Loir-et-Cher is a department in the centre of France in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is named after the Loir and the Cher, two rivers that flow through the department.

Its prefecture is Blois and there are two subprefectures at Romorantin-Lanthenay and Vendôme.

History
The department is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was created from part of the former province of Orléanais together with small parts of other provinces.

The new department had six districts: Blois, Vendôme, Romorantin, Mondoubleau, Mer and Saint-Aignan. The capital (now prefecture) was Blois.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the six districts were changed into three arrondissements: Blois, Romorantin and Vendôme.

After the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), the department was occupied by the Prussian army from June 1815 to November 1818.

On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Romorantin was eliminated but in 1943 it was made again an arrondissement. In 1961, Romorantin was merged with Lanthenay and the name, of the commune and of the arrondissement, was changed to Romorantin-Lanthenay.

Geography
Loir-et-Cher is part of the Centre-Val de Loire region. It has an area of .

The highest point of the department is in the Bois des Vallèes (), in the commune of Bouffry, and that is  above sea level.

The department is bordered by the 6 departments in 2 regions:
 Centre-Val de Loire region
 Eure-et-Loir
 Loiret
 Cher
 Indre
 Indre-et-Loire
 Pays de la Loire region
 Sarthe

The main rivers are:
 Loire, that flows through the centre of the department. The city of Blois is along this river.
 Loir, a left tributary of the Sarthe; it flows through the northern part of the department.
 Cher, that flows through the southern part of the department. It is a left tributary of the Loire.
 Sauldre, a right tributary of the Cher river.

Climate 
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Vendôme is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype Cfb.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Vendôme is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Vendôme is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

Administration
The department is managed by the Departmental Council of the Loir-et-Cher in Blois. Loir-et-Cher is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 15 cantons and 276 communes (municipalities) in Loir-et-Cher.

The following is a list of the 13 cantons of the Loir-et-Cher department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 La Beauce (4101)
 Blois-1 (4102)
 Blois-2 (4103)
 Blois-3 (4104)
 Chambord (4105)
 Montoire-sur-le-Loir (4106)
 Montrichard (4107)
 Onzain (4108)
 Le Perche (4109)
 Romorantin-Lanthenay (4110)
 Saint-Aignan (4111)
 Selles-sur-Cher (4112)
 La Sologne (4113)
 Vendôme (4114)
 Vineuil (4115)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Loir-et-Cher are known, in French, as Loir-et-Chériens (women: Loir-et-Chériennes).

Loir-et-Cher has a population, in 2014, of 333,567, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Blois, with 173,125 inhabitants, is by far the largest.

Evolution of the population in Loir-et-Cher

The main cities in the department are:

Gallery

References

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Loir-et-Cher department
 Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department

Other websites

 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture website 
 Comité Departamental du Tourisme 

Departments in Centre-Val de Loire