Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.

Its prefecture is the city of Tours.

History
Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Tours as is capital. It was formed with part of the former province of Touraine.

It was divided in seven districts: Tours, Amboise, Château-Renault, Loches, Chinon, Preuilly and Langeais.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the seven districts were changed into three arrondissements: Chinon, Loches and Tours.

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 Loches was eliminated but in 1943 Loches was made again an arrondissement.

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

The department is surrounded by 5 departments that are part of three regions:
 Centre-Val de Loire region
 Loir-et-Cher department (northeast)
 Indre department (southeast)
 Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
 Vienne department (southwest)
 Pays de la Loire region
 Maine-et-Loire department (west)
 Sarthe department (north)

The highest point of the department is Signal de la Ronde () with an altitude of  high.; it is in the commune of Céré-la-Ronde in the northeast of the department on the border with the Loir-et-Cher department.

The Loire river flows through the department and divides it in two parts. The Indre, Cher and Vienne rivers join the Loire river in the Indre-et-Loire department.

Climate
This area is characterized by climates with few extremes of temperature. The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Tours is a "Marine West Coast Climate" and of the subtype "Cfb".

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

The average temperature for the year in Toulon 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
Indre-et-Loire is managed by the Departmental Council of Ardennes in Tours. The department is part of the Centre-Val de Loire region.

Administrative divisions
There are 3 arrondissements (districts), 19 cantons and 273 communes (municipalities) in Indre-et-Loire.

The following is a list of the 19 cantons of the Indre-et-Loire department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Amboise (3701)
 Ballan-Miré (3702)
 Bléré (3703)
 Château-Renault (3704)
 Chinon (3705)
 Descartes (3706)
 Joué-lès-Tours (3707)
 Langeais (3708)
 Loches (3709)
 Montlouis-sur-Loire (3710)
 Monts (3711)
 Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (3712)
 Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine (3713)
 Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (3714)
 Tours-1 (3715)
 Tours-2 (3716)
 Tours-3 (3717)
 Tours-4 (3718)
 Vouvray (3719)

Demographics
The inhabitants of the Indre-et-Loire department are known, in French, as Tourangeaux (women: Tourangelles),

Indre-et-Loire had a population, in 2014, of 603,924, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Tours, with 466,232 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Indre-et-Loire

The communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants in the department are:

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Indre-et-Loire department
 Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department

References

Other websites
 
 Departmental Council website 
 Prefecture of the Indre-et-Loire department 
 Official tourist website of Touraine Loire Valley 

Departments in Centre-Val de Loire