Pays de la Loire

The Pays de la Loire is made up of the following historical provinces:

A part of Brittany, with its old capital Nantes: Loire-Atlantique department. This is only 20% of Brittany. The other 80% of Brittany make up the region
Of Bretagne.

Anjou: Maine-et-Loire department. The whole of the fomer province of Anjou is contained inside Pays de la Loire.

Maine: Mayenne and Sarthe departments. The whole of the former province
Of Maine is contained inside Payes de al Loire.

A part of Poitou: Vendee department. Most of the old province of Poitou is inside the Poitou-Charentes region.

A part of Perche: northeast of Sarthe department. The rest of Perche is inside the Basse-Normandie and Centre regions.

A small part of Touraine: southeast of Maine-et-Loire department. Most of the former province of Tourraine is inside the Centre region.

Consequently, 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”). It should be noted that the world famous chateaus of the Loire Valley are located in the Centre region, and not inside Pays de la Loire, despite the confusing name.

There are some people in the department of Loire-Atlantique and in the region of Bretagne who are unhappy with the division of Brittany between two regions and who would like to have Loire-Atlantique enter the Bretagne region in order to reunify Brittany.

Crossing centrally through the Pays-de-la-Loire is the longest of France’s rivers, The Loire, separating the departments of Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire. It is this border that boasts a unique landscape, being termed la Venenise verte – a tree lined canal system

The region of Pays-de-la-Loire is divided into five departments; Mayenne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, Loire-Atlantique and Vendee
Nantes is the departmental capital of the Loire-Atlantique, and the regional capital also. Nantes was at one time the capital of Brittany.
The departmental capital of Mayenne is Laval, which boasts an original 11th century castle, with intact defences. Surrounding this are many ancient houses. Laval also houses the 13th century Port-Salut Abbey.
The department of Mayenne lies within beautiful countryside and, traditionally, bases its industry in the weaving of furnishing fabrics.

Within Nantes can be found one of the largest of France’s ports. As a city, Nantes is developing extremely quickly, particularly within the field of modern industries. Spectacular architecture is apparent throughout the city, such as the castle and cathedral, and smaller church of Sainte Croix, located within the medieval town. Saint-Nazaire is to the West of Nantes and is an industrial town, famous for ship-building. Queen Mary 2 is just one of the many large cruise ships built in this town.

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