Poitou / Charentes

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plain, on the northern and southern borders of which are expanses of former marshland (marais), now traversed by countless drainage canals, with large oyster-beds along the coast. The largest area of marais is the Marais Poitevin, a network of watercourses on both sides of the Sèvre Niortaise. Poitou now takes in the départements of Vienne (chief town Poitiers), Deux-Sèvres (Niort), Vendée (La Roche-sur- Yon) and the southern part of Maine-et-Loire (Angers).

South of Poitou, in the coastal area round La Rochelle, much of it still marshy, is Aunis, which was the smallest of the old French provinces and is now the northwestern part of the département of Charente-Maritime (chief town La Rochelle).

South of this again, extending to the Gironde, the funnel- shaped estuary of the Garonne, is Saintonge, which has some areas of marshland but is mostly fertile agricultural land. It takes in most of the département of Charente-Maritime and the northeastern part of Gironde (chief town Bordeaux).

Between Aunis and Saintonge and the Massif Central, around Angoulême, is the Angoumois, a former county which takes in the present-day département of Charente (chief town Angoulême) and parts of four neighboring départements.