Editing Indre-et-Loire (section)

==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 [[provinces of France|province]] of [[Touraine]] and of small portions of [[Orléanais]], [[Duchy of Anjou|Anjou]] and [[Poitou]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Indre-et-Loire |volume=14 |page=501}}</ref> 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 [[French Third Republic|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 [[Tours Congress|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.