Nantes

Nantes (pronounced['nan.tes]; French pronunciation:/n PREMIUM/( listen); in galo, Naunntin the Breton, Naoned) is a French city located on the banks of the Loire River, 50 km from the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the department of Loire Atlantic and the region of Loire Countries. It is the center of a conurbation of more than 900 000 inhabitants^{[chuckles]required]}. It is considered, together with Saint-Nazaire, as the largest metropolitan area in western France. Historically, the city was within the part of Brittany where the gallon was spoken, a Romanesque language.

During the French Revolution, the defense of Nantes was a pivotal event of the War in the Vendée. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, its industrial development was one of the most important in western France.

History

Antiquity

At the time of the Roman conquest it probably bore the name "Condevicnum" and was the capital of a town called "Namnetes", whose name it later adopted (Portus Namnetum).

In Roman times, Nantes was part of the province of Lugdunense (whose capital was Lugdunum, present-day Lyon). The Námnetes, considered defeated enemies, were a civitas stipendiaria (which implied heavy taxes) and lost the territories south of the Loire. The lower Loire formed the boundary between the provinces of Aquitaine and Lugdunense and between the territories of the Namnetes and the Pictones (capital: Lemonum/ Poitiers). On the south bank of the river, opposite Nantes, the Picton port of Ratiatum/Rezé was created, where remarkable ancient remains remain today. Diocletian's reforms, at the beginning of the IV century, placed the city in the territory of the Lugdunensis tertia (capital: Tours) within the diocese of the Gauls (capital: Trier). It was also the moment of the construction of a wall (1675 m, 20 ha).

At this time, Donacian and Rogacian, sons of the city's governor, suffered martyrdom, whom Saint Claire, the first bishop of Nantes, had converted to the Christian faith in the year 277. In the IV the first cathedral was built.

Middle Ages

High Middle Ages (5th-10th centuries)

Imperial rule over Nantes ended in the early V century, and the city successively became part of the kingdom of Clovis, of the Frankish kingdom of Neustria and the Carolingian Empire. In the VI century, an important bishop was Felix of Nantes, friend of the Bishop of Poitiers and poet, Venantius Fortunatus, who wrote verses in his honor. In the Carolingian Empire during the reigns of Charlemagne and Ludovico Pío, the three counties of Nantes, Rennes and Vannes formed the Shire of Brittany, the base of the military operations of the Franks against the Bretons. It is known that in 778 the prefect of the region was Count Roldán, who died in Roncesvalles. From the end of the VIII century, the Counts of Nantes and Vannes were from a powerful family, the Widonides (often named Guido or Lamberto).

In 831, Louis Pius charged Nominoe, a Breton aristocrat from the Frankish aristocracy, with the county of Vannes and the missaticum over the Breton territories. After Ludovico's death, Nominoé tried to conquer the counties of Nantes and Rennes; he died in a battle against Charles the Bald, King of Western Francia, in 851. His son, Erispoe, defeated the Franks (battle of Jengland-Beslé, also in 851) and Charles granted him the two counties: it can be said that it was the beginning of the integration of Nantes in Brittany. But it was also the time of the Norman attacks.

The Vikings first took Nantes in 843; they killed Bishop Saint Gohard (Gunhardus) who had taken refuge with many inhabitants in the cathedral. In 853 two different groups of Scandinavians were present, Erispoé had to pay a contribution. In 869 there were Vikings on an island in Nantes and they remained there for a few years, attacking various places. In 919 another group took the city, forming a "principality" Norman for eighteen years.

They were definitively evicted in 937 by the Breton duke Alain Barbetorte, who made the city his capital. But, after his death, the dukedom passed to the Counts of Rennes.

Late Middle Ages (11th-15th centuries)

Cathedral of Nantes.

In the middle of the 11th century, Count Hoel of Cornouaille inherited the county of Nantes and married the heiress to the dukedom from Brittany. From this moment, the county of Nantes remained in the hands of the dukes. But the city was partially controlled by the bishops. In addition, the dukes of the Cornouaille dynasty (XI-XII) practiced "itinerant residence" in their various lands; in Nantes they only had a castle (X century: Bouffay castle) with a money shop. Thus the city, very small, was not a real capital.

Probably not before the XI century, the first system of bridges was built, connecting the north bank with the south bank, through the five islands of that time. A hospice (currently: Hospedal Saint-Jacques) was also established at the beginning of the Poitiers road for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, coming from Brittany or England (via Saint-Malo).

During the Hundred Years' War, Nantes was besieged by the English in 1343, attacked by the Earl of Buckingham, and later liberated by Olivier de Clisson in 1380. At the end of a long feudal war, it was again besieged in 1491 by the King of France Charles VIII, to whom she was handed over for treason, marrying Duchess Anne of Brittany to legitimize the rights she had just acquired over Anne's inheritance. The proposal was made to the states of the province on October 8, and the marriage was celebrated in the palace of Langeais on December 6; Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII, also married Anna, and his daughter Claudia was married to the succeeding King Francis I.

Modern Age

Edict of Nantes (1598).

As a result of these marriages, Brittany, as well as the city of Nantes, became officially incorporated into France, or rather, into the "royal domain", in 1532. Nantes ceased to be the capital of Brittany and the function fell to Rennes, being the seat of the Parliament and of the States of Brittany until 1789. Nantes retained the Chamber of Accounts of the province. In 1558 Calvinism was introduced in Nantes and in 1572 there would have been a massacre of reformers of the Saint-Barthélémy (Saint Barthélemy massacre), had it not been for the generous firmness of the magistrate Leloup Dubreuil who He opposed the execution of the bloody orders of the Duke of Montpensier.

During the reign of Henri III, the city, led by the governor Duke of Mercoeur, was an active member of the Catholic League, the party of the de Guise family. After the assassination of Henry III in 1589, it was not easy for the new King Henry IV, hitherto a Protestant, to subdue his kingdom; Nantes was the last of the great cities to recognize his authority. For this reason, Henry IV issued the famous Edict of Nantes here in 1598, later revoked in 1685 by King Louis XIV.

In the XV-XIX Nantes was a very important port for the Atlantic slave trade, the most important in France. The triangular trade represented an important part of the port's activity.

The population went from 40,000 to 80,000. The wealth accumulated at this time explains the numerous urban developments and constructions of that century.

Nantes siege in 1793.

During the French Revolution, on June 29, 1793, the Vendeans in the number of 50,000 men under the command of Jacques Cathelineau attacked Nantes, meeting resistance by part of the inhabitants of the city commanded by generals Beysser and Canclaux. Subsequently, two parliamentarians appeared before the city to urge them to surrender, answered by the mayor of the city named Baco Die or ensure the triumph of freedom. Then Cathelineau's army commanded by Generals Bonchamps, Spezaux Autichamp and Fleuriot took up positions to assault the city on the right bank, while Charette attacked on the left. The combat began at nine points at the same time, in a long and bloody day, some trying to assault the city and others resisting with a great sense of courage. In the end, the defeated were the Vendeans who could not with the artillery of those who resisted the siege, causing with it horrible havoc in the ranks of the attackers. The defeated Vendeans being repulsed on all sides, with their commanding general Cathelineau mortally wounded, they abandoned the place and the members of the republican guard contributed much to the success of the salvation of Nantes. After this failure, the "Royal Army" He resolved to cross the Loire and bring the theater of war to Brittany, the cities of Ancenis, Laval, Ernée, Fougères and Dol falling into his power. But then they were beaten at Granville and Le Mans; the "Royal Army" in defeat it was finally destroyed at Savenay, 40 km from Nantes.

The Republican victors in Nantes were from the Girondins party and in Paris the Convention eliminated them in the same month of June 1793. To subdue the city, the Convention sent one of its members to Nantes more energetic called Jean-Baptiste Carrier, recommending that he take prompt and effective measures against the royalists. Carrier left a memory of executions and injustices that has never been erased from the memory of its inhabitants. He was withdrawn from his mission early in 1794 and condemned after the fall of Robespierre. Subsequently, and after the events described, the city was pacified, a peace that did not last long since the Convention sent François de Charette impelled to a new war, he was caught by the republicans and shot in Nantes in 1795, thus pacifying the area from the Vendee.

Contemporary Age

CenturyXIX

Nantes around 1890. Confluence of the Erdre and Loire rivers.

In this century, Nantes developed an important industrial activity. The canning industry was started by Pierre-Joseph Colin, the first industrial user of the Appert method; then the companies Cassegrain (1856, currently in the French group Bonduelle), Saupiquet (1891, currently in the Italian group Bolton Alimentari), Amieux (currently a trademark of the Buitoni group) and Lebeaupin. Industrialists from Nantes created the many fish canneries in the Vendée and Brittany-South. The biscuit industry also gained importance with the companies Lefèvre-Utile (LU, currently in the Danone group) and Biscuiterie Nantaise (BN, currently in the English group United Biscuits) and the metallurgical industries, particularly shipbuilding. A new port was built in Saint-Nazaire from the 1860s, with a very important industrial activity (shipbuilding).

CenturyXX.

After the French border was opened to civilian refugees from the Spanish Civil War on January 28, 1939, the prefect of the Lower Loire (the name of the department at the time) was warned on the 30th that he would have to accommodate refugees. The first were hosted in children's holiday establishments on the coast (in Pornichet, Le Pouliguen, etc). Then, at the beginning of June, two camps were opened in the arrondissement of Châteaubriant: one in Moisdon-la-Rivière (Camp de la Forge) and one in Juigné- les-Moutiers. In October 1939 (date of closure), these camps housed 1,200 refugees, mainly women and children. Some had decided to be repatriated to Spain: in the month of August there were 180 candidates, but members of the PCE made counter-propaganda and only 46 were repatriated. The "agitators" communists were transferred to other camps in southern France. The situation of the refugees in the Lower Loire was less bad than in the camps for soldiers and militants in the south; the population of the rural communities of Moisdon and Juigné were very conservative and defiant or hostile to the Spanish republicans, but it seems that in the city of Châteaubriant the refugees were well received.

During World War II, Nantes was occupied by Nazi Germany from June 1940 to August 1944. The city was bombed in September 1943. After the war the city was awarded the distinction of Compagnon de la Liberation. In April 1941, the Vichy government created regional prefectures as administrative bodies above the departments, and Nantes fell within the Angers region rather than the Rennes region. After the end of World War II in Europe, this administrative level was eliminated.

In June 1955, regions were created again, leaving Nantes in the Pays de la Loire region, separated from the Breton regions. Various reforms strengthened the political role of the regions, despite which a good part of the inhabitants of Nantes continue to consider themselves culturally Bretons. The aeronautical industry appeared with the factory of the company Sud-Aviation (later: SNIAS, Aérospatiale, EADS) that participates in the Airbus programmes. Shipbuilding returned in the 1960s and the last company in this sector was closed in 1984.

The mayor since 1989, the socialist Jean-Marc Ayrault, was re-elected from the first round (55.71% of the vote) on March 9, 2008. However, when he was appointed prime minister on May 15, In 2012, after François Hollande's victory, Ayrault was succeeded by Patrick Rimbert, who was already part of the municipal government team. He was succeeded by Johanna Rolland, after the 2014 municipal elections. The city was awarded the title of European Green Capital in 2013.

Geography

The Loire, Erdre, Sèvre Nantaise, Chézine and Cens rivers cross the Nantes area.

It is 383 km from Paris.

Climate

The climate of Nantes is oceanic.

Average Nantes (France) climate parameters
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	18.2	21.4	23.8	29	32.8	37.1	40.3	39.2	36.7	31	21.8	18.4	40.3
Average temperature (°C)	8.7	9.9	12.7	14.9	18.7	21.9	24.7	24.8	21.8	17	12.2	9.5	16.4
Average temperature (°C)	5.8	6.5	8.6	10.4	14.1	17	19.4	19.4	16.8	13	8.7	6.6	12.2
Temp. medium (°C)	2.8	3	4.4	6	9.5	12	14.2	14	11.8	8.9	5.2	3.7	8
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-13.1	-15.6	-9.6	-2.9	-1.5	2.5	5.7	3.9	-0.3	-5.3	-7.8	-12.2	-15.6
Total precipitation (mm)	85.6	81.7	59.5	60	62.9	42.7	46.6	40.8	70.5	82.8	87.7	91.9	812.7
Hours of sun	72.9	106.7	145.4	182.8	198	227.9	244.7	240.1	197.1	128.4	94.8	67.9	1874.5
Source: Meteo Climat Stats Database

Demographics

Population

Hôtel de Derval, Nantes Town Hall.

• Métropole Nantes-Saint-Nazaire: 780 000 (2008)
• Nantes Urban Area: 711 100 (1999), 8th in France
• Nantes Urban Unit: 544 900 (1999), 8th in France; 24 municipalities
• Urban community Nantes Metropole580 000 (2008); 20 municipalities
• Municipality of Nantes: 277 700 (1999), 6th in France
• Other important municipalities in the urban community:
  • Saint-Herblain: 43 700 (1999)
  • Rezé: 35 500 (1999)
  • Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire: 25 200 (1999)
  • Orvault: 23 500 (1999)
  • Vertou: 18 200 (1999)
  • Couëron: 17 800 (1999)

Demographic developments

During the 1990s, Nantes grew the fastest among large French cities, going from having 252,029 inhabitants in 1990 to < span style="white-space:nowrap">277 728 in 1999.

Economy

The port of Nantes is a part of the "Autonomous Port Nantes-Saint-Nazaire". Nantes' port activity has left the city center for the industrial area of Cheviré (municipalities of Rezé and Bouguenais), downriver. The main activity here is the import of wood.

Education

There are also some higher schools independent of the University:

• the E-Artsup (closed)
• the Nantes Veterinary School (Ministry of Agriculture) Oniris (There are 4 in France)
• the National School of the Merchant Navy (Ministry of Transports), Hydro (the only one in France)
• the Higher National School of Architecture (Ministry of Culture)
• the Nantes Central Schoolcreated in 1919 (then Western Polytechnic Institute, later Higher National School of Mechanics)
• the School of Minescreated in 1990 (there are 10 in France)
• the Regional School of Fine Arts (municipal)
• the Catholic Institute of Arts and Trades (I. C. des Arts et Métiers(There are 3 in France)
• the Higher Wood School (closed)
• the Institut supérieur européen de gestion group (private)
• the School of Design (closed, Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
• the Institut supérieur européen de formation par l'action (private)
• the High School of Commerce (closed), "Audencia Business School"
• the Kinesitherapy School (closed)
• the School of Nurses

Culture

Heritage

Entrance to the castle of the Dukes of Brittany between the towers Pied-de-Biche and Boulangerie.

• The Place Royale, built between 1790 and 1794, is a square that unites the old part of the city and the new, work of Graslin. It was built on old ruined fortifications, and was originally dedicated to the French monarchy. Its architecture is truly surprising, it is a place of confluence of tourists and locals, who enjoy the gastronomic establishments that abound in their streets.
• The Cathedral of Saint Peter and St. Paul (Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul), was initiated in its current form in 1434, not being completed until 1891. This important period of construction has not meant a decrease in the quality or stylistic coherence of the cathedral. It was built at the site of the previous cathedral, which was of Romanesque style. The Cathedral was declared a Historic Monument in 1862 by the French Government.
• The Basilica of Saint Nicholas was built by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus in the centuryXIXreplacing the old, centuryXIerected along the reign of Peter I. It began to be built in 1844 and was completed in 1869, although it was not until 1882 that it was considered as a basilica. It is listed as a historic monument of France.
• The castle of the Dukes of Brittany is an ancient medieval fortress and ducal palace, renovated and adapted to the new artillery techniques on the castle, original of the centuryXIII, called Nantes Castle. The castle was the main residence of the Dukes of Brittany, since the centuryXIII Al XV. In the centuryXIX was catalogued as a Historic Monument and is currently communal property, rehabilitated for opening to the general public.
• The Puerta de San Pedro (Porte de Saint Pierre in French), is a part of the old city wall, built in the centuryXVIn Galo-Roman style. This door crosses an elegant building with a tower.
• The LU Tower, located a few meters from the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, is the emblem of the famous cookie brand of the same name. Today is a busy place, as it houses bars and restaurants.
• The Japanese Gardens are a unique green space, created on the island of Versailles, open to the public in 1987. The landscape created and structured by the gardens of rocks, waterfalls and ponds, is rich in exotic plants such as bamboo, calvo cypress, rododendros, camelia and Japanese cherry trees.
• The Santa-Cruz Church of the CenturyXVII, whose polygonal tower (recovered from the castle of Bouffay; cf. infra) has a watch.
• The Town Hall of the CenturyXVII.
• The Bag of the CenturyXVIII (currently FNAC site) by Mathurin Crucy.
• The Graslin Theatre of the CenturyVXIIIFor Mathurin Crucy.
• The chapel of San Francisco de Sales.

Monuments

• The Louis XVI column (Place Foch).
• The source of the Loire (Place Royale).
• The statue of Henry the Navigator (Place du Commerce) of 1931, by the Portuguese sculptor Francisco Franco de Souza (1885-1955).
• The Monument of the Fifty Rehenes (Cours des Cinquante Otages).
• Daniel Buren Rings of 2007: 18 large metal rings along the river on Beaulieu Island.

Urban complexes

Houses on Feydeau Island of Nantes.

• The Bouffay-Castillo neighborhood
• La Ile Feydeau
• La Place Graslin and Cours Cambronne, by Mathurin Crucy
• La Place Royaleby Mathurin Crucy
• Them Cours Saint-Pierre et Saint-André
• The Passage Pommeraye, commercial gallery opened in 1843.

Museums

Exterior of the Dobrée Museum.

• The Museum of Fine Arts, municipal.
• The Museum of the Castle of the Duques (Museum of History of Nantes), municipal.
  • Until 2003, the castle housed some museums already deteriorated; a long restoration established a unique museum with a museum tour taking advantage of the architectural peculiarities of the building.
• Dobrée Museum, departmental.
• The Julio Verne Museum.
• The Natural History Museum: geology, botany, zoology.
• The Maillé-Brézé, escort ship from the National Navy from 1957 to 1988.

Cinema

Every year a Spanish Film Festival is held.

Filmography

• 1961: LolaJacques Demy.
• 1982: Une chambre en ville (A room in the city center), by Jacques Demy; this musical film tells the relationship between a worker (Richard Berry) and a bourgeois (Dominique Sanda) in 1955, year of a great strike of naval construction in Nantes.
• 1991: Jacquot de NantesAgnès Varda.
• 1970: Les Mariés de l'an IIJean-Paul Rappeneau.

Sports

The city has several professional teams: FC Nantes for football, Nantes Erdre Futsal for futsal, Hermine de Nantes for basketball and HBC Nantes for handball.

FC Nantes plays in Ligue 1, the top division of French soccer. Its stadium is the Stade de la Beaujoire.

Twinned cities

The city is twinned with:

• Jacksonville, United States
• Saarbrücken (Germany)
• Seattle, United States
• Tiflis (Georgia)

Notable people