Poitou-Charentes

Poitou-Charentes Former French Region (until 2015)
Basic data
Today part of	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Administrative headquarters	Poitiers
population  - total January 1, 2017  - density	1,807,865 inhabitants 70 inhabitants per km²
surface  - total  - share in France :	25,809 km² 4%
Departments	4th
Arrondissements	14th
Cantons	157
Communities	1,460
Formerly ISO 3166-2 code	FR-T

Poitou-Charentes [ pwaˌtuʃaˈʀɑ̃ːt ] ( poitevin-saintongeais Poetou-Chérentes , Occitan Peitau Charantas ) was a region in western France . It consisted of the departments of Charente , Charente-Maritime , Deux-Sevres and Vienne . The region had an area of ​​25,809 km² and 1,807,865 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017). The capital of the region was Poitiers . On January 1, 2016, the Poitou-Charentes region was merged with the neighboring regions of Limousin and Aquitaine to form a new region called Nouvelle-Aquitaine .

coat of arms

Description: Five golden castles on a red background.

The five castles ( les cinq châteaux ) represent the five historical landscapes of Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, Angoumois and Limousin.

history

The area of ​​today's region belonged to several historical provinces until 1789 : The Deux-Sèvres and Vienne departments were part of the Poitou , which also included the Vendée department , which today belongs to the Pays de la Loire region . The area of ​​the present-day Charente-Maritime department corresponds roughly to the historical provinces of Aunis and Saintonge , that of the Charente department corresponds to that of the Angoumois . A prominent place in the prehistory of the region is the necropolis of Bougon .

With the establishment of the regions in France in 1960, the Poitou-Charentes region was rebuilt within its current borders. In 1972 the region received the status of an établissement public under the direction of a regional prefect. The decentralization laws of 1982 gave the regions the status of collectivités territoriales ( territorial authorities ), which until then had only been enjoyed by the municipalities and the départements . In 1986 the regional councils were directly elected for the first time. Since then, the region's powers vis-à-vis the central government in Paris have been gradually expanded.

On January 1, 2016, the Poitou-Charentes region was merged with the neighboring regions of Limousin and Aquitaine to form a new region called Nouvelle-Aquitaine .

Cities

The most populous cities in the Poitou-Charentes region are:

city	Inhabitants (year)	Department
Poitiers	88,291 (2017)	Vienne
La Rochelle	75,735 (2017)	Charente-Maritime
Niort	58,707 (2017)	Deux-Sèvres
Angoulême	41,740 (2017)	Charente
Châtellerault	31,840 (2017)	Vienne
Saintes	25,470 (2017)	Charente-Maritime
Rochefort	24,151 (2017)	Charente-Maritime
Bressuire	19,519 (2017)	Deux-Sèvres
cognac	18,825 (2017)	Charente
Royan	18,398 (2017)	Charente-Maritime

Political structure

The Poitou-Charentes region was divided into four departments :

Department	prefecture	ISO 3166-2	Arrondissements	Cantons	Communities	Inhabitants (year)	Area (km²)	Density (inh / km²)
Charente	Angoulême	FR-16	3	35	404	352,335 (2017)	5,956	59.2
Charente-Maritime	La Rochelle	FR-17	5	51	472	644.303 (2017)	6,864	93.9
Deux-Sèvres	Niort	FR-79	3	33	303	374.351 (2017)	5,999	62.4
Vienne	Poitiers	FR-86	3	38	281	436,876 (2017)	6,990	62.5

economy

An important branch of the economy is still agriculture, the most famous product of which is cognac .

In comparison with the GDP of the European Union expressed in purchasing power standards , the region achieved an index of 91.0 in 2006 (EU-27 = 100).

See also

• List of Presidents of the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes since 1986

Web links

Wiktionary: Poitou-Charentes  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Commons : Poitou-Charentes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Poitou-Charentes region (French)
• Prefecture of the Poitou-Charentes region (French)
• Poitou-Charentes: at the starting point in the south-west of France official website (German)
• Comité Régional du Tourisme Poitou-Charentes Official tourism website of the region (German)
• The Poitou-Charentes region and its main tourist sites (English)
• La Rochelle Poitou-Charentes News (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eurostat press release 23/2009: Regional GDP per inhabitant in the EU27 (PDF file; 360 kB)

Coordinates: 46 ° 8 '  N , 0 ° 10'  E