Nantes

For a place in Brazil, see Nantes, Brazil

Nantes (Gallo: Naunnt) is a city in western France, near the Atlantic coast. Nantes is the capital of the Pays de la Loire région, as well as the préfecture of the Loire-Atlantique département.

History

Originally founded as a town by the Celtic tribe named the Namnètes around 70 BC, it was conquered by Julius Caesar in 56 BC and named Portus Namnetus. Christianised in the 3rd century, Nantes was successively invaded by the Saxons (around 285), the Franks (around 500), the Britons (in the 6th and 7th centuries) and the Normans (in 843). In 937, Alain Barbe-Torte, grandson of the last king of Brittany who was expelled by the Normans, drove them out and founded the duchy of Brittany.

When the duchy of Brittany was annexed by the kingdom of France in 1532, Nantes kept the parliament of Brittany for a few years, before it was moved to Rennes. In 1598, King Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes here, which granted Protestants rights to their religion.

During the 18th century, prior to abolition of slavery, Nantes was the slave trade capital of France. This kind of trade led Nantes to become the first port in France and a wealthy city. When the French Revolution broke out, Nantes chose to be part of it, although the whole surrounding region soon degenerated into an open civil war against the new republic. The excesses of the revolution led to thousands of summary executions, mainly by drowning in the Loire river. In the 19th century, Nantes became an industrial city. The first public transport anywhere may have been the omnibus service initiated in Nantes in 1826. It was soon imitated in Paris, London and New York. The first railroads were built in 1851 and many industries were created.

In 1940, the city was occupied by German troops. In 1941, the murder of a German colonel caused the retaliatory execution of 48 hostages. In 1943, the city was bombed twice by British and American airplanes. Nantes was freed by the Americans in 1944. After World War II, the city slowly lost its industrial base. The harbour was moved to the very mouth of the Loire river, in Saint-Nazaire. It was only in the last 15 years of the 20th century that the city was able to move to a more modern economy.

Sites of Interest

• Castle of the Dukes of Brittany
• Cathedral Saint-Peter Saint-Paul
• Passage Pommeraye
• the new Palais de Justice, on the Île de Nantes, built in 2000, designed by Jean Nouvel

Geography

The city has a total area of 65.19 km² (25.18 mi²)

Nantes is located on the banks of the Loire river, at the confluence of the Erdre and the Sèvre Nantaise, near the river's mouth, 55 km (35 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean. The city was built in a place where many branches of the Loire river created several islands, but most of those branches were filled in at the beginning of the 20th century (and the confluence with the Erdre river diverted and covered) due to the increasing car traffic.

Nantes is divided into 11 neighborhoods, 9 on the right bank of the Loire, 1 on the left bank and 1 on the Ile-de-Nantes island.

Nantes is bordered by the cities of Basse-Goulaine, Bouguenais, Carquefou, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Couëron, Indre, La Montagne, Orvault, Rezé, Saint-Herblain, Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire, Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire and Vertou.

Demographics

As of the 1999 census, there were 270,251 inhabitants in the city (commune) of Nantes. The population density was 4260/km². There were 711,120 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (aire urbaine).

As of February 2004 estimates, the population of the city of Nantes reached 276,200 inhabitants.

Miscellaneous

Formerly the capital of Brittany, Nantes was separated from the region by the Vichy government in June 1941. Although the city has been part of the Pays de la Loire région since 1971, the feeling that Nantes belongs to Brittany is still solid nowadays. For cultural reasons, many people still identify with Brittany.

The local football team is the FC Nantes Atlantique.

The celtic band Tri Yann was originally known as Tri Yann an Naoned (the three Johns from Nantes).

Births

Nantes was the birthplace of:

• Anne of Brittany (1477–1514), queen consort of Charles VIII and Louis XII of France
• Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (1726-1803), a French "Father of the American Revolution"
• Julien de Lallande Poydras (1740-1824), a Delegate from the Orleans Territory to the United States House of Representatives
• Pierre Jacques Étienne, viscount Cambronne (1770-1842), general
• Louis Juchault de Lamoricière (1806-1865), general
• Jules Verne (1828-1905), writer and a pioneer of the science fiction (scientific romance) genre
• Jules-Élie Delaunay (1828-1891), painter
• James Tissot (1836-1902), painter
• René Waldeck-Rousseau (1846-1904), statesman
• Aristide Briand (1862-1932), statesman
• Suzanne Malherbe (1892-1972), illustrator and writer, partner of Claude Cahun
• Claude Cahun (1894-1954), surrealist photographer and writer
• Jean Leray (1906-1998), mathematician
• Jean Graton (born 1923), comic book author and cartoonist
• Marie-Hélène Aubert (born 1955), politician

Colleges and Universities

• École Centrale de Nantes
• École Polytechnique de l'université de Nantes
• École des Mines de Nantes
• The University of Nantes was created in 1460, but moved to Rennes in 1735. It was re-opened in 1962 only.

Transportation

The omnibus, the first organized public transit system within a city, appears to have been originated in Nantes in 1826.

A tram line was opened in Nantes in 1985.

See also

• Caradoc Vreichvras

External links

• City council website (in French)
• Tourist office website
• Visiting Nantes – in English