Maine-et-Loire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maine-et-Loire

Coat of arms of the Maine-et-Loire department
Location

Administration
Department number:	49
Region:	Pays de la Loire
Prefecture:	Angers
Subprefectures:	Cholet Saumur Segré
Arrondissements:	4
Cantons:	41
Communes:	363
President of the General Council:	Christophe Béchu
Statistics
Population	Ranked 26th
-1999	732,942
Population density:	102/km²
Land area¹:	7166 km²

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km².

Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 Tourism
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

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 former province of Anjou. Its present name is drawn from the former province of Maine and the Loire River, which runs through it.

[edit] Geography

Maine-et-Loire is part of the current region of Pays-de-la-Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne, Sarthe, Indre-et-Loire, Vienne, Deux-Sèvres, Vendée, and Loire-Atlantique.

It has a varied 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 (689 feet/210m).

The area has many navigable rivers such as the Loire, Sarthe, Mayenne, Loir, and Authion.

[edit] Demographics

The inhabitants of Maine-et-Loire are called Angevins, from the former province of Anjou.

[edit] Tourism

The horsemen of the Cadre Noir in Saumur, the chateaux of the Loire valley, and the royal abbey at Fontevraud with its Plantagenet tombs are all major attractions.