Arrondissement of Saintes

The **arrondissement of Saintes** is an arrondissement of France, in the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital is the city of Saintes.

## History

When the Charente-Maritime department was created on 1790, the _arrondissement_ of Saintes was part of that original department.

It was the centre of the old province of Saintonge.

## Geography

It is the largest of the _arrondissements_ of the Charente-Maritime department but the third by population. It has an area of , and a population of 128,786 inhabitants for a density of  inhabitants/km².

Saintes is in the central part of the department. It is bordered to the north by the _arrondissement_ of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, to the east by the _arrondissement_ of Cognac (Charente department), to the south by the _arrondissement_ of  Jonzac, to the southwest by the Gironde department (through the Gironde estuary), to the west and northwest by the _arrondissement_ of Rochefort.

### Cantons

After the reorganisation of the cantons in France, cantons are not subdivisions of the _arrondissements_ so they could have _communes_ that belong to different _arrondissements_.

In the _arrondissement_ of Saintes, there are only two cantons where all their "communes" are in the _arrondissement_: the Saint-Porchaire and Saintes cantons. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and _arrondissements_:

|rowspan="2"|INSEE Code || rowspan="2" | Canton || colspan="5" | Arrondissements || rowspan="2" | Total|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1702|Chaniers||||17|10|**27**|
|1718|Saint-Jean-d'Angély||3||2|36|**41**|
|1719|Saint-Porchaire||||20||**20**|
|1720|Saintes||||1||**1**|
|1721|Saintonge Estuaire||1||23||**24**|
|1722|Saujon||2||7||**9**|
|1724|Thénac|4|||21||**25**|

### Communes

The _arrondissement_ of Saintes has 89 _communes_; they are (with their INSEE codes):

1. Arces <small>(17015)</small>
1. Balanzac <small>(17030)</small>
1. Barzan <small>(17034)</small>
1. Berneuil <small>(17044)</small>
1. Beurlay <small>(17045)</small>
1. Boutenac-Touvent <small>(17060)</small>
1. Brie-sous-Mortagne <small>(17068)</small>
1. Burie <small>(17072)</small>
1. Bussac-sur-Charente <small>(17073)</small>
1. Chaniers <small>(17086)</small>
1. La Chapelle-des-Pots <small>(17089)</small>
1. Le Chay <small>(17097)</small>
1. Chenac-Saint-Seurin-d'Uzet <small>(17098)</small>
1. Chérac <small>(17100)</small>
1. Chermignac <small>(17102)</small>
1. La Clisse <small>(17112)</small>
1. Colombiers <small>(17115)</small>
1. Corme-Écluse <small>(17119)</small>
1. Corme-Royal <small>(17120)</small>
1. Courcoury <small>(17128)</small>
1. Cozes <small>(17131)</small>
1. Cravans <small>(17133)</small>
1. Crazannes <small>(17134)</small>
1. Dompierre-sur-Charente <small>(17141)</small>
1. Le Douhet <small>(17143)</small>
1. Écoyeux <small>(17147)</small>
1. Écurat <small>(17148)</small>
1. Épargnes <small>(17152)</small>
1. Les Essards <small>(17154)</small>
1. Floirac <small>(17160)</small>
1. Fontcouverte <small>(17164)</small>
1. Geay <small>(17171)</small>
1. Gémozac <small>(17172)</small>
1. Les Gonds <small>(17179)</small>
1. Grézac <small>(17183)</small>
1. La Jard <small>(17191)</small>
1. Jazennes <small>(17196)</small>
1. Luchat <small>(17214)</small>
1. Médis <small>(17228)</small>
1. Meursac <small>(17232)</small>
1. Migron <small>(17235)</small>
1. Montils <small>(17242)</small>
1. Montpellier-de-Médillan <small>(17244)</small>
1. Mortagne-sur-Gironde <small>(17248)</small>
1. Nancras <small>(17255)</small>
1. Nieul-lès-Saintes <small>(17262)</small>
1. Pessines <small>(17275)</small>
1. Pisany <small>(17278)</small>
1. Plassay <small>(17280)</small>
1. Pont-l'Abbé-d'Arnoult <small>(17284)</small>
1. Port-d'Envaux <small>(17285)</small>
1. Préguillac <small>(17289)</small>
1. Rétaud <small>(17296)</small>
1. Rioux <small>(17298)</small>
1. Romegoux <small>(17302)</small>
1. Rouffiac <small>(17304)</small>
1. Sablonceaux <small>(17307)</small>
1. Saint-André-de-Lidon <small>(17310)</small>
1. Saint-Bris-des-Bois <small>(17313)</small>
1. Saint-Césaire <small>(17314)</small>
1. Sainte-Gemme <small>(17330)</small>
1. Saint-Georges-des-Coteaux <small>(17336)</small>
1. Saint-Porchaire <small>(17387)</small>
1. Sainte-Radegonde <small>(17389)</small>
1. Saint-Romain-sur-Gironde <small>(17392)</small>
1. Saint-Romain-de-Benet <small>(17393)</small>
1. Saint-Sauvant <small>(17395)</small>
1. Saint-Sever-de-Saintonge <small>(17400)</small>
1. Saint-Simon-de-Pellouaille <small>(17404)</small>
1. Saint-Sulpice-d'Arnoult <small>(17408)</small>
1. Saint-Vaize <small>(17412)</small>
1. Saintes <small>(17415)</small>
1. Saujon <small>(17421)</small>
1. Semussac <small>(17425)</small>
1. Le Seure <small>(17426)</small>
1. Soulignonne <small>(17431)</small>
1. Talmont-sur-Gironde <small>(17437)</small>
1. Tanzac <small>(17438)</small>
1. Tesson <small>(17441)</small>
1. Thaims <small>(17442)</small>
1. Thénac <small>(17444)</small>
1. Thézac <small>(17445)</small>
1. Trizay <small>(17453)</small>
1. La Vallée <small>(17455)</small>
1. Varzay <small>(17460)</small>
1. Vénérand <small>(17462)</small>
1. Villars-en-Pons <small>(17469)</small>
1. Villars-les-Bois <small>(17470)</small>
1. Virollet <small>(17479)</small>

The _communes_ with more inhabitants in the _arrondissement_ are:

|INSEE code !! _Commune_ !! Population <small>(2014)</small> !! Canton || Intercommunality|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|17415|Saintes|25,149|Saintes|CA de Saintes|
|17421|Saujon|7,221|Saujon|CA Royan Atlantique|
|17086|Chaniers|3,543|Chaniers|CA de Saintes|
|17228|Médis|2,855|Saujon|CA Royan Atlantique|
|17172|Gémozac|2,818|Saintonge Estuaire|Gémozac et de la Saintonge Viticole|
|17336|Saint-Georges-des-Coteaux|2,650|Saint-Porchaire|CA de Saintes|
|17164|Fontcouverte|2,400|Chaniers|CA de Saintes|
|17425|Semussac|2,335|Saujon|CA Royan Atlantique|
|17131|Cozes|2,090|Saintonge Estuaire|CA Royan Atlantique|
|17387|Saint-Porchaire|1,818|Saint-Porchaire|Charente-Arnoult-Cœur de Saintonge|

## Related pages

- Arrondissements of the Charente-Maritime department
- List of arrondissements of France

## Infobox (french subdivision)

- **type**: arr
- **name**: Saintes
- **insee**: 174
- **nbcomm**: 88
- **prefecture**: n
- **seat**: Saintes, Charente-Maritime, Saintes
- **area**: 1320.4
- **image map**: Locator map of Arrondissement Saintes 2019.png
- **map caption**: Location within the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine