Vienne (department)

Vienne
Department
Prefecture building of the Vienne department, in Poitiers
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Vienne in France
Coordinates: 45.5221°N 4.8453°E / 45.5221; 4.8453
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Prefecture	Poitiers
Subprefectures	Châtellerault Montmorillon
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Alain Pichon[1]
Area ^1
• Total	6,990 km^2 (2,700 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]
• Total	439,385
• Rank	56th
• Density	63/km^2 (160/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Department number	86
Arrondissements	3
Cantons	19
Communes	266
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km^2

Vienne (French pronunciation: [vjɛn] ^ⓘ vyen; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Viéne) is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.^[3]

History

Established on 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution, Vienne is one of the original 83 departments. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou, Touraine, and Berry, the last being a part of the Duchy of Aquitaine until the 15th century.

The original Acadians, who settled in and around what is now Nova Scotia, left Vienne for North America after 1604. Kennedy (2014) argues that the emigrants carried to Canada their customs and social structure. They were frontier peoples, who dispersed their settlements based on kinship. They optimized use of farmland and emphasized trading for a profit. They were hierarchical and politically active.^[4]

Geography

The department of Vienne has an area of 6,990 km² (2,700 sq mi). Part of the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine, it borders Maine-et-Loire to the northwest, Indre-et-Loire to the north, Indre to the east, Haute-Vienne to the southeast, Charente to the south and Deux-Sèvres to the west. It is crossed by the river Vienne, a tributary of the Loire.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Poitiers, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 7,000 inhabitants:^[3]

Commune	Population (2019)
Poitiers	89,212
Châtellerault	31,487
Buxerolles	10,060
Jaunay-Marigny	7,600
Saint-Benoît	7,267
Chauvigny	7,062

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 240,990 —     1806 252,351 +0.93% 1821 260,697 +0.22% 1831 282,731 +0.81% 1841 294,250 +0.40% 1851 317,305 +0.76% 1861 322,028 +0.15% 1872 320,598 −0.04% 1881 340,295 +0.66% 1891 344,355 +0.12% 1901 336,343 −0.24% 1911 332,276 −0.12% 1921 306,248 −0.81%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1931 303,072 −0.10% 1936 306,820 +0.25% 1946 313,932 +0.23% 1954 319,208 +0.21% 1962 331,619 +0.48% 1968 340,256 +0.43% 1975 357,366 +0.70% 1982 371,428 +0.55% 1990 380,005 +0.29% 1999 399,130 +0.55% 2006 418,460 +0.68% 2011 427,193 +0.41% 2016 436,069 +0.41%
Sources:[5][6]

Politics

Édith Cresson, France's first woman prime minister from 1991 to 1992, was a deputy (MP) for the department. The president of the Departmental Council is Alain Pichon, elected in 2020.

Vienne has three arrondissements: Poitiers, the prefecture, and the subprefectures Châtellerault and Montmorillon.

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member[7]	Party
	Vienne's 1st constituency	Lisa Belluco	The Ecologists (France)
	Vienne's 2nd constituency	Sacha Houlié	La République En Marche!
	Vienne's 3rd constituency	Pascal Lecamp	MoDem
	Vienne's 4th constituency	Nicolas Turquois	MoDem

Religion

The capital, Poitiers, is the see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Poitiers, which pastorally serves the department.

Tourism and sights

The most famous tourist sites include the Futuroscope theme park, Poitiers (city of Art and History), the Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, a UNESCO world heritage site, the animal parks of Monkey's Valley in Romagne and the Crocodile Planet in Civaux.

Economy

The production of goat cheese is an important industry in Vienne.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Vienne has a partnership relationship with:

Esslingen am Neckar, Germany Berkshire, England Oulu[8] Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland

Shenzhen, China, since 1993[9][10][11] Udine, Italy Velenje, Slovenia Wrocław, Poland

Notable people

• Benoît-François Bernier (1720–1799), New France army officer, served as financial commissary of wars

Gallery

• 
  Notre-Dame of Poitiers
• 
  Saint-Martin-l'Ars
• 
  Romagne
• 
  Blanzay
• 
  Tympanum of the church of Civray

See also

• Communes of the Vienne department
• Cantons of the Vienne department
• Arrondissements of the Vienne department
• Anjou wine

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: 86 Vienne, INSEE
4. Gregory M.W. Kennedy. Something of a Peasant Paradise? Comparing Rural Societies in Acadie and the Loudunais, 1604-1755 (MQUP, 2014)
5. "Historique de la Vienne". 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.
8. "Partneri- ja kummikaupungit (Partnership and twinning cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.
9. 友好城市 (Friendly cities) Archived 2013-09-23 at the Wayback Machine, 市外办 (Foreign Affairs Office), 2008-03-22. (Translation by Google Translate.)
10. 国际友好城市一览表 (International Friendship Cities List) Archived 2012-06-02 at the Wayback Machine, 2011-01-20. (Translation by Google Translate.)
11. 友好交流 (Friendly exchanges) Archived 2014-04-10 at the Wayback Machine, 2011-09-13. (Translation by Google Translate.)

External links

• Departmental Council website (in French)
• Prefecture website (in French)
• Vienne Tourism Agency