Les Mathes
| Les Mathes | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente-Maritime | |
| Arrondissement | Rochefort | |
| Canton | La Tremblade | |
| Community association | Royan Atlantique | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 43 ′ N , 1 ° 9 ′ W | |
| height | 0-40 m | |
| surface | 34.38 km 2 | |
| Residents | 1,974 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 57 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 17570 | |
| INSEE code | 17225 | |
| Website | www.la-palmyre-les-mathes.com | |
 Les Mathes - Zoo in the La Palmyre district |
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Les Mathes is a western French municipality with 1974 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Charente-Maritime in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
location
Les Mathes is on between the Gironde and the Seudre located Arvert peninsula leading to the historic cultural landscape of the Saintonge is one that a part of the turn landscape of the Charente is. The next larger city is Royan (about 15 kilometers drive south).
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2016 |
| Residents | 806 | 836 | 898 | 1.005 | 1,205 | 1,452 | 1,668 | 1,962 |
In the 19th century, the place recorded a steady increase in population from around 500 to almost 900 inhabitants. Even the mechanization of agriculture in the first half of the 20th century could not stop the population increase, which is mainly due to the re-establishment of the seaside resort of La Palmyre .
economy
For centuries agriculture and handicrafts have played the dominant roles in the community's economic life. This is one of the Bons Bois of the Cognac wine-growing region , but because of the sales crisis for brandies, hardly any wine is grown anymore. Many farmers have returned to 'normal' agriculture. Tourism has played a not insignificant role in the town's economic life since the 1960s: the seaside resort of La Palmyre ensures employment and a stable income situation .
history
The first written mention of the place in 1043 refers to a transfer of the parish to the Abbey of Vaux-sur-Mer . In the 13th century, the place was affiliated with the parish of the neighboring Arvert . However, Les Mathes survived - unlike Arvert - the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and the Huguenot Wars (1562-1598) largely unscathed; in 1671 it became an independent parish. The Protestant faith, to which more than two thirds of the population in some parishes in western France adhered, lived on in the underground after it was banned by the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685) - the faithful met secretly in the dunes or in barns; there was talk of a 'church in the desert' ( Église du Desert ). It was not until the marshal and governor Jean Charles de Saint-Nectaire , who was tolerant in religious matters , that the situation for Protestants on the Arvert peninsula improved again in the middle of the 18th century. A Protestant church building ( temple ) no longer exists in Les Mathes.
Attractions
See also: List of Monuments historiques in Les Mathes
- The Catholic parish church of St-Cyr-Ste-Julitte is dedicated to Saints Quiricus and Julitta . The basic structure of the church is still medieval, but it was repeatedly redesigned in the later centuries - most recently in the years 1870–72 when the west tower was completely renewed. The nave interior of the church with its exposed brickwork of rubble stone and its wooden vault looks very harmonious; the only eye-catcher is a wooden pulpit. The octagonal baptismal font in the anteroom comes from the Notre-Dame de Buze church in the Forêt de la Coubre, which was swallowed up by the sand in the 15th century .
- Behind the church is a roofed wash house ( lavoir ) from the 19th century.
- Since 1960, on the initiative of the then mayor, the seaside resort of La Palmyre was built on the Atlantic coast and since 1966 has also had a zoological garden recognized throughout Europe (see Zoo de la Palmyre ). The height of the newly built houses and hotels in the village is based on the height of the trees (mostly maritime pines ) in the surrounding forest.
Partner communities
- Antey-Saint-André , Aosta Valley , Italy (since 1989)
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Charente-Maritime. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84234-129-5 , pp. 1144-1146.
