Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

on the west coast of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, named after the river

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. It had a population of 1,429,272 in 2019.Populations légales 2019: 44 Loire-Atlantique
INSEE

History

Loire-Atlantique is one of the original 83 departments created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on March 4, 1790. Originally, it was named Loire-Inférieure, but its name was changed in March 9, 1957 to Loire-Atlantique. The area is part of the historical

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany ( br, Dugelezh Breizh, ; french: Duché de Bretagne) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, and contains what many people still consider to be Brittany's capital,

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

. However, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the

Vichy Government Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

set up a system of regional prefectures whereby on 19 April 1941 Loire-Atlantique was excluded from the

Region of Brittany Brittany (french: Bretagne ; br, Breizh ); Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is the westernmost regions of France, region of Metropolitan France. It covers about four fifths of the territory of the historic province of Brittany. Its capit ...

and united with neighbouring French departments, under the lead of

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

. After the war these administrative changes were reimplemented in the 1955 boundary changes intended to optimise the management of the regions. There has since been a series of campaigns reflecting a strong local mood to have the department reintegrated with Brittany.

Geography

Loire-Atlantique is part of the current region of

and is surrounded by the department of

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coast ...

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; br, Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after the two rivers of the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

, and

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, with the Atlantic on the west.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is

, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 9 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants:

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Culture

Upper Brittany's indigenous language is Gallo, a romance language related to French. The number of Gallo language speakers has been in steady decline since the early 20th century. The language is neither official nor taught in primary or secondary education. In the south of the ''département'' (

Pays de Retz The Pays de Retz (; br, Bro-Raez, link=no; ) is a historical subregion of France that currently forms part of the Loire-Atlantique department, but which previously formed part of the Duchy of Brittany. The area lies between the southern shore o ...

), the local language was Poitevin dialect. The Breton language, a

Celtic language The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edwar ...

, native to Lower Brittany, was historically spoken in the western area of Loire-Atlantique, and up to 1920 in Batz-sur-Mer. This area (

Guérande Guérande (; br, Gwenrann, ; french: label= Gallo, Geraundd) is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique, and the region of Pays de la Loire, Western France. The inhabitants are referred to as ''Guérandais'' (masculine), ...

, Le Croisic, and La Baule) has a rather Breton

toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name o ...

: for instance, ''Guérande'' originates from the Breton ''Gwenn Rann'' (white or pure place). The folklore and musical traditions of eastern or Upper Brittany are generally similar to those of western or Lower Brittany.

Politics

The president of the Departmental Council is Michel Menard, elected in July 2021.

Current Deputies of the National Assembly

Current Senators

Transport

The ''département'' operates the

Lila network Lila or LILA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lila'' (album), debut album by American country music singer Lila McCann * ''Lila'' (movie), a 1968 sexploitation film * The Meaning of Lila, a comic strip written by John Forgetta and L. A. ...

( fr) of interurban buses, which link its villages, towns and cities. The urban areas of

and Saint-Nazaire operate their own urban transport networks, known as TAN and STRAN ( fr) respectively. By rail, the regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire link major towns and cities of the

and adjoining regions, including those of the ''département''. Nantes is on the TGV network, with high speed trains running to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

by the LGV Atlantique in just over 2 hours. Nantes Atlantique Airport, located 8 km to the southwest of the city of Nantes, serves the ''département'' and surrounding areas. It is the biggest airport in northwestern France, linking with several French, North African and European cities, as well as

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

in Canada.

Tourism

File:Feydeau Nantes 2.JPG,

File:Batz-s-M St Guénolé.jpg, Stained glass-window of the church of Batz-sur-Mer File:CroisicClocher.jpg, Le Croisic File:Eglise notre dame clisson.jpg, Clisson File:Le Pouliguen Grande Côte 1.jpg, Coast near Le Pouliguen

References

External links

*
Prefecture
*
Departmental Council
*
Loire-Atlantique Tourism
{{Authority control Pays de la Loire 1790 establishments in France Departments of Pays de la Loire States and territories established in 1790