm and Marans
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Angers
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Angers is a city in western France, about 300 km southwest of Paris. It is chef-lieu of the Maine-et-Loire department and was, before the French Revolution, the inhabitants of both the city and the province are called Angevins. The commune of Angers proper, without the area, is the third most populous in northwestern France after Nantes and Rennes. Angers is the capital of Anjou and was for centuries an important stronghold in northwestern France. It is the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and was during the reign of René of Anjou one of the centers of Europe. Angers developed at the confluence of three rivers, the Mayenne, the Sarthe, and the Loir, all coming from the north and their confluence, just north of Angers, creates the Maine, a short but wide river that flows into the Loire several kilometers south. The Angers metropolitan area is an economic center in western France, particularly active in the industrial sector, horticulture. Angers proper covers 42.70 square kilometers and has a population of 147,305 inhabitants, the Angers Loire Métropole is made up of 33 communes covering 540 square kilometers with 287,000 inhabitants. Angers enjoys a cultural life, made possible by its universities. The old medieval center is dominated by the massive château of the Plantagenêts, home of the Apocalypse Tapestry. Angers is also both at the edge of the Val de Loire, a World Heritage Site, and the Loire-Anjou-Touraine regional natural park, the city is first mentioned by Ptolemy around AD150 in his Geography. It was then known as Juliomagus, a name by which it appears in the Tabula Peutingeriana. The name is a compound of the Latin name Julius and the Celtic magos, similar town dedications were common in Roman Gaul, and toponyms often kept a Gallic element. When the location needed to be distinguished from other Juliomagi, it was known as Juliomagus Andecavorum, in reference to the principal Gallic tribe in, around AD400, the city came to be referred to as the civitas Andecavorum. This was a change in Gaul, also seen in the names of Paris, Tours. During the Middle Ages, the late Latin name gradually developed into the modern one and it is successively mentioned as Andecava civitas, Andecavis, Andegavis, Angieus and Angeus. The form Angiers appeared during the 12th century and was corrupted to Angers. The Latin Andecavum gave also Anjou its name and this double formation is quite common in France and is also seen in Poitiers & Poitou and Bourges & Berry
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Rennes
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Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department, renness history goes back more than 2,000 years, at a time when it was a small Gallic village named Condate. Together with Vannes and Nantes, it was one of the cities of the historic province of Brittany. After the French Revolution, Rennes remained for most of its history a parliamentary, administrative, since the 1950s, Rennes has grown in importance through rural flight and its modern industrial development, partly automotive. The city developed extensive building plans to accommodate upwards of 200,000 inhabitants, during the 1980s, Rennes became one of the main centres in telecommunication and high technology industry. It is now a significant digital innovation centre in France, in 2015, the city is the tenth largest in France, with a metropolitan area of about 700,000 inhabitants. With more than 63,000 students in 2013, is also the eighth-largest university campus of France, the inhabitants of Rennes are called Rennais in French. In 2012, lExpress named Rennes as the most liveable city in France, Rennes is the administrative capital of the French department of Ille-et-Vilaine. It has a long history due to its location at the confluence of two rivers and its proximity to the regions from which arose various challenges to the borders of Brittany. Without inscriptions, as the Celtic practice was, the Redones coinage features a charioteer whose pony has a human head, large hoards of their coins were unearthed in the treasure of Amanlis found in June 1835 and that of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, discovered in February 1941. The museum at Rennes contains a representative collection. In 57 BC the Redones joined the Gaulish coalition against Rome which was suppressed by Crassus, in 52 BC, the Redones responded to the call of Vercingetorix to furnish a large contingent of warriors. The oldest known Rennais is Titus Flavius Postuminus, known to us from his steles found in Rennes in 1969. As indicated by his name, he would have been born under the Flavian dynasty, under the reign of Titus, one of the steles tells us, in Latin, that he took charge over all the public affairs in the Civitas Riedonum. He was twice duumvir and flamen for life for Mars Mullo, during the Roman era, the strategic position of the town contributed to its importance. To the west the principal Roman route, via Osismii, stretched from Condate Riedonum to Vorgium, in 275, the threat of barbarians led to the erection of a robust brick wall around Rennes. The Holy See of Rennes had been established by 453, with a church having occupied the site of the current Rennes Cathedral since the start of the 6th century. One of the earliest bishops of Rennes, Melaine - who would become the patron saint - played an important role in the peace treaty between the Franks and the Armoricans in 497
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La Roche-sur-Yon
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La Roche-sur-Yon is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is the capital of the department, the town expanded significantly after Napoleon I had chosen the site as the new préfecture of the Vendée on 25 May 1804, replacing Fontenay-le-Comte. At the time, most of La Roche had been eradicated in the Vendée Revolt, the renamed Napoléonville was laid out, Napoléonville was designed to accommodate 15,000 people. The town was called successively, La Roche-sur-Yon Napoléon-sur-Yon Bourbon-Vendée Napoléon-Vendée The river Yon flows southward through the commune, la-Roche-sur-Yon is chief town of two cantons, Canton of La Roche-sur-Yon-1 and Canton of La Roche-sur-Yon-2. The Gare de La Roche-sur-Yon railway station offers connections to Nantes, Paris, Les Sables-dOlonne, Bordeaux, the A87 motorway connects La Roche-sur-Yon with Les Sables-dOlonne and Angers, the A83 with Nantes and Niort. The commune has designated attendance zones for its primary schools, France hosted Australia as both teams competed for a place in the World Group quarterfinals. In 2015 La Roche-sur-Yon, will host the 2015 FIRS Mens Roller Hockey World Cup, the first time that a World Cup of roller hockey is held in France
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Cholet
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Cholet is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. It was the capital of military Vendée, in 1906 the population was 16,554, and 54,632 in 2006. Cholet stands on an eminence on the bank of the Moine. It is about 50 km southeast of Nantes, the town owes the rise of its prosperity to the settlement of weavers there by Édouard Colbert, count of Maulévrier, a brother of the great Jean-Baptiste Colbert. It then became an estate of Gabriel François, Count de Rougé and Marquess of Cholet, the main commercial mall being built this year is named after him, The Arcades Rougé. Cholet hosted Stage 4 and was the departure of Stage 5 in the 2008 Tour de France, according to the Jan 10th 1885 edition of Corbetts Herald, a temporary theatre had collapsed on an audience of 1000, causing 150 fatalities. A public garden occupies the site of the old castle, the buildings and churches. Megalithic monuments are numerous in the neighborhood, there are granite quarries in the vicinity of the town. The chief industry is the manufacture of linen and linen handkerchiefs, woolen and cotton fabrics are also produced, and bleaching and the manufacture of preserved foods are carried on. Cholet is the most important center in France for the sale of fat cattle, sheep and pigs, the Gare de Cholet railway station offers regional services towards Nantes and Angers
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Saint-Nazaire
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Saint-Nazaire is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, given its location, Saint-Nazaire has a long tradition of fishing and shipbuilding. What was a village until the industrial area became a large town in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the construction of railways. Saint-Nazaire progressively replaced Nantes as the haven on the Loire estuary. The town was one of the most damaged ones in France during World War Two, being a major marine base for the Nazis, it was subject to a British raid in 1942 and it was heavily bombed by the Allies until 1945. Being part of one of the Atlantic pockets, Saint-Nazaire was one of the last territories in Europe to be liberated from the Nazis, on 11 May 1945. Archaeologists believe that Saint-Nazaire is built upon the remnants of Corbilo, an Armorican Gaulish city populated by the Namnetes tribe, which was the second-largest Gaulish city, after Massilia. According to the 15th-century chronicler Alain Bouchart, Brutus of Troy, historical accounts note that at the end of the Roman Empire, some Britons colonized the Loire estuary, and later, the peninsula containing Guérande. The furthest extent of the ancient Breton language in the Loire region is Donges, according to the late-6th-century writer Gregory of Tours, the Roman Church sheltered the remains of the martyr Nazarius in a local basilica. According to legend, the Breton chief Waroch II sent an emissary to seize the relics, the plot was foiled when the emissary fractured his skull upon the lintel of the church door. Waroch, interpreting this as a miracle, was deterred, after this point, the history of Saint-Nazaire, like much of Europe during the Dark Ages, is not well understood. Battles occurred, such as in 1380 when Jehan dUst defended the city in the name of John V, after this time, Saint-Nazaire became the seat of a parish extending from Penhoët to Pornichet, part of the Viscountcy of Saint-Nazaire. Like the whole of Brittany, Saint-Nazaire formed part of the Duchy of Brittany until 1532, in 1624, the city was threatened by the Calvinists. In 1756, a fort was built on the order of the governor of Brittany to protect the town, until the French revolution, Saint-Nazaire belonged to the province of Brittany. At the beginning of the 19th century, the port consisted of one simple harbor. In 1800, the parish of Saint-Nazaire had around 3216 inhabitants, the modern Saint-Nazaire was created by the administration of Napoleon III, and came about from the various national and regional truces which had prevented its development up to that point. The population of 3216 in 1800 shows that history, with a mainly local, of Low-Brittany
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Saint-Paulin cheese
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Saint Paulin is a creamy, mild, semi-soft French cheese made from pasteurized cows milk, originally made by Trappist monks. It is a cheese, but firm enough for slicing. Saint Paulin is similar to Havarti and Esrom, and is suited to serving as a table or dessert cheese, it is served with fruit. Genuine Saint Paulin has an edible yellow-orange rind and it is ripened in a round loaf with slightly protruding sides, and matures in about four weeks. Port Salut, another Trappist cheese from France Cheese. com Cheeseline. com
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