Maine-et-Loire is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-et-Loire to the east, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres to the south, Vendée to the south-west, and Ille-et-Vilaine to the north-west. It also borders Ille-et-Vilaine in the north for just 20 yards (19 m), France's shortest department boundary. Its prefecture is Angers; its subprefectures are Cholet, Saumur and Segré-en-Anjou Bleu. Maine-et-Loire had a population of 818,273 in 2019.
Pays de la Loire is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" ¹.
Les Sables-d'Olonne is a seaside town in Western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. A subprefecture of the department of Vendée, Pays de la Loire, it has the administrative level of commune. On 1 January 2019, the municipalities of Olonne-sur-Mer, Château-d'Olonne and Les Sables-d'Olonne merged, retaining the latter name.
Nesmy is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is located 30 km (19 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 10 km (6.2 mi) from La Roche-sur-Yon.
Cholet is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. With 54,307 inhabitants (2019), it is the second most populous commune of Maine-et-Loire, after the prefecture Angers.
Luçon is a commune in the Vendée department, Pays de la Loire region, western France. Its inhabitants are known as Luçonnais.
Les Epesses is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.
The arrondissement of La Roche-sur-Yon is an arrondissement of France in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region. It has 77 communes. Its population is 293,895 (2016), and its area is 2,489.1 km2 (961.0 sq mi).
Les Essarts is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of Essarts-en-Bocage.
For the school, see La Châtaigneraie (School)
Angles is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.
Brains is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. The commune is a part of historical Brittany, in the traditional region of Retz, and in the historical region of Nantes.
Torfou is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. Inhabitants of Torfou are known as Torfousiens and Torfousiennes.
Beaufou is a small village in the region of Pays de la Loire in western France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Vendée.
Barbâtre is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.
Sérigné is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It is located 5 km northwest from Fontenay-le-Comte and 48 km southeast from La Roche-sur-Yon, the capital city of Vendée.
La Boissière-de-Montaigu is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France.
L'Épine is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It lies on the island of Noirmoutier.
La Guérinière is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. It lies on the island of Noirmoutier. The town is protected from winter winds on the ocean side by a cordon of dunes.
The 1799 Vendée earthquake or Bouin earthquake was a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck the region on 25 January 1799 with aftershocks on the following days. Its epicenter was located at a depth of 24 km in the Bay of Bourgneuf at the level of the island of Bouin. Shocks of intensity VII–VIII were felt throughout the west of France.
