Saintes, Charente-Maritime
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Historic district
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 Saintes
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Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
Saintes
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| Coordinates: 45°44′47″N 0°38′00″W / 45.7464°N 0.6333°WCoordinates: 45°44′47″N 0°38′00″W / 45.7464°N 0.6333°W | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente-Maritime | |
| Arrondissement | Saintes | |
| Area1 | 45.55 km2 (17.59 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 26,470 | |
| • Density | 580/km2 (1,500/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 17415 /17100 | |
| Elevation | 2–81 m (6.6–265.7 ft) (avg. 47 m or 154 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Saintes (French: [sɛ̃t]) is a commune and historic town in southwestern France, in the Charente-Maritime department of which it is a sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its inhabitants are called Saintaises and Saintais. Saintes is the second-largest city in Charente-Maritime, with 26,470 inhabitants in 2008. Its immediate surrounds form the second-most populous metropolitan area in the department, with 56,598 inhabitants, the majority of which is fertile, productive fields; a significant minority of the region remains forest, its natural state.
In Roman times, Saintes was known as Mediolanum Santonum, and during much of its history, the name of the city was spelled Xaintes and Xainctes.
Primarily built on the left bank of the Charente, Saintes became the first Roman capital of Aquitaine, and later, the capital of the province of Saintonge under the Ancien Régime. Following the French Revolution it briefly became the prefecture of the department (then called Charente-Inférieure) during the territorial reorganization of 1790, until La Rochelle took its place in 1810. Even though it was but a subprefecture, Saintes was allowed to remain the judicial center of the department. In the last third of the 19th century, Saintes was chosen as the seat of the VIIIth arrondissement of the Chemins de Fer de l'État, railways, which enabled an era of economic and demographic growth.
Today, Saintes remains the economic heart of the center of the department and it is an important transportation hub. A few major industrial business operate (in electronics, rail repair, construction of hoists). The city's commerce and service sector is large with the headquarters of Coop Atlantique, administrative functions of state, courts, legal services, banks, schools and a hospital. Beyond this, property maintenance, retail and tourism sectors provide large numbers of jobs.
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