Indre-et-Loire

Template:Short description Template:Infobox settlement Indre-et-Loire (Template:IPA) is a department in west-central France named after the Indre River and Loire River. In 2019, it had a population of 610,079.<ref name=pop2019>Populations légales 2019: 37 Indre-et-Loire, INSEE</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</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 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:<ref name=pop2019/>

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

Politics

Template:Update section The President of the Departmental Council is Jean-Gérard Paumier of The Republicans.

Party		seats
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |•	Socialist Party	18
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Miscellaneous Right	8
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Union for a Popular Movement	5
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |•	Miscellaneous Left	2
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	New Centre	2
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |•	French Communist Party	1

Current national assembly representatives

Constituency		Member<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Party
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Indre-et-Loire's 1st constituency	Philippe Chalumeau	La République En Marche!
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Indre-et-Loire's 2nd constituency	Daniel Labaronne	La République En Marche!
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Indre-et-Loire's 3rd constituency	Sophie Auconie	Union of Democrats and Independents
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Indre-et-Loire's 4th constituency	Fabienne Colboc	La République En Marche!
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	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

<references />

External links

• Template:In lang Prefecture website
• Template:In lang Departmental Council website
• Template:In lang Official tourist website of Touraine Loire Valley