73 Facts About Nantes

Nantes belongs historically and culturally to Brittany, a former duchy and province, and its omission from the modern administrative region of Brittany is controversial.

Nantes was identified during classical antiquity as a port on the Loire.

Nantes has been praised for its quality of life, and it received the European Green Capital Award in 2013.

Nantes is named after a tribe of Gaul, the Namnetes, who established a settlement between the end of the second century and the beginning of the first century BC on the north bank of the Loire near its confluence with the Erdre.

Nantes' name continued to evolve, becoming and during the fifth century and Nantes after the sixth, via syncope .

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In Breton, Nantes is known as or, the latter of which is less common and reflects the more-frequent use of articles in Breton toponyms than in French ones.

Nantes began to grow when Ratiatum collapsed after the Germanic invasions.

The wall in Nantes, enclosing 16 hectares, was one of the largest in Gaul.

The most spectacular Viking attack in Nantes occurred in 843, when Viking warriors killed the bishop but did not settle in the city at that time.

Nantes became part of the Viking realm in 919, but the Norse were expelled from the town in 937 by Alan II, Duke of Brittany.

Feudalism took hold in France during the 10th and 11th centuries, and Nantes was the seat of a county founded in the ninth century.

Nantes began to trade with foreign countries, exporting salt from Bourgneuf, wine, fabrics and hemp .

Rennes received most legal and administrative institutions, and Nantes kept a financial role with its Chamber of Accounts.

The Duke created an independent government in Nantes, allying with Spain and pressing for independence from France.

In 1664 Nantes was France's eighth-largest port, and it was the largest by 1700.

Nantes was an important Republican garrison on the Loire en route to England.

Twelve thousand Republican soldiers resisted and the Battle of Nantes resulted in the death of Royalist leader Jacques Cathelineau.

Nantes was seen by the convention as a corrupt merchant city; the local elite was less supportive of the French Revolution, since its growing centralisation reduced their influence.

The Drownings at Nantes were intended to kill large numbers of people simultaneously, and Carrier called the Loire "the national bathtub".

Nantes tradesmen received a tax rebate on Reunion sugar, which was lucrative until disease devastated the cane plantations in 1863.

In 1851, after much debate and opposition, Nantes was connected to Paris by the Tours–Saint-Nazaire railway.

Nantes became a major industrial city during the second half of the 19th century with the aid of several families who invested in successful businesses.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the river channels flowing through Nantes were increasingly perceived as hampering the city's comfort and economic development.

The 1970s global recession brought a large wave of deindustrialisation to France, and Nantes saw the closure of many factories and the city's shipyards.

Nantes has been noted in recent years for its climate of social unrest, marked by frequent and often violent clashes between protesters and police.

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Nantes is in north-western France, near the Atlantic Ocean and 340 kilometres south-west of Paris.

Land north of Nantes is dominated by bocage and dedicated to polyculture and animal husbandry, and the south is renowned for its Muscadet vineyards and market gardens.

The Loire in Nantes now has only two branches, one on either side of the Isle of Nantes.

Nantes was at the point where the river current and the tides cancelled each other out, resulting in siltation and the formation of the original islands.

Nantes is where one of these ridges, the Sillon de Bretagne, meets the Loire.

Elevations in Nantes are generally higher in the western neighbourhoods on the Sillon, reaching 52 metres in the north-west.

Nantes has an oceanic climate influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.

The climate in Nantes is suitable for growing a variety of plants, from temperate vegetables to exotic trees and flowers imported during the colonial era.

Nantes has 100 public parks, gardens and squares covering 218 hectares .

Nantes has three ecodistricts, which aim to provide affordable, ecological housing and counter urban sprawl by redeveloping neglected areas of the city.

Nantes is the prefecture of the Loire-Atlantique departement and the Pays de la Loire region.

Nantes is the meeting place of the region and departement councils, two elected political bodies.

The current mayor of Nantes is Johanna Rolland, who was elected on 4 April 2014.

Since 1995 Nantes has been divided into 11 neighbourhoods, each with an advisory committee and administrative agents.

Nantes Metropole, created in 1999, is administered by a council consisting of the 97 members of the local municipal councils.

Nantes' flag is derived from the naval jack flown by Breton vessels before the French Revolution.

Breton culture in Nantes is not necessarily characteristic of Lower Brittany's, although the city experienced substantial Lower Breton immigration during the 19th century.

Nantes has experienced consistent growth since the Middle Ages, except during the French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon I .

Since 2000 the population of Nantes began to rise due to redevelopment, and its urban area has continued to experience population growth.

Nantes is historically a Catholic city, with a cathedral, two minor basilicas, about 40 churches and around 20 chapels.

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Western France is traditionally religious, and the Catholic influence on Nantes was more persistent than in other large French cities.

Nantes had a small Jewish community during the Middle Ages, but Jews were expelled from Brittany in 1240 and Judaism only reappeared after the French Revolution.

Nantes signed the charter of the Public Office for the Breton Language in 2013.

Centuries, Nantes' economy was linked to the Loire and the Atlantic; the city had France's largest harbour in the 18th century.

The Nantes region is France's largest food producer; the city has recently become a hub of innovation in food security, with laboratories and firms such as Eurofins Scientific.

Nantes experienced deindustrialisation after port activity in Saint-Nazaire largely ceased, culminating in the 1987 closure of the shipyards.

Nantes capitalised on its culture and proximity to the sea to present itself as creative and modern.

The communes surrounding Nantes have industrial estates and retail parks, many along the region's ring road.

Nantes' cityscape is primarily recent, with more buildings built during the 20th century than in any other era.

Nantes has a few structures dating to antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

The Machines of the Isle of Nantes, opened in 2007 in the converted shipyards, has automatons, prototypes inspired by deep-sea creatures and a 12-metre-tall walking elephant.

Nantes has five cinemas, with others throughout the metropolitan area.

Nantes is noted for its large marionettes, and has performed in Lisbon, Berlin, London and Santiago.

Nantes has been described as the birthplace of surrealism, since Andre Breton met Jacques Vache there in 1916.

Nantes inspired Stendhal ; Gustave Flaubert ; Henry James, in his 1884 A Little Tour in France; Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues in Le Musee noir, and Paul-Louis Rossi in Nantes .

Nantes appears in a number of songs, the best-known to non-French audiences being 2007's "Nantes" by the American band Beirut.

The Nantes region is renowned in France for market gardens and is a major producer of corn salad, leeks, radishes and carrots.

Nantes has a wine-growing region, the Vignoble nantais, primarily south of the Loire.

University of Nantes was first founded in 1460 by Francis II, Duke of Brittany, but it failed to become a large institution during the Ancien Regime.

In 1961 the university was finally recreated, but Nantes has not established itself as a large university city.

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Nantes has three other grandes ecoles: the Ecole superieure du bois, the School of Design and Exi-Cesi .

FC Nantes has several French professional football records, including the most consecutive seasons in the elite division, most wins in a season, consecutive wins and consecutive home wins .

Nantes is on the Way of the Estuaries, a network of motorways connecting northern France and the Spanish border in the south-west while bypassing Paris.

Nantes built its first compressed-air tram network in 1879, which was electrified in 1911.

Nantes has developed a tram-train system, the Nantes tram-train, which would allow suburban trains to run on tram lines; the system already exists in Mulhouse and Karlsruhe, Germany.

Nantes has a satirical weekly newspaper, La Lettre a Lulu, and several specialised magazines.

Nantes is home to Millenaire Presse—the largest French publishing house dedicated to professional entertainers—which publishes several magazines, including La Scene.

Nantes is the headquarters of France 3 Pays de la Loire, one of 24 local stations of the France Televisions national public broadcaster.