Pays de la Loire

Description

Pays de la Loire 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:

Year Population of the departments Loire-Atlantique department Maine-et-Loire department Mayenne department Sarthe department Vendée department Total Pays de la Loire 1801 369,305 375,544 305,654 388,143 243,426 1,682,072 1851 535,664 516,197 374,566 473,071 383,734 2,283,232 1901 664,971 515,431 313,103 422,699 441,311 2,357,515 1921 649,691 475,485 397,292 2,174,150 1936 659,428 478,404 251,348 388,519 389,211 2,166,910 1946 665,064 393,787 2,224,163 1954 733,575 395,641 2,320,177 1962 803,372 535,122 250,030 443,019 408,928 2,440,471 1968 861,452 585,563 252,762 461,839 421,250 2,582,866 1975 934,499 629,849 261,789 490,385 450,641 2,767,163 1982 995,498 675,321 271,784 504,768 483,027 2,930,398 1990 1,050,539 704,668 277,748 513,280 508,962 3,055,197 2005 1,208,761 754,997 297,854 551,971 587,162 3,400,745

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.

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).