Sarthe

Sarthe
Coat of arms of the Sarthe department
Location
Administration
Department number:	72
Region:	Pays de la Loire
Prefecture:	Le Mans
Subprefectures:	La Flèche Mamers
Arrondissements:	3
Cantons:	40
Communes:	375
President of the General Council:	Roland du Luart
Statistics
Population	Ranked 47th
-1999	529,851
Population density:	85/km2
Land area¹:	6206 km2
¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2.

The Château de Boisclaireau, residence of the Gueroust family, Counts of Boisclaireau, in Sarthe.

Sarthe (French pronunciation: [saʁt]) is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.

History

The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of province of Maine which divided into two departments, Sarthe and Mayenne.^[1]

In Roman Times, this provence contained the city of Mans, and many ruins are still left standing. The Thermal Bathhouse attracts many tourists, as does the theater of Aubigné-Racan, both located on the limits of Anjoue, Maine, and Touraine

Geography

The department of Sarthe is at the north end of the administrative region of Pays-de-la-Loire. This places it south of Basse-Normandie and on the south edge of the Armorican Massif. It is bordered by the departments of Orne, Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, Maine-et-Loire and Mayenne.

Economy

See also

• Cantons of the Sarthe department
• Communes of the Sarthe department
• Arrondissements of the Sarthe department
• Circuit de la Sarthe Race circuit for car races
• Circuit de la Sarthe (cycling) Annual road cycling race

References

External links

• (French) Prefecture
• (French) General Council
• (French) Sarthe information
• (French) Sarthe on Wikitravel