Loir-et-Cher

**Loir-et-Cher** is a department in the centre of France in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is named after the Loir and the Cher, two rivers that flow through the department.

Its prefecture is Blois and there are two subprefectures at Romorantin-Lanthenay and Vendôme.

## History
The department is one of the 83 French departments made during the French revolution, on 4 March 1790. The department was created from part of the former province of Orléanais together with small parts of other provinces.

The new department had six districts: Blois, Vendôme, Romorantin, Mondoubleau, Mer and Saint-Aignan. The capital (now prefecture) was Blois.

In 1800, with the creation of the *arrondissements* in France, the six districts were changed into three *arrondissements*: Blois, Romorantin and Vendôme.

The department is bordered by the 6 departments in 2 regions:
* Centre-Val de Loire region
** Eure-et-Loir
** Loiret
** Cher
** Indre
** Indre-et-Loire
* Pays de la Loire region
** Sarthe

The main rivers are:
* Loire, that flows through the centre of the department. The city of Blois is along this river.
* Loir, a left tributary of the Sarthe; it flows through the northern part of the department.
* Cher, that flows through the southern part of the department. It is a left tributary of the Loire.
* Sauldre, a right tributary of the Cher river.

### Climate 
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Vendôme is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype **Cfb**.

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

The average temperature for the year in Vendôme 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 Loir-et-Cher* in Blois. Loir-et-Cher is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire.

### Administrative divisions
There are 3 *arrondissements* (districts), 15 *cantons* and 276 *communes* (municipalities) in Loir-et-Cher.

The following is a list of the 13 cantons of the Loir-et-Cher department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

# La Beauce (4101)
# Blois-1 (4102)
# Blois-2 (4103)
# Blois-3 (4104)
# Chambord (4105)
# Montoire-sur-le-Loir (4106)
# Montrichard (4107)
# Onzain (4108)
# Le Perche (4109)
# Romorantin-Lanthenay (4110)
# Saint-Aignan (4111)
# Selles-sur-Cher (4112)
# La Sologne (4113)
# Vendôme (4114)
# Vineuil (4115)

## Demographics
The inhabitants of Loir-et-Cher are known, in French, as *Loir-et-Chériens* (women: *Loir-et-Chériennes*).

Loir-et-Cher has a population, in 2014, of 333,567, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The *arrondissement* of Blois, with 173,125 inhabitants, is by far the largest.

**Evolution of the population in Loir-et-Cher**

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 bar:1975 from:0 till: 283686
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 bar:1999 at: 314968 fontsize:S text: 314,968 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2006 at: 325183 fontsize:S text: 325,183 shift:(-18,5)
 bar:2014 at: 333567 fontsize:S text: 333,567 shift:(-18,5)

The main cities in the department are:

## Gallery

File:Blois Église Saint-Nicolas.jpg|*Saint-Nicolas* church,Blois.
File:Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher).jpg|Vendôme.
File:Arrière du Château de Chambord (41).JPG|*Château* of Chambord.
File:ChaumontRundgang05.jpg|Interior of the *Château* of Chaumont-sur-Loire.
File:Troussay01.jpg|*Château de Troussay*, in Cheverny.

## References
## Related pages
* Arrondissements of the Loir-et-Cher department
* Communes of the Loir-et-Cher department

## Other websites
* Departmental Council website 
* Prefecture website  
* Comité Departamental du Tourisme