Other Definitions
pays de la loire (dict)
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Pays-de-la-loirePays-de-la-Loire is one of the 26 rgions of France. It is one of these rgions of France created artificially in the late 20th century to serve as an hinterland and zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful so-called "balancing metropolises" (mtropoles d'quilibre)¹. Other examples of artificially created rgions include Rhne-Alpes, which was created as the rgion for Lyon, and Midi-Pyrnes, which was created as the rgion for Toulouse. Pays-de-la-Loire is made up of the following historical provinces: Consequently, the name of the rgion, chosen by the French central government, was not based on history, but purely on geographical references: Pays (i.e. "lands") -de-la-Loire (i.e. "of the Loire River"). It should be noted that the world famous chteaux of the Loire Valley are located in the Centre rgion, and not inside Pays-de-la-Loire, despite the confusing name. There are some people in the dpartement of Loire-Atlantique and in the rgion of Bretagne who are unhappy with the division of Brittany between two rgions and who would like to have Loire-Atlantique enter the Bretagne rgion in order to reunify Brittany. So far, however, a change in the rgion boundaries is not on the agenda, as the tough issue of what to do with the rump Pays-de-la-Loire deprived of its capital and 21% of its territory seems hard to resolve. External links Notes ¹ In the 1960s, eight large regional cities of France (Lille, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Toulouse) were made "balancing metropolises", receiving special financial and technical help from the French government in order to counterbalance the excessive weight of Paris inside France.
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