France City  -  Nantes

 
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Local Attractions - Places to Visit    

• Cathedral Saint-Peter Saint-Paul
• Passage Pommeraye More>>
• The new Palais de Justice, on the Île de Nantes, built in 2000, designed by Jean Nouvel
• The Museum and the native house of Jules Verne, the pioneer science-fiction writer
• Musée des Beaux-arts (Arts museum)
• La Tour LU (LU Tower) - a picturesque tower guarding the entrance of a former Lefevre-Utile biscuit factory

History    

Originally founded as a town by the Celtic tribe named Namneti around 70 BC, it was conquered by Julius Caesar in 56 BC and named Portus Namnetus. More>>

Access / Local Transportation    

Various transportation facilities like Omnibus, Tramway, Air, Train are available. More>>

Geography    

The city has a total area of 65.19 km² (25.18 mi²). Its coordinates are 47°14' N, 1°35' W. Nantes is located on the banks of the Loire river, at the confluence of the Erdre and the Sèvre Nantaise, near the river's mouth, 55 km (35 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean.

The city was built in a place where many branches of the Loire river created several islands, but most of those branches were filled in at the beginning of the 20th century (and the confluence with the Erdre river diverted and covered) due to the increasing car traffic.

Nantes is divided into 11 neighborhoods, 9 on the right bank of the Loire, 1 on the left bank and 1 on the Ile-de-Nantes island.

Nantes is bordered by the cities of Basse-Goulaine, Bouguenais, Carquefou, La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Couëron, Indre, La Montagne, Orvault, Rezé, Saint-Herblain, Sainte-Luce-sur-Loire, Saint-Jean de Boiseau, Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire and Vertou.

Colleges & Universities   More>>    

• École Centrale de Nantes
• Audencia Nantes - École de Management (former École Supérieure de Commerce Nantes)
• École Polytechnique de l'Université de Nantes
• École des Mines de Nantes
• The Université de Nantes was created in 1460, but moved to Rennes in 1735. It was re-opened in 1962 only.
• École d'Architecture de Nantes opened during the 70s

Population     

As of the 1999 census, there were 270,251 inhabitants in the city (commune) of Nantes. The population density was 4260/km². There were 711,120 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (aire urbaine).

As of February 2004 estimates, the population of the city of Nantes reached 276,200 inhabitants.

Famous People    

Famous people born in Nantes

• Anne of Brittany - Aristocrat
• Claire Bretécher - Cartoonist
• Claude Cahun - Photographer and writer
• Jean Graton - Cartoonist
• de Villebois Mareuil - Commander of French volunteers who fought for the Boers in their Second War of Independence against the English
• Julien de Lallande Poydras - Delegate to the United States House of Representatives
• Suzanne Malherbe - Artist
• Benoît Régent - Film Actor
• Jules Verne - Writer

Credits : This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nantes".