Vienne

This article is about a department of France. For the city in France, see Vienne, Isère.

For other uses, see Vienne (disambiguation).

Vienne
—  Department  —
Coat of arms
Location of Vienne in France
Coordinates: 46°30′N 00°30′E
Country	France
Region	Poitou-Charentes
Prefecture	Poitiers
Subprefectures	Châtellerault Montmorillon
Government
• President of the General Council	Claude Bertaud
Area
• Total	6,990 km2 (2,700 sq mi)
Population (2007)
• Total	421,891
• Rank	56th
• Density	Bad rounding here60/km2 (Bad rounding here160/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Department number	86
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	38
Communes	281
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Vienne (French pronunciation: ​[vjɛn]) is a department in the Poitou-Charentes region of France named after the river Vienne.

History

Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou, Touraine, and Berry. The original Acadians who settled in Nova Scotia and what is today other maritime provinces of Canada, left Vienne for North America after 1604.

Economy

Goat cheese making is an important industry of Vienne.

Tourism and sights

The most famous tourist sites include the Futuroscope theme park, Poitiers (city of Art and History), the Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, a UNESCO world heritage site, the animal parks of Monkey's Valley in Romagne & the Crocodile Planet in Civaux.

See also

• Communes of the Vienne department
• Cantons of the Vienne department
• Arrondissements of the Vienne department
• Anjou wine

External links

• (English) French Vienne Tourism Agency
• (French) General Council website