Charente-Maritime

**Charente-Maritime** (Saintongeais: _Chérente-Marine_) is a department on the west coast of France in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is named after the Charente river, the most important river in the department, and its position along the coast.

Its prefecture is the city of La Rochelle.

## History

The department, as _Charente-Inférieure_ ("Lower Charente" because it was in the lower part of the Charente river), is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790.

It was created from parts of the old provinces of Saintonge and Aunis and small parts of Poitou and Angoumois.

The new department had seven districts: La Rochelle, Rochefort, Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Saintes, Pons, Montlieu and Marennes. The capital (now prefecture) was Saintes alternating with La Rochelle and Saint-Jean-d'Angély but soon was changed and Saintes was kept as the only capital.

In 1800, with the creation of the _arrondissements_ in France, the seven districts were changed into six _arrondissements_: Saintes, Jonzac, Marennes, Rochefort, La Rochelle and Saint-Jean-d'Angély and in 1810 the capital was moved to La Rochelle.

On 10 September 1926, the _arrondissements_ of Marennes and Saint-Jean-d'Angély were eliminated. In 1943, Saint-Jean-d'Angély was made again an _arrondissement_.

On 4 Septembre 1941, the name of the department was changed from _Charente-Inférieure_ to the present name of **Charente-Maritime**.

## Geography

Charente-Maritime is part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It has an area of .

The highest point in the department is in the woods of Chantemerlière, near the commune of Contré in the northeast, and that is  high.

The department is bordered by the departments: Vendée, Deux-Sèvres, Charente, Dordogne and Gironde.

The main rivers are the Charente and its tributaries, the Boutonne and the Seugne, along with the Sèvre Niortaise, the Seudre, and the Garonne in its downstream part, which is the estuary of the Gironde.

The department includes the islands of:
- Île de Ré
- Île d'Aix
- Île d'Oléron, the largest island of Metropolitan France; it is  long and  wide, with an area of
- Île Madame, the smallest of the four islands.

### Climate

The climate of La Rochelle is an oceanic climate with template summers, **Cfb** (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

The average amount of precipitation for the year in La Rochelle is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is July with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in La Rochelle 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 Charente-Maritime_ in La Rochelle. Charente-Maritime is part of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

### Administrative divisions

There are 5 _arrondissements_ (districts), 27 _cantons_ and 469 _communes_ (municipalities) in Charente-Maritime.

|INSEE code !!Arrondissement !! Capital !! Population <small>(2014)</small> !! Area <small>(km²)</small> !! Density <small>(Inh./km²)</small> !! _Communes_|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|171|Jonzac|Jonzac|56,973|1,529.9||129|
|172|Rochefort|Rochefort|187,843|1,527.5||82|
|173|La Rochelle|La Rochelle|210,151|817.7||58|
|174|Saintes|Saintes|128,786|1,546.5||89|
|175|Saint-Jean-d'Angély|Saint-Jean-d'Angély|53,336|1,442.2||111|

The following is a list of the 27 cantons of the Charente-Maritime department (with their INSEE codes), following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

1. Aytré <small>(1701)</small>
1. Chaniers <small>(1702)</small>
1. Châtelaillon-Plage <small>(1703)</small>
1. Île d'Oléron <small>(1704)</small>
1. Île de Ré <small>(1705)</small>
1. La Jarrie <small>(1706)</small>
1. Jonzac <small>(1707)</small>
1. Lagord <small>(1708)</small>
1. Marans <small>(1709)</small>
1. Marennes <small>(1710)</small>
1. Matha <small>(1711)</small>
1. Pons <small>(1712)</small>
1. Rochefort <small>(1713)</small>
1. La Rochelle-1 <small>(1714)</small>
1. La Rochelle-2 <small>(1715)</small>
1. La Rochelle-3 <small>(1716)</small>
1. Royan <small>(1717)</small>
1. Saint-Jean-d'Angély <small>(1718)</small>
1. Saint-Porchaire <small>(1719)</small>
1. Saintes <small>(1720)</small>
1. Saintonge Estuaire <small>(1721)</small>
1. Saujon <small>(1722)</small>
1. Surgères <small>(1723)</small>
1. Thénac <small>(1724)</small>
1. Tonnay-Charente <small>(1725)</small>
1. La Tremblade <small>(1726)</small>
1. Les Trois Monts <small>(1727)</small>

## Demographics

The inhabitants of Charente-Maritime are known, in French, as _Charentais maritimes_ (women: _Charentaises maritimes_).

Charente-Maritime has a population, in 2014, of 637,089, for a population density of  inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>. The _arrondissement_ of Rochelle, with 210,151 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other four, Rochefort,  Saintes, Jonzac and Saint-Jean-d'Angély, have respectively 187,843, 128,786, 56,973 and 53,336 inhabitants.

**Evolution of the population in Charente-Maritime**

The 10 main cities in the department are:

|City|Population <small>(2014)</small>|Arrondissement|
| --- | --- | --- |
|La Rochelle|74,998|La Rochelle|
|Saintes|25,149|Saintes|
|Rochefort|24,300|Rochefort|
|Royan|18,388|Rochefort|
|Aytré|8,821|La Rochelle|
|Tonnay-Charente|7,926|Rochefort|
|Périgny|7,866|La Rochelle|
|Saujon|7,221|Saintes|
|Lagord|7,199|La Rochelle|
|Saint-Jean-d'Angély|7,123|Saint-Jean-d’Angély|

## Related pages

- Arrondissements of the Charente-Maritime department

## Other websites

- Departmental Council website
- Prefecture website
- Charente Maritime Tourisme

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Charente-Maritime
- **type**: Departments of France, Department
- **image skyline**: 920 - Hôtel Poupet Préfecture 40 rue Réaumur - La Rochelle.jpg
- **image alt**: Prefecture building of the Vienne department
- **image caption**: Prefectures in France, Prefecture building of the Charente-Maritime department, in La Rochelle
- **image flag**: CharenteMaritimeFlag.png
- **image shield**: Blason département fr Charente-Maritime.svg
- **shield size**: 75px
- **image map**: Charente-Maritime-Position.svg
- **map caption**: Location of  Charente-Maritime in France
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: France
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of France, Region
- **subdivision name1**: Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- **established title**: Département
- **established date**: 4 March 1790
- **seat type**: Prefectures in France, Prefecture
- **seat**: La Rochelle
- **parts type**: Prefectures in France, Subprefectures
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Jonzac
- **p2**: Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort
- **p3**: Saintes, Charente-Maritime, Saintes
- **p4**: Saint-Jean-d'Angély
- **leader title**: President of the Departmental Council, President
- **leader name**: Dominique Bussereau
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 6863.8
- **population total**: 637089
- **population as of**: 2014
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Charentais maritimes
- **blank name sec2**: Arrondissements of France, Arrondissements
- **blank info sec2**: 5
- **blank1 name sec2**: Cantons in France, Cantons
- **blank1 info sec2**: 27
- **blank2 name sec2**: Communes in France, Communes
- **blank2 info sec2**: 469
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +1
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +2
- **iso code**: FR-17
- **website**: [https://la.charente-maritime.fr/ Official website]