Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire
Department of France
Top down, from left to right: Château de Langeais, Chinon and the Vienne River, Château de Chenonceau and the Cher River, prefecture building in Tours, Château de Villandry
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Indre-et-Loire in France
Coordinates: 47°15′N 0°40′E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Prefecture	Tours
Subprefectures	Chinon Loches
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Jean-Gérard Paumier[1] (LR)
Area ^1
• Total	6,127 km^2 (2,366 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Total	612,160
• Rank	41st
• Density	100/km^2 (260/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	37
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	19
Communes	272
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km^2

Indre-et-Loire (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃.dʁ‿e.lwaʁ] ^ⓘ) is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.^[3] Sometimes referred to as Touraine, the name of the historic region, it is nowadays part of the Centre-Val de Loire region. Its prefecture is Tours and subprefectures are Chinon and Loches. Indre-et-Loire is a touristic destination for its numerous monuments that are part of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

History

Early times

Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments established during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Touraine and of small portions of Orléanais, Anjou and Poitou.^[4] Its prefecture, Tours, was a centre of learning in the Early Middle Ages, having been a key focus of Christian evangelisation since St Martin became its first bishop around 375. From the mid-15th century, the royal court repaired to the Loire Valley, with Tours as its capital; the confluence of the Loire River and Cher River became a centre of silk manufacturing and other luxury goods, including the wine trade, creating a prosperous bourgeoisie.

Recent years

After the creation of the department it remained politically conservative, as Honoré de Balzac recorded in several of his novels. Conservative Tours refused to welcome the railways which instead were obliged to route their lines by way of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps on the city's eastern edge. The moderate temper of the department's politics remained apparent after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870: sentiments remained predominantly pro-royalist during the early years of the Third Republic. For most of the nineteenth century, Indre-et-Loire was a rural department, but pockets of heavy-duty industrialisation began to appear towards the century's end, accompanied by left-wing politics. 1920 saw the birth of the French Communist Party at the Congress of Tours. By 1920, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps had become a major railway hub and a centre of railway workshops: it had also acquired a reputation as a bastion of working class solidarity.

Geography

Indre-et-Loire is part of the region of Centre-Val de Loire; the neighbouring departments are Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Vienne, Maine-et-Loire and Sarthe. The commune of Descartes is famous as the birthplace of French philosopher and mathematician, René Descartes.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Tours, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 10 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants:^[3]

Commune	Population (2019)
Tours	137,087
Joué-lès-Tours	38,444
Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire	16,419
Saint-Pierre-des-Corps	15,967
Saint-Avertin	14,995
Amboise	12,533
Chambray-lès-Tours	11,880
Montlouis-sur-Loire	10,868
La Riche	10,317
Fondettes	10,301

Demographics

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 268,924 —     1821 282,372 +0.24% 1836 304,271 +0.50% 1851 315,641 +0.24% 1872 317,027 +0.02% 1886 340,921 +0.52% 1901 335,541 −0.11% 1911 341,205 +0.17% 1921 327,743 −0.40% 1931 335,226 +0.23% 1946 349,685 +0.28%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1954 364,706 +0.53% 1962 395,210 +1.01% 1968 437,866 +1.72% 1975 478,597 +1.28% 1982 506,093 +0.80% 1990 529,345 +0.56% 1999 553,747 +0.50% 2006 580,312 +0.67% 2011 593,683 +0.46% 2016 606,223 +0.42% 2020 612,119 +0.24%
Sources:[5][6]

Politics

The President of the Departmental Council is Jean-Gérard Paumier of The Republicans.

Party		seats
•	Socialist Party	18
	Miscellaneous Right	8
	Union for a Popular Movement	5
•	Miscellaneous Left	2
	New Centre	2
•	French Communist Party	1

Current national assembly representatives

Constituency		Member[7]	Party
	Indre-et-Loire's 1st constituency	Philippe Chalumeau	La République En Marche!
	Indre-et-Loire's 2nd constituency	Daniel Labaronne	La République En Marche!
	Indre-et-Loire's 3rd constituency	Sophie Auconie	Union of Democrats and Independents
	Indre-et-Loire's 4th constituency	Fabienne Colboc	La République En Marche!
	Indre-et-Loire's 5th constituency	Sabine Thillaye	Ecology Democracy Solidarity

See also

• Cantons of the Indre-et-Loire department
• Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department
• Arrondissements of the Indre-et-Loire department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 4 May 2022.
2. "Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Populations légales 2019: 37 Indre-et-Loire, INSEE
4. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Indre-et-Loire" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 501.
5. "Historique d'Indre-et-Loire". Le SPLAF.
6. "Évolution et structure de la population en 2016". INSEE.
7. Nationale, Assemblée. "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.

External links

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in French) Official tourist website of Touraine Loire Valley