N  A  N  T  E  S

Nantes is the capital of the département "Loire-Atlantique" , in the region "Pays de la Loire", western France.
Situated at the head of the Loire River estuary, where it is joined by the Erdre and the Sèvre rivers, 35 miles (56 km) from the sea and southwest of Paris, it is one of the French towns most changed in the 20th century.

 Nantes derives its name from the Namnètes, a Gallic tribe who made the town their capital. It became a commercial centre under the Romans. The Normans, after pillaging the town, occupied it from 834 to 936. After a long struggle in the Middle Ages between the counts of Nantes and Rennes for the sovereignty of Brittany, in 1560, Francis II, king of France (1559-60), granted Nantes a communal constitution. During the Wars of Religion (1562-98), Nantes joined the Catholic League and only opened its gates to Henry IV, king of France (1589-1610), in 1598, the same year he signed the Edict of Nantes, a charter assuring religious and civil liberties to the Protestants. During the French Revolution, Nantes suffered the ruthless repression of an envoy of the revolutionary Committee of Public Safety named Jean-Baptiste Carrier. In 1793 Carrier replaced executions by the guillotine, which he considered too slow, by mass drownings. The city was occupied by the Germans during World War II.
 


Greatly modified by an urban renewal plan that was adopted in 1920, Nantes was further altered and extended after having been partly destroyed in World War II. Arms of the river have been filled up and made into roads; the railway, which used to cut across the town, now runs largely underground; and the port has been extensively rebuilt. Under a national planning scheme, Nantes has been made a major economic development centre. In the late 20th century, road, air, and rail communications were being extended, and vast industrial zones were being built. The well-equipped port has more than 2 mi of quays, and the river has been dredged to allow access to larger vessels; it functions in close association with Saint-Nazaire, its outport (seaward terminal for deep-draft vessels).
The shipbuilding yards are important. The chemical (fertilizers, paint) and mechanical (rail and aircraft equipment) industries expanded during the 1970s. The traditional food industries (fruit preserves and baked goods) continue.
The original university (founded 1460) was abolished during the French Revolution, but a new one was established in 1961.
 

Although the cathedral of Saint-Pierre was built over a period between the 15th and 20th centuries, it retains a Gothic unity. The imposing facade (1434-1508) has three finely sculptured doorways and two high towers. The cathedral, bombed during World War II, had been nearly completely restored in 1972 when a fire largely destroyed the roof. The magnificent Renaissance tomb of Francis II, duke of Brittany (ruled 1458-88), was luckily unharmed. The medieval castle had been rebuilt in 1466 by this same Francis II. Viewed from without, it looks like a fort with crenellated towers, but the inner courtyard is a typical Renaissance palace. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has one of the most important and varied collections of paintings in France. Pop. (1982) 237,789.