Nantes

Nantes Naunnt/Nantt ( Prefecture and commune
Top to bottom, left to right: the Loire in central Nantes; the Château des ducs de Bretagne; the passage Pommeraye, and the île de Nantes between the branches of the Loire
Latin: Favet Neptunus eunti (Neptune favours the traveller)
Location of Nantes
Nantes Métropole
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Johanna Rolland[1] (PS)
Area 1	65.19 km2 (25.17 sq mi)
• Urban  (2018)	498.6 km2 (192.5 sq mi)
• Metro  (2018)	3,471.1 km2 (1,340.2 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	323,204
• Rank	6th in France
• Density	5,000/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
• Urban  (2018)	655,187
• Urban density	1,300/km2 (3,400/sq mi)
• Metro  (2018)	997,222
• Metro density	290/km2 (740/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Nantais (masculine) Nantaise (feminine)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	44109 /44000, 44100, 44200 and 44300
Dialling codes	02
Website	metropole.nantes.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Nantes (/nɒ̃t/, US also /nɑːnt(s)/,^[3][4][5] French: [nɑ̃t] ^ⓘ; Gallo: Naunnt or Nantt [nɑ̃(ː)t];^[6] Breton: Naoned [ˈnãunət])^[7] is a city in Loire-Atlantique of France on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 320,732 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabitants (2020).^[8] With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms one of the main north-western French metropolitan agglomerations.

It is the administrative seat of the Loire-Atlantique department and the Pays de la Loire region, one of 18 regions of France. 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

In 2020, the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked Nantes as a Gamma world city. It is the third-highest-ranking city in France, after Paris and Lyon. The Gamma category includes cities such as Algiers, Orlando, Porto, Turin and Leipzig.^[9] Nantes has been praised for its quality of life, and it received the European Green Capital Award in 2013.^[10] The European Commission noted the city's efforts to reduce air pollution and CO₂ emissions, its high-quality and well-managed public transport system and its biodiversity, with 3,366 hectares (8,320 acres) of green space and several protected Natura 2000 areas.^[11]

Etymology

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. The origin of the name Namnetes is uncertain, but is thought to come from the Gaulish root *nant- 'river, stream'^[12] (from the pre-Celtic root *nanto 'valley')^[13] or from Amnites, another tribal name possibly meaning 'men of the river'.^[14]

Its first recorded name was by the Greek writer

The Namnete root of the city's name was introduced at the end of the Roman period, when it became known as Portus Namnetum "port of the Namnetes"[19] and civitas Namnetum 'city of the Namnetes'.^[18] Like other cities in the region (including Paris), its name was replaced during the fourth century with a Gaulish one: Lutetia became Paris (city of the Parisii), and Darioritum became Vannes (city of the Veneti).^[20] Nantes's name continued to evolve, becoming Nanetiæ and Namnetis during the fifth century and Nantes after the sixth, via syncope (suppression of the middle syllable).^[21]

Modern pronunciation and nicknames

Nantes is pronounced

Prehistory and antiquity

The first inhabitants of what is now Nantes settled during the Bronze Age, later than in the surrounding regions (which have Neolithic monuments absent from Nantes). Its first inhabitants were apparently attracted by small iron and tin deposits in the region's subsoil.^[26] The area exported tin, mined in Abbaretz and Piriac, as far as Ireland.^[27] After about 1,000 years of trading, local industry appeared around 900 BC; remnants of smithies dated to the eighth and seventh centuries BC have been found in the city.^[28] Nantes may have been the major Gaulish settlement of Corbilo, on the Loire estuary, which was mentioned by the Greek historians Strabo and Polybius.^[28]

Its history from the seventh century to the Roman conquest in the first century BC is poorly documented, and there is no evidence of a city in the area before the reign of

Because tradesmen favoured inland roads rather than Atlantic routes,[32] Nantes never became a large city under Roman occupation. Although it lacked amenities such as a theatre or an amphitheatre, the city had sewers, public baths and a temple dedicated to Mars Mullo.^[29] After an attack by German tribes in 275, Nantes's inhabitants built a wall; this defense also became common in surrounding Gaulish towns.^[33] The wall in Nantes, enclosing 16 hectares (40 acres), was one of the largest in Gaul.^[34]

Christianity was introduced during the third century. The first local martyrs (Donatian and Rogatian) were executed in 288–290,^[35] and a cathedral was built during the fourth century.^[36][31]

Middle Ages

Like much of the region, Nantes was part of the

The marriage of Anne of Brittany to Charles VIII of France in 1491 began the unification of France and Brittany which was ratified by Francis I of France in 1532. The union ended a long feudal conflict between France and Brittany, reasserting the king's suzerainty over the Bretons. In return for surrendering its independence, Brittany retained its privileges.^[49] Although most Breton institutions were maintained, the unification favoured Rennes (the site of ducal coronations). Rennes received most legal and administrative institutions, and Nantes kept a financial role with its Chamber of Accounts.^[50] During the French Wars of Religion from 1562 to 1598, the city was a Catholic League stronghold. The Duke of Mercœur, governor of Brittany, strongly opposed the succession of the Protestant Henry IV of France to the throne of France in 1589. The Duke created an independent government in Nantes, allying with Spain and pressing for independence from France. Despite initial successes with Spanish aid, in 1598 he submitted to Henry IV (who had by then converted to Catholicism); the Edict of Nantes (legalising Protestantism in France) was signed in the town, concluding the French wars of religion. Nonetheless, the town remained fervently Catholic (by contrast to nearby La Rochelle), and the local Protestant community did not number more than 1,000.^[51]

Coastal navigation and the export of locally produced goods (salt, wine and fabrics) dominated the local economy around 1600.^[45] During the mid-17th century, the siltation of local salterns and a fall in wine exports compelled Nantes to find other activities.^[52] Local shipowners began importing sugar from the French West Indies (Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue) in the 1640s, which became very profitable after protectionist reforms implemented by Jean-Baptiste Colbert prevented the import of sugar from Spanish colonies (which had dominated the market).^[53] In 1664 Nantes was France's eighth-largest port, and it was the largest by 1700.^[54] Plantations in the colonies needed labour to produce sugar, rum, tobacco, indigo dye, coffee and cocoa, and Nantes shipowners began trading African slaves in 1706.^[55] The port was part of the triangular trade: ships went to West Africa to buy slaves, slaves were sold in the French West Indies, and the ships returned to Nantes with sugar and other exotic goods.^[45] From 1707 to 1793, Nantes was responsible for 42 percent of the French slave trade; its merchants sold about 450,000 African slaves in the West Indies.^[56]

Manufactured goods were more lucrative than raw materials during the 18th century. There were about fifteen sugar refineries in the city around 1750 and nine cotton mills in 1786.^[57] Nantes and its surrounding area were the main producers of French printed cotton fabric during the 18th century,^[58] and the Netherlands was the city's largest client for exotic goods.^[57] Although trade brought wealth to Nantes, the city was confined by its walls; their removal during the 18th century allowed it to expand. Neoclassical squares and public buildings were constructed, and wealthy merchants built sumptuous hôtels particuliers.^[59][60]

French Revolution

The French Revolution initially received some support in Nantes, a bourgeois city rooted in private enterprise. On 18 July 1789, locals seized the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany in an imitation of the storming of the Bastille.^[61] Rural western France, Catholic and conservative, strongly opposed the abolition of the monarchy and the submission of the clergy.^[62] A rebellion in the neighbouring Vendée began in 1793, quickly spreading to surrounding regions. Nantes was an important Republican garrison on the Loire en route to England. On 29 June 1793, 30,000 Royalist troops from Vendée attacked the city on their way to Normandy (where they hoped to receive British support). Twelve thousand Republican soldiers resisted and the Battle of Nantes resulted in the death of Royalist leader Jacques Cathelineau.^[63] Three years later another Royalist leader, François de Charette, was executed in Nantes.^[64]

After the Battle of Nantes, the

The French Revolution was disastrous for the local economy. The slave trade nearly disappeared because of the abolition of slavery and the independence of Saint-Domingue, and Napoleon's Continental Blockade decimated trade with other European countries. Nantes never fully recovered its 18th-century wealth; the port handled 43,242 tons of goods in 1807, down from 237,716 tons in 1790.^[45]

Industries

Outlawed by the French Revolution, the slave trade re-established itself as Nantes's major source of income in the first decades of the 19th century.^[45] It was the last French port to conduct the illegal Atlantic trade, continuing it until about 1827.^[65] The 19th-century slave trade may have been as extensive as that of the previous century, with about 400,000 slaves deported to the colonies.^[66] Businessmen took advantage of local vegetable production and Breton fishing to develop a canning industry during the 1820s,^[67] but canning was eclipsed by sugar imported from Réunion in the 1840s and 1850s. Nantes tradesmen received a tax rebate on Réunion sugar, which was lucrative until disease devastated the cane plantations in 1863.^[68] By the mid-19th century, Le Havre and Marseille were the two main French ports; the former traded with America and the latter with Asia. They had embraced the Industrial Revolution, thanks to Parisian investments; Nantes lagged behind, struggling to find profitable activities. Nostalgic for the pre-revolutionary golden age, the local elite had been suspicious of political and technological progress during the first half of the 19th century. In 1851, after much debate and opposition, Nantes was connected to Paris by the Tours–Saint-Nazaire railway.^[65]

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. In 1900, the city's two main industries were food processing and shipbuilding. The former, primarily the canning industry, included the biscuit manufacturer LU and the latter was represented by three shipyards which were among the largest in France. These industries helped maintain port activity and facilitated agriculture, sugar imports, fertilizer production, machinery and metallurgy, which employed 12,000 people in Nantes and its surrounding area in 1914.^[69] Because large, modern ships had increased difficulty traversing the Loire to reach Nantes, a new port in Saint-Nazaire had been established at the mouth of the estuary in 1835. Saint-Nazaire, primarily developed for goods to be transhipped before being sent to Nantes, also built rival shipyards. Saint-Nazaire surpassed Nantes in port traffic for the first time in 1868.^[70] Reacting to the growth of the rival port, Nantes built a 15-kilometre-long (9.3 mi) canal parallel to the Loire to remain accessible to large ships. The canal, completed in 1892, was abandoned in 1910 because of the efficient dredging of the Loire between 1903 and 1914.^[71]

Land reclamation

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. Sand siltation required dredging, which weakened the quays; one quay collapsed in 1924. Embankments were overcrowded with railways, roads and tramways. Between 1926 and 1946, most of the channels were filled in and their water diverted. Large thoroughfares replaced the channels, altering the urban landscape. Feydeau and Gloriette Islands in the old town were attached to the north bank, and the other islands in the Loire were formed into the

Nantes has been noted in recent years for its climate of social unrest, marked by frequent and often violent clashes between protesters and police. Tear gas is frequently deployed during protests.[81] The city has a significant ultra-left radical scene, owing in part to the proximity of the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes.^[82] Masked rioters have repeatedly ransacked shops, offices and public transport infrastructure.^{[83][84][85][86]} The death of Steve Maia Caniço in June 2019 has led to accusations of police brutality and cover-ups.^[87]

Geography

Location

Nantes is in north-western France, near the Atlantic Ocean and 340 kilometres (210 miles) south-west of Paris. Bordeaux, the other major metropolis of western France, is 275 kilometres (171 miles) south. Nantes and Bordeaux share positions at the mouth of an estuary, and Nantes is on the Loire estuary.^[88]

The city is at a natural crossroads between the ocean in the west, the centre of France (towards

The Loire is about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) long and its estuary, beginning in Nantes, is 60 kilometres (37 miles) in length.^[89] The river's bed and banks have changed considerably over a period of centuries. In Nantes the Loire had divided into a number of channels, creating a dozen islands and sand ridges. They facilitated crossing the river, contributing to the city's growth. Most of the islands were protected with levees during the modern era, and they disappeared in the 1920s and 1930s when the smallest waterways were filled in. The Loire in Nantes now has only two branches, one on either side of the Isle of Nantes.^[90]

The river is tidal in the city, and tides are observed about 30 kilometres (19 miles) further east.^[89] The tidal range can reach 6 metres (20 feet) in Nantes, larger than at the mouth of the estuary.^[94] This is the result of 20th-century dredging to make Nantes accessible by large ships; tides were originally much weaker. 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.^[95][96][97]

The city is at the confluence of two tributaries. The Erdre flows into the Loire from its north bank, and the Sèvre Nantaise flows into the Loire from its south bank. These two rivers initially provided natural links with the hinterland. When the channels of the Loire were filled, the Erdre was diverted in central Nantes and its confluence with the Loire was moved further east. The Erdre includes Versailles Island, which became a Japanese garden during the 1980s. It was created in the 19th century with fill from construction of the Nantes–Brest canal.^[98]

Geology

Nantes is built on the

The Sillon de Bretagne is composed of granite; the rest of the region is a series of low plateaus covered with silt and clay, with mica schist and sediments found in lower areas. Much of the old town and all of the Isle of Nantes consist of backfill.^[99] Elevations in Nantes are generally higher in the western neighbourhoods on the Sillon, reaching 52 metres (171 feet) in the north-west.^[100] The Erdre flows through a slate fault.^[90] Eastern Nantes is flatter, with a few hills reaching 30 metres (98 feet).^[100] The city's lowest points, along the Loire, are 2 metres (6.6 feet) above sea level.^[100]

Climate

Nantes has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb)^[101][102] influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. West winds produced by cyclonic depressions in the Atlantic dominate, and north and north-west winds are also common.^[103] Slight variations in elevation make fog common in valleys, and slopes oriented south and south-west have good insolation. Winters are cool and rainy, with an average temperature of 6 °C (43 °F); snow is rare. Summers are warm, with an average temperature of 20 °C (68 °F). Rain is abundant throughout the year, with an annual average of 820 millimetres (32 inches). 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.^[92][104]

Urban layout

Nantes's layout is typical of French towns and cities. It has a historical centre with old monuments, administrative buildings and small shops, surrounded by 19th-century faubourgs surrounded by newer suburban houses and public housing. The city centre has a medieval core (corresponding to the former walled town) and 18th-century extensions running west and east. The northern extension, Marchix, was considered squalid and nearly disappeared during the 20th century. The old town did not extend south before the 19th century, since it would have meant building on the unsteady islands in the Loire.^[110]

The medieval core has narrow streets and a mixture of half-timbered buildings, more recent sandstone buildings, post-World War II reconstruction and modern redevelopment. It is primarily a student neighbourhood, with many bars and small shops. The eastern extension (behind Nantes Cathedral) was traditionally inhabited by the aristocracy, and the larger western extension along the Loire was built for the bourgeoisie. It is Nantes's most-expensive area, with wide avenues, squares and hôtels particuliers.^[111] The area was extended towards the Parc de Procé during the 19th century. The other faubourgs were built along the main boulevards and the plateaus, turning the valleys into parks.^[112] Outside central Nantes several villages, including Chantenay, Doulon, L'Eraudière and Saint-Joseph-de-Porterie, were absorbed by urbanisation.^[113]

After

The 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8 sq mi) Isle of Nantes is divided between former shipyards on the west, an old faubourg in its centre and modern housing estates on the east. Since the 2000s, it has been subject to the conversion of former industrial areas into office space, housing and leisure facilities. Local authorities intend to make it an extension of the city centre. Further development is also planned on the north bank along an axis linking the train station and the Loire.[110]

Parks and environment

Nantes has 100 public parks, gardens and squares covering 218 hectares (540 acres).^[115] The oldest is the Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden created in 1807. It has a large collection of exotic plants, including a 200-year-old Magnolia grandiflora and the national collection of camellia.^[116] Other large parks include the Parc de Procé, Parc du Grand Blottereau and Parc de la Gaudinière, the former gardens of country houses built outside the old town. Natural areas, an additional 180 hectares (440 acres), include the Petite Amazonie (a Natura 2000 protected forest) and several woods, meadows and marshes. Green space (public and private) makes up 41 percent of Nantes's area.^[115]

The city adopted an ecological framework in 2007 to reduce greenhouse gases and promote energy transition.^[117] Nantes has three ecodistricts (one on the Isle of Nantes, one near the train station and the third in the north-east of the city), which aim to provide affordable, ecological housing and counter urban sprawl by redeveloping neglected areas of the city.^[118]

Governance

Local government

Nantes is the préfecture (capital city) of the Loire-Atlantique département and the Pays de la Loire région. It is the residence of a région and département prefect, local representatives of the French government. Nantes is also the meeting place of the région and département councils, two elected political bodies.

The city is administered by a mayor and a council, elected every six years. The council has 65 councillors.^[119] It originated in 1410, when John V, Duke of Brittany created the Burghers's Council. The assembly was controlled by wealthy merchants and the Lord Lieutenant. After the union of Brittany and France, the burghers petitioned the French king to give them a city council which would enhance their freedom; their request was granted by Francis II in 1559. The new council had a mayor, ten aldermen and a crown prosecutor. The first council was elected in 1565 with Nantes's first mayor, Geoffroy Drouet.^[120] The present city council is a result of the French Revolution and a 4 December 1789 act. The current mayor of Nantes is Johanna Rolland (Socialist Party), who was elected on 4 April 2014. The party has held a majority since 1983, and Nantes has become a left-wing stronghold.^[121]

Since 1995, Nantes has been divided into 11 neighbourhoods (quartiers), each with an advisory committee and administrative agents. City-council members are appointed to each quartier to consult with the local committees. The neighbourhood committees, existing primarily to facilitate dialogue between citizens and the local government, meet twice a year.^[122]

Like most

Local authorities began using official symbols in the 14th century, when the provost commissioned a seal on which the Duke of Brittany stood on a boat and protected Nantes with his sword. The present coat of arms was first used in 1514; its ermines symbolise Brittany, and its green waves suggest the Loire.^[126]

Nantes's coat of arms had ducal emblems before the French Revolution: the belt cord of the

Before the revolution, Nantes's motto was "Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine" ("The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord", a line from a grace). It disappeared during the revolution, and the city adopted its current motto—"Favet Neptunus eunti" ("Neptune favours the traveller")^[126]—in 1816. Nantes's flag is derived from the naval jack flown by Breton vessels before the French Revolution. The flag has a white cross on a black one; its quarters have Breton ermines except for the upper left, which has the city's coat of arms. The black and white crosses are historic symbols of Brittany and France, respectively.^[127]

Nantes and Brittany

Nantes and the Loire-Atlantique département were part of the historic province of

Debate continues about Nantes's place in Brittany, with polls indicating a large majority in Loire-Atlantique and throughout the historic province favouring Breton reunification.^[136] In a 2014 poll, 67 percent of Breton people and 77 percent of Loire-Atlantique residents favoured reunification.^[137] Opponents, primarily Pays de la Loire officials, say that their region could not exist economically without Nantes. Pays de la Loire officials favour a union of Brittany with the Pays de la Loire, but Breton politicians oppose the incorporation of their region into a Greater West region.^[138] Nantes's city council has acknowledged the fact that the city is culturally part of Brittany, but its position on reunification is similar to that of the Pays de la Loire.^[139] City officials tend to consider Nantes an open metropolis with its own personality, independent of surrounding regions.^[140]

Twin towns – sister cities

Nantes is twinned with:^[141]

Cooperation agreements

Partnership agreements have been signed with cities in developing countries, including:^[150]

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 80,000 —     1800 77,162 −0.51% 1806 77,226 +0.01% 1821 68,427 −0.80% 1831 77,992 +1.32% 1841 83,389 +0.67% 1846 94,310 +2.49% 1851 96,362 +0.43% 1856 108,530 +2.41% 1861 113,625 +0.92% 1866 111,956 −0.30% 1872 118,517 +0.95% 1876 122,247 +0.78% 1881 124,319 +0.34% 1886 127,482 +0.50% 1891 122,750 −0.75% 1896 123,902 +0.19% 1901 132,990 +1.43%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 133,247 +0.04% 1911 170,535 +5.06% 1921 183,704 +0.75% 1926 184,509 +0.09% 1931 187,343 +0.31% 1936 195,185 +0.82% 1946 200,265 +0.26% 1954 222,790 +1.34% 1962 240,028 +0.94% 1968 260,244 +1.36% 1975 256,693 −0.20% 1982 240,539 −0.92% 1990 244,995 +0.23% 1999 270,251 +1.10% 2009 282,047 +0.43% 2014 298,029 +1.11% 2020 320,732 +1.23%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Source: EHESS[151] and INSEE (1968–2020)[152]

Nantes had 320,732 inhabitants in 2020, the largest population in its history.

The population of Nantes is younger than the national average, with 44.3 percent under age 29 (France 35.3 percent). People over age 60 account for 18.7 percent of the city's population (France 26.4 percent).[152] Single-person households are 53.1 percent of the total, and 16.4 percent of households are families with children.^[157] Young couples with children tend to move outside the city because of high property prices, and most newcomers are students (37 percent) and adults moving for professional reasons (49 percent). Students generally come from within the region, and working people are often from Paris.^[110] In 2020, the unemployment rate was 10.5 percent of the active population (France 9.5 percent, Loire-Atlantique 7.9 percent).^[158] The poorest council estates had unemployment rates of 22 to 47 percent.^[110] Of those employed, 59.5 percent were in intermediate or management positions, 24.1 percent were employees and 11.4 percent were workers in 2020.^[158] In 2020, 39.7 percent of the population over 15 had a higher-education degree and 12.9 percent had no diploma.^[159]

Ethnicity and languages

Nantes has long had ethnic minorities. Spanish, Portuguese and Italian communities were mentioned during the 16th century, and an Irish Jacobite community appeared a century later. However, immigration has always been lower in Nantes than in other large French cities. The city's foreign population has been stable since 1990, half the average for other French cities of similar size.^[110] France does not have ethnic or religious categories in its census, but counts the number of people born in a foreign country. In 2013 this category had 24,949 people in Nantes, or 8.5 percent of the total population. The majority (60.8 percent) were 25 to 54 years old. Their primary countries of origin were Algeria (13.9 percent), Morocco (11.4 percent) and Tunisia (5.8 percent). Other African countries accounted for 24.9 percent, the European Union 15.6 percent, the rest of Europe 4.8 percent and Turkey 4.3 percent.^[160]

The city is part of the territory of the langues d'oïl, a dialect continuum which stretches across northern France and includes standard French. The local dialect in Nantes is Gallo, spoken by some in Upper Brittany. Nantes, as a large city, has been a stronghold of standard French. A local dialect (parler nantais) is sometimes mentioned by the press, but its existence is dubious and its vocabulary mainly the result of rural emigration.^[161] As a result of 19th-century Lower Breton immigration, Breton was once widely spoken in parts of Nantes.^[162] Nantes signed the charter of the Public Office for the Breton Language in 2013. Since then, the city has supported its six bilingual schools and introduced bilingual signage.^[163]

Economy

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

The city has one of the best-performing economies in France, producing

In 2021, 79.8 percent of the city's businesses were involved in trade, transport and services; 12.2 percent in public administration, education and health; 4.4 percent in construction, and 3.6 percent in industry.[176] Although industry is less significant than it was before the 1970s, Nantes is France's second-largest centre for aeronautics.^[177] The European company Airbus produces its fleet's wingboxes and radomes in Nantes, employing about 2,000 people.^[178] The city's remaining port terminal still handles wood, sugar, fertiliser, metals, sand and cereals, ten percent of the total Nantes–Saint-Nazaire harbour traffic (along the Loire estuary).^[179] The Atlanpole technopole, in northern Nantes on its border with Carquefou, intends to develop technological and science sectors throughout the Pays de la Loire. With a business incubator, it has 422 companies and 71 research and higher-education facilities and specialises in biopharmaceuticals, information technology, renewable energy, mechanics, food production and naval engineering.^[180] Creative industries in Nantes had over 9,000 architectural, design, fashion, media, visual-arts and digital-technology companies in 2016, a 15 percent job-creation rate between 2007 and 2012 and have a hub under construction on the Isle of Nantes.^[181]

Architecture

Nantes's cityscape is primarily recent, with more buildings built during the 20th century than in any other era.^[182] The city has 127 buildings listed as monuments historiques, the 19th-ranked French city.^[183] Most of the old buildings were made of tuffeau stone (a light, easily sculpted sandstone typical of the Loire Valley) and cheaper schist. Because of its sturdiness, granite was often used for foundations. Old buildings on the former Feydeau Island and the neighbouring embankments often lean because they were built on damp soil.^[184]

Nantes has a few structures dating to antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Remnants of the third-century Roman city wall exist in the old town.^[185] The Saint-Étienne chapel, in the Saint-Donatien cemetery outside the city centre, dates to 510 and was originally part of a Roman necropolis.^[186] The Roman city walls were largely replaced during the 13th and 15th centuries. Although many of the walls were destroyed in the 18th century, some segments (such as Porte Saint-Pierre, built in 1478) survived.^[187]

Several 15th- and 16th-century

After the

Most of Nantes's churches were rebuilt during the 19th century, a period of population growth and religious revival after the French Revolution. Most were rebuilt in Gothic Revival style, including the city's two basilicas: Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Donatien. The first, built between 1844 and 1869, was one of France's first Gothic Revival projects. The latter was built between 1881 and 1901, after the Franco-Prussian War (which triggered another Catholic revival in France). Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port, near the Loire, is an example of 19th-century neoclassicism. Built in 1852, its dome was inspired by that of Les Invalides in Paris.^[194] The Passage Pommeraye, built in 1840–1843, is a multi-storey shopping arcade typical of the mid-19th century.^[195]

Industrial architecture includes several factories converted into leisure and business space, primarily on the

Nantes has several museums. The

Events and festivals

The Royal de Luxe street theatre company moved to Nantes in 1989, and has produced a number of shows in the city. The company is noted for its large marionettes (including a giraffe, the Little Giant and the Sultan's Elephant), and has also performed in Lisbon, Berlin, London and Santiago.^[212] Former Royal de Luxe machine designer François Delarozière created the Machines of the Isle of Nantes and its large walking elephant in 2007. The Machines sponsor theatre, dance, concerts, ice-sculpting shows and performances for children in the spring and fall and at Christmastime.^[213]

Estuaire contemporary-art exhibitions were held along the Loire estuary in 2007, 2009 and 2012.^[214] They left several permanent works of art in Nantes and inspired the Voyage à Nantes, a series of contemporary-art exhibitions across the city which has been held every summer since 2012. A route (a green line painted on the pavement) helps visitors make the voyage between the exhibitions and the city's major landmarks. Some works of art are permanent, and others are used for a summer.^[215] Permanent sculptures include Daniel Buren's Anneaux (a series of 18 rings along the Loire reminiscent of Atlantic slave trade shackles) and works by François Morellet and Dan Graham.^[216]

La Folle Journée (The Mad Day, an alternate title of Pierre Beaumarchais' play The Marriage of Figaro) is a classical music festival held each winter. The original one-day festival now lasts for five days. Its programme has a main theme (past themes have included exile, nature, Russia and Frédéric Chopin), mixing classics with lesser-known and -performed works. The concept has been exported to Bilbao, Tokyo and Warsaw, and the festival sold a record 154,000 tickets in 2015.^[217] The September Rendez-vous de l'Erdre couples a jazz festival with a pleasure-boating show on the Erdre,^[218] exposing the public to a musical genre considered elitist; all concerts are free. Annual attendance is about 150,000.^[219] The Three Continents Festival is an annual film festival dedicated to Asia, Africa and South America, with a Mongolfière d'or (Golden Hot-air Balloon) awarded to the best film. Nantes also hosts Univerciné (festivals dedicated to films in English, Italian, Russian and German) and a smaller Spanish film festival. The Scopitone festival is dedicated to digital art, and Utopiales is an international science fiction festival.^[220]

Slavery Memorial

Main article: Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery

A path along the

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appear on the slanted frosted glass wall which lined the memorial wall opposite the pillars which open to the river. These quotes come from across the globe, from all four continents affected by the slave trade, and span over five centuries, from the 17th to the 21st. At the end of the hall, toward the exit, is a room with the timeline of slavery as it became abolished in various countries around the world.^[221]

In the arts

Nantes has been described as the birthplace of surrealism, since André Breton (leader of the movement) met Jacques Vaché there in 1916.^[222] In Nadja (1928), André Breton called Nantes "perhaps with Paris the only city in France where I have the impression that something worthwhile may happen to me".^[223] Fellow surrealist Julien Gracq wrote The Shape of a City, published in 1985, about the city. Nantes also inspired Stendhal (in his 1838 Mémoires d'un touriste); Gustave Flaubert (in his 1881 Par les champs et par les grèves, where he describes his journey through Brittany); Henry James, in his 1884 A Little Tour in France; André Pieyre de Mandiargues in Le Musée noir (1946), and Paul-Louis Rossi in Nantes (1987).^[224]

The city is the hometown of

Nantes appears in a number of songs, the best-known to non-French audiences being 2007's "Nantes" by the American band Beirut. French-language songs include "Nantes" by Barbara (1964) and "Nantes" by Renan Luce (2009). The city is mentioned in about 50 folk songs, making it the most-sung-about city in France after Paris. "Dans les prisons de Nantes" is the most popular, with versions recorded by Édith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Tri Yann and Nolwenn Leroy. Other popular folk songs include "Le pont de Nantes" (recorded by Guy Béart in 1967 and Nana Mouskouri in 1978), "Jean-François de Nantes" (a sea shanty) and the bawdy "De Nantes à Montaigu".^[225]

British painter J. M. W. Turner visited Nantes in 1826 as part of a journey in the Loire Valley, and later painted a watercolour view of Nantes from Feydeau Island. The painting was bought by the city in 1994, and is on exhibit at the Historical Museum in the castle.^[226] An engraving of this work was published in The Keepsake annual for 1831, with an illustrative poem entitled The Return. by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. Turner also made two sketches of the city, which are in collections at Tate Britain.^[227]

Cuisine

During the 19th century Nantes-born

Local fishing ports such as La Turballe and Le Croisic mainly offer shrimp and sardines, and eels, lampreys, zander and northern pike are caught in the Loire.^[228] Local vegetables and fish are widely available in the city's eighteen markets, including the Talensac covered market (Nantes's largest and best known). Although local restaurants tend to serve simple dishes made with fresh local products, exotic trends have influenced many chefs in recent years.^[228]

The

Nantes has several large sports facilities. The largest is the Stade de la Beaujoire, built for UEFA Euro 1984. The stadium, which also hosted matches during the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup, has 37,473 seats. The second-largest venue is the Hall XXL, an exhibition hall on the Stade de la Beaujoire grounds. The 10,700-seat stadium was selected as a venue for the 2017 World Men's Handball Championship. Smaller facilities include the 4,700-seat indoor Palais des Sports, a venue for EuroBasket 1983. The nearby Mangin Beaulieu sports complex has 2,500 seats and Pierre Quinon Stadium, an athletics stadium within the University of Nantes, has 790 seats. La Trocardière, an indoor 4,238-seat stadium, is in Rezé.^[236] The Erdre has a marina and a centre for rowing, sailing and canoeing, and the city has six swimming pools.^[237]

Six teams in Nantes play at a high national or international level. Best known is

The city is linked to Paris by the A11 motorway, which passes through Angers, Le Mans and Chartres. 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. The network serves Rouen, Le Havre, Rennes, La Rochelle and Bordeaux. South of Nantes, the road corresponds to the A83 motorway; north of the city (towards Rennes) it is the RN137, a free highway. These motorways form a 43-kilometre (27 mi) ring road around the city, France's second longest after the ring in Bordeaux.^[239]

Nantes's central railway station is connected by TGV trains to Paris, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg. The LGV Atlantique high-speed railway reaches Paris in two hours, ten minutes (compared with four hours by car). With almost 12 million passengers each year, the Nantes station is the sixth-busiest in France outside Paris.^[240] In addition to TGV trains, the city is connected by Intercités trains to Rennes, Vannes, Quimper, Tours, Orléans, La Rochelle and Bordeaux.^[241] Local TER trains serve Pornic, Cholet or Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.^[242]

Nantes Atlantique Airport in Bouguenais, 8 kilometres (5 miles) south-west of the city centre, serves about 80 destinations in Europe (primarily in France, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Greece) and connects airports in Africa, the Caribbean and Canada.^[243] Air traffic has increased from 2.6 million passengers in 2009 to 4.1 million in 2014, while its capacity has been estimated at 3.5 million passengers per year.^[244] A new Aéroport du Grand Ouest in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of Nantes, was projected from the 1970s, to create a hub serving north-western France. Its construction was however strongly opposed, primarily by green and anti-capitalist activists. The potential construction site was long occupied and the project became a political topic on the national scale. The French government eventually decided to renounce to the project in 2018.^{[245][246][247]}

Public transport in Nantes is managed by Semitan, also known as "Tan". One of the world's first horsebus transit systems was developed in the city in 1826. Nantes built its first compressed-air tram network in 1879, which was electrified in 1911. Like most European tram networks, Nantes's disappeared during the 1950s in the wake of automobiles and buses. However, in 1985 Nantes was the first city in France to reintroduce trams.^[248] The city has an extensive public-transport network consisting of trams, buses and river shuttles. The Nantes tramway has three lines and a total of 43.5 kilometres (27 miles) of track. Semitan counted 132.6 million trips in 2015, of which 72.3 million were by tram.^[249] Navibus, the river shuttle, has two lines: one on the Erdre and the other on the Loire. The latter has 520,000 passengers annually and succeeds the Roquio service, which operated on the Loire from 1887 to the 1970s.^[250]

Nantes has also 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 (in eastern France) and Karlsruhe, Germany. The city has two tram-train lines: Nantes-Clisson (southern) and Nantes-Châteaubriant (northern). Neither is yet connected to the existing tram network, and resemble small suburban trains more than tram-trains. The Bicloo bicycle-sharing system has 880 bicycles at 103 stations.^[251]

Nantes Public Transportation statistics

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 40 minutes. 7.1% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 12 minutes, while 16.8% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 5 km, while 2% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.^[252]

Media

The local press is dominated by the Ouest-France group, which owns the area's two major newspapers: Ouest-France and Presse-Océan. Ouest-France, based in Rennes, covers north-western France and is the country's best-selling newspaper. Presse-Océan, based in Nantes, covers Loire-Atlantique. The Ouest-France group is also a shareholder of the French edition of 20 Minutes, one of two free newspapers distributed in the city. The other free paper is Direct Matin, which has no local edition. The news agency Médias Côte Ouest publishes Wik and Kostar, two free magazines dedicated to local cultural life. Nantes has a satirical weekly newspaper, La Lettre à Lulu, and several specialised magazines. Places publiques is dedicated to urbanism in Nantes and Saint-Nazaire; Brief focuses on public communication; Le Journal des Entreprises targets managers; Nouvel Ouest is for decision-makers in western France, and Idîle provides information on the local creative industry. Nantes is home to Millénaire Presse—the largest French publishing house dedicated to professional entertainers—which publishes several magazines, including La Scène.^[253] The city publishes a free monthly magazine, Nantes Passion, and five other free magazines for specific areas: Couleur locale (Les Dervallières), Écrit de Bellevue, Malakocktail (Malakoff), Mosaïques (Nantes-Nord) and Zest for the eastern neighbourhoods.^[254]

National radio stations

Nantes is the headquarters of France 3 Pays de la Loire, one of 24 local stations of the France Télévisions national public broadcaster. France 3 Pays de la Loire provides local news and programming for the region.^[256] The city is also home to Télénantes, a local, private television channel founded in 2004. Primarily a news channel, it is available in Loire-Atlantique and parts of neighbouring Vendée and Maine-et-Loire.^[257]

Notable residents

• Duke of Brittany
  (1187-probably 1203), was born in Nantes
• Duchess
  queen consort
  , was born in Nantes
• General
• Joseph Fouché (1763-1820), statesman, was educated there
• Pierre Cambronne (1770-1842), naval officer
• Floresca Guépin (1813–1889), feminist, teacher, school founder
• Jules Verne (1828-1905), science fiction writer
• Jules Vallès (1832-1885), journalist and activist
• Athanase-Charles-Marie Charette de la Contrie (1832-1911), a French royalist military commander
• Georges Clemenceau (1841-1929), statesman
• Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (1846-1904), statesman, 29th Prime Minister of France)
• Antoinette Van Leer Polk (1847-1919), baroness
• Jules-Albert de Dion (1856-1946), automotive pioneer
• Aristide Briand (1862-1932), 1926 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate
• surrealist
• André Breton (1896–1996), writer and poet, studied medicine in the city
• Paul Nizan (1905-1940), philosopher and writer
• Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), composer
• Julien Gracq (1910-2007), writer
• Denys de La Patellière (1921-2013), film director
• Robert Badinter (born 1928), lawyer, politician and author
• Jacques Demy (1931-1990), film director
• Éric Tabarly (1931-1998), yachtsman
• Claire Bretécher (1940-2020), cartoonist
• Jean-Paul Corbineau (born 1948), musician
• Jean-Loup Hubert (born 1949), film director
• Loïck Peyron (born 1959), yachtsman
• François Bégaudeau (born 1971), author
• Jeanne Cherhal (born 1978), singer
• Christine and the Queens (born 1988), singer, songwriter and record producer, born and raised in Nantes
• Madeon (born 1994), disc jockey
• Clara Matéo (born 1997), football player for Paris FC and the France national team^[258]
• C2C, band, disc jockey

See also

• Bibliography of Nantes history
• Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department

References

Footnotes

Citations

Sources

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External links

Look up Nantes#Translations in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nantes.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nantes.

• Official website of the City and Métropole of Nantes (in French)
• Nantes tourist office (in French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch)
• Web archive of Nantes Métropole (the old website) (in French)
• View of Nantes, ca. 1725, Historic Cities site, from the Eran Laor Collection, The National Library of Israel
• An engraving by
  James Tibbitts Willmore of a painting of a view of Nantes from Feydeau Island by J. M. W. Turner published in The Keepsake annual for 1831, with a poetical illustration entitled The Return. by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
  .