Poitou-Charente, France . P oitou is a historic region in west central France. Poitiers, the former capital of the region, is its chief city.
Industries produce machinery, chemicals, and dairy products.
T he region's first known inhabitants, the Pictavi, a Gallic tribe, were conquered in 56 BC by the Romans who incorporated the area into Gaul as part of the province of Aquitania. It is also a center for the wine trade. The city was much fought over and damaged during the Wars of Religion of the 16th century. Occupied since prehistory, Poitiers was called Limonum by the Romans, and in the Middle Ages it became the capital of the historic region of Poitou. The University of Poitiers was founded in 1431.