Pays de la Loire

The Pays de la Loire (French pronunciation: ​[pɛ.i də la lwaʁ]; Scots: Loire Lands) are ane o the 27 regions o Fraunce. It is ane o the regions creatit in the late 20t century tae serve as a zone o influence for its caipital, Nantes, ane o a haundful so-cried "balancin metropolises" (métropoles d'équilibre)¹. Ither examples o "airtificially created" regions include Rhône-Alpes, which wis creatit as the region for Lyon, an Midi-Pyrénées, which wis creatit as the region for Toulouse.

Pays de la Loire
Region o Fraunce
Banner Official logo of Pays de la Loire
Kintra	Fraunce
Prefectur	Nantes
Departments	5 Loire-Atlantique Maine-et-Loire Mayenne Sarthe Vendée
Govrenment
• Preses	Jacques Auxiette (PS)
Area
• Total	32082 km2 (12,387 sq mi)
Population  (2009-01-01)
• Total	3,553,353
• Density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
NUTS Region	FR5
Website	paysdelaloire.fr

Geography

Pays de la Loire is made up o the follaein historical provinces:

A vine in Brem, Pays de la Loire

• a pairt o Breetany, wi its auld caipital Nantes contained athin the Loire-Atlantique depairtment. This is anerlie 20% o Breetany. The ither 80% o Breetany mak up the region o Breetany
• Anjou: is largely contained athin the Maine-et-Loire depairtment. The whole o the umwhile province o Anjou is contained inside Pays de la Loire.
• Maine: is nou dividit atween the Mayenne an Sarthe depairtments. The whole o the umwhile province o Maine is contained inside Pays de la Loire.
• a pairt o Poitou: is contained athin the Vendée depairtment. Maist o the auld province o Poitou is inside the Poitou-Charentes region.
• a pairt o Perche: is athin the northeast o Sarthe depairtment. The rest o Perche is inside the Basse-Normandie an Centre regions.
• a sma pairt o Touraine: sootheast o Maine-et-Loire depairtment. Maist o the umwhile province o Touraine is inside the Centre region.

Consequently, the name o the region, chosen bi the French central govrenment, wis no based on history, but purely on geographical references: Pays (i.e. "lands") de la Loire (i.e. "o the Loire River"). Housomeivver, the majority o the famous châteaux o the Loire Valley are locatit in the Centre region, an no inside Pays de la Loire, despite the confusin name. The Pays de la Loire present mony great monuments as the castles o Angers, Laval, Mayenne an the Nantes "Château des Ducs de Bretagne", the Royal Fontevraud Abbey (the widest monastic ensemble in Europe), the auld ceety o Le Mans, an an aw mony natural pairks such as the Brière an the Marsh o Poitou.

Demography

Evolution o the population leetit bi depairtments:

Year	Population o the depairtments
	Loire-Atlantique depairtment	Maine-et-Loire depairtment	Mayenne depairtment	Sarthe depairtment	Vendée depairtment	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

Notes

¹ In the 1960s, aicht lairge regional ceeties o Fraunce (Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse) wur made "balancin metropolises", receivin special financial an technical help frae the French govrenment in order tae coonterbalance the excessive weight o Paris inside Fraunce.

See an aw

• Grand-Ouest

Freemit airtins

• Offeecial Pays de la Loire Wabsteid
• Pays de la Loire Tourism Wabsteid Archived 2018-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Western France Tourist Board
• Nantes Tourist Office Archived 2010-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Pays de la Loire tourism guide
• Le Mans Tourist Office