Indre-et-Loire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Indre-et-Loire | |
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| Coat of arms of the Indre-et-Loire department | |
| Location | |
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| Administration | |
| Department number: | 37 |
| Region: | Centre |
| Prefecture: | Tours |
| Subprefectures: | Chinon Loches |
| Arrondissements: | 3 |
| Cantons: | 37 |
| Communes: | 277 |
| President of the General Council: | Marc Pommereau |
| Statistics | |
| Population | Ranked 41st |
| -1999 | 554,003 |
| Population density: | 90/km2 |
| Land area¹: | 6127 km2 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2. | |
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.
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[edit] History
Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Touraine.
Tours was a center of learning in the early Middle Ages.
[edit] Geography
Indre-et-Loire is part of the current region of Centre (Val de Loire) and is surrounded by the départements of Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Vienne, Maine-et-Loire, and Sarthe.
[edit] Tourism
Indre-et-Loire is home to numerous outstanding châteaux that are open to the public, among them are the following:
- Château d'Amboise
- Azay-le-Rideau
- Château de la Bourdaisière
- Château de Chenonceau
- Château de Plessis-lez-Tours
- Chinon
- Courcelles-de-Touraine
- Château de Langeais
- Marcay
- Montpoupon
- Tours
- Château de Villandry
- Château du Rivau
- Loches
[edit] See also
- Cantons of the Indre-et-Loire department
- Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department
- Arrondissements of the Indre-et-Loire department
[edit] External links
- (French) Prefecture website
- (French) General Council website
- (English) Indre-et-Loire at the Open Directory Project
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