Pays de la Loire

Pays de la Loire
Region of France
Flag Logo
Country	France
Prefecture	Nantes
Departments	5 Loire-Atlantique Maine-et-Loire Mayenne Sarthe Vendée
Government
• President	Jacques Auxiette (PS)
Area
• Total	32,082 km2 (12,387 sq mi)
Population
• Total	3,553,353
• Density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	FR-R
GDP (2012)[1]	Ranked 5th
Total	€101.2 billion (US$130.2 bn)
Per capita	€27,775 (US$35,725)
NUTS Region	FR5
Website	paysdelaloire.fr

Pays de la Loire (French pronunciation: ​; Breton: Broioù al Liger) is one of the 27 regions of France. It is one of the regions created in the late 20th century to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful so-called "balancing metropolises" (métropoles d'équilibre)¹. Other examples of "artificially created" regions include Rhône-Alpes, which was created as the region for Lyon, and Midi-Pyrénées, which was created as the region for Toulouse.

Geography

Pays de la Loire is made up of the following historical provinces:

• Part of Brittany, with its old capital Nantes contained within the Loire-Atlantique department. This is only 20% of historical Brittany. The other 80% of historical Brittany makes up the region of Brittany
• Anjou: is largely contained within the Maine-et-Loire department; the whole of the former province of Anjou is contained inside Pays de la Loire.
• Maine: is now divided between the Mayenne and Sarthe departments; the whole of the former province of Maine is contained inside Pays de la Loire.
• Part of Poitou: is contained within the Vendée department; most of the old province of Poitou is inside the Poitou-Charentes region.
• Part of Perche: is within the northeast of Sarthe department; the rest of Perche is inside the Basse-Normandie and Centre regions.
• Small part of Touraine: southeast of Maine-et-Loire department; most of the former province of Touraine is inside the Centre region.

A vine in Brem, Pays de la Loire

Thus the name of the region, chosen by the French central government, was not based on history, but purely on geographical references: Pays (i.e., "lands") de la Loire (i.e. "of the Loire River"). The majority of the famous châteaux of the Loire Valley are located in the Centre region, and not inside Pays de la Loire, despite the apparent reference to the river in the name.

The Pays de la Loire has numerous prominent monuments, such as the castles of Angers, Laval, and Mayenne, and the Nantes Château des Ducs de Bretagne, the Royal Fontevraud Abbey (the widest monastic ensemble in Europe), and the old city of Le Mans. In addition, it also has many natural parks such as the Brière and the Marsh of Poitou.

Demography

Evolution of the population listed by departments:

An increase in the population was seen particularly as people migrated from all over France to the Loire region due to the rise of Nantes to prominence.

Major communities

The biggest city in Pays de la Loire is Nantes, which is the sixth most populated city in France with over 290,000 people (city proper) and a metropolitan population of almost 900,000.

Half-timbered houses in Angers

Angers is another metropolis of the region. It has a metropolitan population of about 400,000 and is the third biggest job provider in north-western France, just behind Nantes and Rennes.

Le Mans is another city in Pays de la Loire. Situaded in north-east Pays de la Loire, Le Mans is home to over 300,000 (metropolitan population).

• Nantes
• Angers
• Le Mans
• La Roche-sur-Yon
• Cholet
• Saint-Nazaire
• Laval

Notes

¹ In the 1960s, eight large regional cities of France (Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse) were made "balancing metropolises", receiving special financial and technical help from the French government in order to counterbalance the excessive weight of Paris inside France.

See also

• Grand-Ouest

References

External links

• Pays de la Loire : a place with a thousand and one faces- Official French website (in English)
• Official Pays de la Loire Website
• Pays de la Loire Tourism Website
• Nantes Tourist Office
• Le Mans Tourist Office
• Pays de Loire Information Page
  • Loire Atlantique Information Page
• Maine et Loire Information Page
• Mayenne Information Page
• Sarthe Information Page
• Vendee Information Page
• National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of France
  • France Census Search Engine