Indre-et-Loire

Indre-et-Loire
Coat of arms of the Indre-et-Loire department
Location
Administration
Department number:	37
Region:	Centre
Prefecture:	Tours
Subprefectures:	Chinon Loches
Arrondissements:	3
Cantons:	37
Communes:	277
President of the General Council:	Marc Pommereau
Statistics
Population	Ranked 41st
-1999	554,003
Population density:	90/km2
Land area¹:	6127 km2
¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.

History

Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Touraine.

Tours was a center of learning in the early Middle Ages.

Geography

Indre-et-Loire is part of the current region of Centre (Val de Loire) and is surrounded by the départements of Loir-et-Cher, Indre, Vienne, Maine-et-Loire, and Sarthe.

Tourism

Indre-et-Loire is home to numerous outstanding châteaux that are open to the public, among them are the following:

• Château d'Amboise
• Azay-le-Rideau
• Château de la Bourdaisière
• Château de Chenonceau
• Château de Plessis-lez-Tours
• Chinon
• Courcelles-de-Touraine
• Château de Langeais
• Marcay
• Montpoupon
• Tours
• Château de Villandry
• Château du Rivau
• Loches

Map of Indre-et-Loire

See also

• Cantons of the Indre-et-Loire department
• Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department
• Arrondissements of the Indre-et-Loire department

External links

• (French) Prefecture website
• (French) General Council website
• (English) Indre-et-Loire at the Open Directory Project
• [1]

Coordinates: 48°15′N 00°40′E / 48.25°N 0.667°E / 48.25; 0.667