La Flotte
La Flotte (; sometimes locally La Flotte-en-Re), is a "commune" on the Île de Ré off the western coast of France, administratively part of the department of Charente-Maritime within the larger Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is the largest municipality on the Île de Ré by area, and the second largest by population, second to Sainte-Marie-de-Ré on the southern tip of the island. La Flotte was declared one of the most beautiful villages in France by the eponymous independent tourism organization "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France," and since 2011, the town has been  a part of the departmental government's "Stone and Water Villages" tourism initiative to promote notable coastal and waterfront locales (i.e., where the stone (city) meets the water (sea, river etc.). Geography. The "commune" of La Flotte contains the town proper and a marina. The shoreline is bordered by small cliffs, and is home to Arnéult Beach, an artificial beach that has to be re-sanded each year. Town Planning. La Flotte is an urban municipality  ,  . It is in fact part of dense or intermediate density municipalities, within the meaning of the municipal density grid of INSEE  ,  . It belongs to  the urban unit of La Flotte , an intra-departmental agglomeration grouping together 2 municipalities  and 4,993 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is a city-center  ,  . In addition, the municipality is part of the attraction area of La Flotte , of which it is the central municipality  . This area, which includes 4 municipalities, is categorized in areas with less than 50,000 inhabitants  ,  . The municipality, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean , is also a coastal municipality within the meaning of the law ofJanuary 3, 1986, known as the coastal law  . From then on, specific town planning provisions apply in order to preserve natural  spaces, sites, landscapes and the ecological balance of the coast , such as for example the principle of inconstructibility, outside urbanized areas, on the strip. coastline of 100 meters, or more if the local urban plan provides for it  ,  . Land Use. The zoning of the municipality, as reflected in the database European occupation biophysical soil Corine Land Cover (CLC), is marked by the importance of the agricultural land (47% in 2018), nevertheless down from 1990 (55.1%). The detailed breakdown in 2018 is as follows: forests (34.3%), permanent crops (18.3%), urbanized areas (17.9%), heterogeneous agricultural areas (15.9%), arable land (9, 1%), meadows  (3.7%), artificial green spaces, non-agricultural (0.5%), coastal wetlands (0.4%)  . The IGN also provides an online tool to compare the evolution over time of land use in the municipality (or in territories at different scales). Several eras are accessible as aerial maps or photos: the Cassini map ( xviii  century), the map of Staff (1820-1866) and the current period (1950 to present)  . History. the November 6, 1627, the regiment of the French Guards attacks the English troops, of George Villiers duke of Buckingham , who besiege the citadel of Saint-Martin-de-Ré , defended by Jean du Caylar de Saint-Bonnet , marquis de Toiras . After causing the English assault to fail, the French Guards retreated through the town of La Flotte, burned three English vessels there in the port and returned to Fort La Prée  . Gustave Dechézeaux's native village "(October 8, 1760 - January 17, 1794)" . Member of the National Convention . Unjustly accused, he was guillotined at Rochefort then rehabilitated by the Convention onApril 18, 1795. Government. <nowiki>*</nowiki> For 1855, municipal councilor acting as mayor. <nowiki>**</nowiki> For the year 1870, from 21st of October to July, (Fourgnaud, Brin, Margotteau, Biret) municipal commission Demographics. Its inhabitants are called  the "Flottais" and the "Flottaises"  . Main article: Demography of Charente-Maritime . The town hall of La Flotte. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the population censuses carried out in the municipality since 1793. From 2006, the legal populations of the municipalities are published annually by Insee . The census is now based on an annual collection of information, successively concerning all the municipal territories over a period of five years. For municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, a census survey covering the entire population is carried out every five years, the legal populations of the intervening years  being estimated by interpolation or extrapolation . For the municipality, the first exhaustive census falling under the new system was carried out in 2006  . In 2018, the town had 2,759 inhabitants  , down 4.76% compared to 2013 ( Charente-Maritime  : + 2.13%, France excluding Mayotte  : +1.78%). From 1962 to 1999: population without double counting  ; for the following dates: municipal population . Histogram of demographic development It forms with Saint-Martin-de-Ré an urban area - called urban unit of Fleet - which brings together 5,531 people in 2008 and ranks 11  rank in the department of Charente-Maritime . Culture and Heritage. Places and Monuments. The  village is one of the most beautiful villages in France .