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Poitou-Charente

Poitou-Charentes
Region of France
Flag of Poitou-Charentes
Flag
Poitou-Charentes in France.svg
Country  France
Prefecture Poitiers
Departments
Government
 • President Jean-François Macaire (PS)
Area
 • Total 25,809 km2 (9,965 sq mi)
Population (2007-01-01)
 • Total 1,722,000
 • Density 67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code FR-T
GDP (2012) Ranked 15th
Total €45.0 billion (US$62.96 bn)
Per capita €25,166 (US$35,212)
NUTS Region FR5
Website poitou-charentes.fr

Poitou-Charentes (French pronunciation: [pwatu ʃaʁɑ̃t]) is a former administrative region in south-western France. It is part of the new region Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprises four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. Historical provinces are Angoumois, Aunis, Saintonge and Poitou.

The regional capital is Poitiers. Other important cities are La Rochelle, Niort, Angoulême, Châtellerault, Saintes, Rochefort and Royan.

The regional council is composed of 56 members. The region is the home of France's losing presidential candidate Socialist Ségolène Royal in the election of 2007.

In French its residents are known as Picto-Charentais. In 2003, the region ranked 15th out of 26 in population. In area it ranked 12th in size.

Three regional languages, Poitevin, Saintongeais and Occitan (Limousin, Marchois) are spoken by a minority of people in the region.


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