page_title: Loire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Loire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Loire River (the longest river in Europe and the widest) as it flows through Blois. Taken from the north side (with the castle on it). Français&#160;: À Blois (Loir-et-Cher, France)&#160;: la Loire, traversée par le pont Jacques-Gabriel, depuis la rive Nord. This building is inscrit au titre des Monuments Historiques. It is indexed in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture,&#160;under the reference PA00098391. brezhoneg&#160;| català&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| Ελληνικά&#160;| English&#160;| español&#160;| euskara&#160;| suomi&#160;| français&#160;| magyar&#160;| italiano&#160;| 日本語&#160;| македонски&#160;| Nederlands&#160;| português&#160;| português do Brasil&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| українська&#160;| 中文&#160;| +/−
context_page_description: The Loire is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of 1,012 kilometres, it drains an area of 117,054 km², or more than a fifth of France's land area, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.
  It rises in the winter of the southeastern quarter of the French Massif Central in the Cévennes range at 1,350 m near Mont Gerbier de Jonc; it flows north through Nevers to Orléans, then west through Tours and Nantes until it reaches the Bay of Biscay at Saint-Nazaire. Its main tributaries include the rivers Nièvre, Maine and the Erdre on its right bank, and the rivers Allier, Cher, Indre, Vienne, and the Sèvre Nantaise on the left bank.
  The Loire gives its name to six departments: Loire, Haute-Loire, Loire-Atlantique, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire, and Saône-et-Loire. The central part of the Loire Valley, located in the Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire regions, was added to the World Heritage Sites list of UNESCO on December 2, 2000. Vineyards and châteaux are found along the banks of the river throughout this section and are a major tourist attraction.
caption: The Loire as it flows through Blois.
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