, Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire is in western France, bordered by
Brittany on the northwest,
Normandy on the north,
Centre-Val de Loire on the east,
Nouvelle-Aquitaine on the south, and the
Bay of Biscay of the North
Atlantic Ocean on the southwest.
Departments and former province Pays de la Loire comprises five departments: Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Vendée. Pays de la Loire is made up of the following historical provinces: • Part of
Brittany, with its old capital
Nantes contained within the
Loire-Atlantique department. This is up to 20% of historical Brittany. The other 80% makes up the currently neighbouring
region of Brittany •
Anjou: is largely absorbed into the
Maine-et-Loire department; the rest in the immediately adjoining departments (the whole of the historical province Anjou is contained inside Pays de la Loire). •
Maine: is now divided between the
Mayenne and
Sarthe departments; the whole of the former province of Maine is contained inside Pays de la Loire. • Part of
Poitou: is contained within the
Vendée department; most of the old province of Poitou is inside the
Nouvelle-Aquitaine region to the south. • Part of
Perche: is within the northeast of
Sarthe department; the rest of Perche is inside the
Normandy and
Centre-Val de Loire regions. • Small part of
Touraine: southeast of
Maine-et-Loire department; the rest, most of the former province of Touraine is inside the Centre region. Thus the name of the region, chosen by the French central government, was not based on history, but a postwar creation of purely geographical reference: ("lands") ("of the
Loire"). The
Loire Valley, which is a
UNESCO listed
World Heritage Site since 2000, is located both in the administrative regions of Pays de la Loire and
Centre-Val de Loire. The majority of the
châteaux of the Loire Valley such as
Montsoreau,
Angers,
Saumur or
Brézé in Pays de la Loire are located in the
Maine-et-Loire department,
Pays de la Loire has numerous prominent monuments, such as the castles of
Laval, and the
Nantes Château des Ducs de Bretagne, the Royal
Fontevraud Abbey (the widest monastic ensemble in Europe), and the old city of
Le Mans. It also has many natural parks such as the
Brière and the
Marsh of Poitou. == Demography ==