Editing Charente

{{Short description|Department of France}}
{{Expand French|topic=geo|date=December 2008|Charente (département)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->| name                     = Charente
| native_name              = ''Chérente''&nbsp;&nbsp;<small>([[Saintongeais]])</small><br>{{native name|oc|Charanta}}
| native_name_lang         = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead -->
| type                     = [[Departments of France|Department of France]]
| image_skyline            = Ang prefect.JPG
| image_alt                = 
| image_caption            = [[Prefectures in France|Prefecture]] building of the Charente department, in [[Angoulême]]
| image_flag               = Flag of Charente.svg
| flag_alt                 = 
| image_shield             = Blason département fr Charente.svg
| shield_alt               = 
| nickname                 = 
| motto                    = 
| image_map                = Charente-Position.svg
| map_alt                  = 
| map_caption              = Location of Charente in France
| pushpin_map              = 
| pushpin_label_position   = 
| pushpin_map_alt          = 
| pushpin_map_caption      = 
| coordinates              = {{Coord|45|50|N|0|20|E|region:FR-16_type:adm2nd_scale:2000000|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint            = 
| coordinates_footnotes    = 
| subdivision_type         = Country
| subdivision_name         = France
| subdivision_type1        = [[Regions of France|Region]]
| subdivision_name1        = [[Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]
| established_title        = 
| established_date         = 
| founder                  = 
| seat_type                = [[Prefectures in France|Prefecture]]
| seat                     = [[Angoulême]]
| parts_type               = [[Subprefectures in France|Subprefectures]]
| parts_style              = para
| p1                       = [[Cognac, France|Cognac]]<br>[[Confolens]]
| government_footnotes     = 
| leader_party             = [[Miscellaneous left|DVG]]
| leader_title             = [[President of the Departmental Council]]
| leader_name              = Philippe Bouty<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les conseillers départementaux|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/601ef073-d986-4582-8e1a-ed14dc857fba|website=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=4 May 2022|language=fr}}</ref>
| unit_pref                = Metric<!-- or US or UK -->
| area_magnitude           = 
| area_footnotes           = {{ref|area|1}}
| area_total_km2           = 5956
| area_note                = 
| elevation_footnotes      = 
| elevation_m              = 
| elevation_min_m          = 
| elevation_max_m          = 
| population_total         = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
| population_as_of         = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
| population_footnotes     = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes2}}
| population_rank          = [[List of French departments by population|68th]]
| population_density_km2   = 59
| population_demonym       = 
| population_note          = 
| blank_name_sec1          = [[Departments of France|Department number]]
| blank_info_sec1          = 16
| blank_name_sec2          = [[Arrondissements of France|Arrondissements]]
| blank_info_sec2          = [[arrondissements of the Charente department|3]]
| blank1_name_sec2         = [[Cantons in France|Cantons]]
| blank1_info_sec2         = [[cantons of the Charente department|19]]
| blank2_name_sec2         = [[Communes in France|Communes]]
| blank2_info_sec2         = [[communes of the Charente department|363]]
| timezone1                = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset1              = +1
| timezone1_DST            = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST          = +2
| postal_code_type         = 
| postal_code              = Angoulême has the postal code of 16000
| area_code_type           = 
| area_code                = 
| iso_code                 = FR-16
| website                  = 
| footnotes                = {{note|area|1}} French Land Register data, which exclude [[estuary|estuaries]], and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>
}}

'''Charente''' ({{IPA|fr|ʃaʁɑ̃t|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-GrandCelinien-Charente.wav}}; [[Saintongese dialect|Saintongese]]: ''Chérente''; {{langx|oc|Charanta}} {{IPA|oc|tʃaˈɾantɔ|}}) is a [[departments of France|department]] in the [[administrative regions of France|administrative region]] of [[Nouvelle-Aquitaine]], southwestern [[France]]. It is named after the river [[Charente (river)|Charente]], the most important and longest river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, [[Angoulême]] and [[Cognac, France|Cognac]], are sited. In 2019, it had a population of 352,015.<ref name=pop2019>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/6011060/dep16.pdf Populations légales 2019: 16 Charente], INSEE</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of Charente}}

Charente is one of the original 83 departments created during the [[French Revolution]] on 4 March 1790. It was created from the [[Provinces of France|former province]] of [[Angoumois]], and western and southern portions of [[County of Saintonge|Saintonge]].

Prior to the creation of the department as a single unit, much of it was commercially prosperous thanks to traditional industries such as salt and [[Cognac (brandy)|cognac]] production. Although the river Charente became silted up and was unnavigable for much of the twentieth century, in the eighteenth century it provided important links with coastal shipping routes both for traditional businesses and for newly evolving ones such as paper goods and iron smelting.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

The accelerating pace of industrial and commercial development during the first half of the nineteenth century led to a period of prosperity, and the department's population peaked in 1851.<ref>Jean Combes (dir.) et Michel Luc (dir.), La Charente de la préhistoire à nos jours, Imprimerie Bordessoules, coll. "L'histoire par les documents", 1986, 429 p. ({{ISBN|2-903504-21-0}})</ref> During the second half of the nineteenth century Charente, like many of France's rural departments, experienced a decline in population as the economic prospects available in the cities and in France's overseas empire attracted working-aged people. Economic ruin came to many in the Charentais wine industry with the arrival in 1872 of [[phylloxera]].{{cn|date=February 2023}}

During the twentieth century, the department with its traditional industries was adversely impacted by two major world wars, and in the second half of the century, it experienced relatively low growth. The overall population remaining remarkably stable at around 340,000 throughout the second half of the twentieth century, although industrial and commercial developments in the conurbation surrounding [[Angoulême]] have added some 10,000 to the overall population during the first decade of the twenty-first century.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

The relatively relaxed pace of economic development in the twentieth century encouraged the immigration of retirees from overseas. Census data in 2006 revealed that the number of British citizens residing in the department had risen to 5,083,<ref name="ins1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1560056|title=Près de 13 000 Britanniques ont choisi de vivre en Poitou-Charentes - e.décim@l &#124; Insee|website=www.insee.fr}}</ref> placing the department fourth in this respect behind Paris, [[Dordogne (département)|Dordogne]] and [[Alpes-Maritimes]].<ref>La [[Charente libre]] du 4 janvier 2010</ref>

==Geography==
It is largely part of the [[Aquitaine Basin]], with the northeastern part in the [[Massif Central]]. The [[Charente (river)|Charente]] flows through it and gave its name to the department, along with [[Charente-Maritime]]. It is composed with the historical region of [[Angoumois]] and contains part of the regions of [[Saintonge (region)|Saintonge]], [[Limousin (region)|Limousin]], [[Périgord]] and [[Poitou]].

The department is part of the current [[regions of France|region]] of [[Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]. It is surrounded by the departments of [[Charente-Maritime]], [[Dordogne]], [[Haute-Vienne]], [[Vienne (department)|Vienne]] and [[Deux-Sèvres]]. The southernmost “major” town (town with over 1,000 people) in the Charente is [[Chalais, Charente|Chalais]].

===Principal towns===
The most populous commune is [[Angoulême]], the prefecture. As of 2019, there are nine communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:<ref name=pop2019/>

{| class=wikitable
! Commune
! Population (2019)
|-
| [[Angoulême]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 41,603
|-
| [[Cognac (commune)|Cognac]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 18,670
|-
| [[Soyaux]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 9,761
|-
| [[La Couronne, Charente|La Couronne]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 7,764
|-
| [[Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 7,381
|-
| [[Ruelle-sur-Touvre]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 7,305
|-
| [[Gond-Pontouvre]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 6,119
|-
| [[L'Isle-d'Espagnac]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 5,626
|-
| [[Champniers, Charente|Champniers]]
| style="text-align: center;" | 5,149
|}

==Demographics==
The inhabitants of the department are called ''Charentais'' or in feminine, ''Charentaise''.

Population development since 1791:

{{Historical populations
| cols = 2
| align = none
| percentages = pagr
| footnote = Sources:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://splaf.free.fr/16his.html|title=Historique de la Charente|website=Le SPLAF}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4176909?geo=DEP-16|title=Évolution et structure de la population en 2016|publisher=INSEE}}</ref>
| graph-pos = bottom
| 11=1791 | 12=339,780
| 13=1801 | 14=299,029
| 15=1806 | 16=327,052
| 17=1821 | 18=347,541
| 19=1831 | 20=362,531
| 21=1841 | 22=367,893
| 23=1851 | 24=382,912
| 25=1861 | 26=379,081
| 27=1872 | 28=367,520
| 29=1881 | 30=370,822
| 31=1891 | 32=360,259
| 33=1901 | 34=350,305
| 35=1911 | 36=347,061
| 37=1921 | 38=316,279
| 39=1931 | 40=310,489
| 41=1936 | 42=309,279
| 43=1946 | 44=311,137
| 45=1954 | 46=313,635
| 47=1962 | 48=327,658
| 49=1968 | 50=331,016
| 51=1975 | 52=337,064
| 53=1982 | 54=340,770
| 55=1990 | 56=341,993
| 57=1999 | 58=339,628
| 59=2006 | 60=347,037
| 61=2011 | 62=352,705
| 63=2016 | 64=353,288
| 65=2019 | 66=352,015
}}

==Politics==
The President of the Departmental Council is Philippe Bouty of the [[Miscellaneous left]] (DVG), elected in July 2021.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
!colspan=2| Party || seats
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Socialist Party (France)}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Socialist Party (France)|Socialist Party]] ||align="right"| 15
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Union for a Popular Movement}}" |
|[[Union for a Popular Movement]] ||align="right"| 6
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Miscellaneous Right}}" |
|[[Miscellaneous Right]] ||align="right"| 6
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|Miscellaneous Left}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[Miscellaneous Left]] ||align="right"| 6
|-
! style="background-color: {{party color|French Communist Party}}" |<span style="color:white; font-size:190%;">•</span>
|[[French Communist Party]] ||align="right"| 2
|-
|}

===National Assembly representatives===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="2"|Constituency!!Member<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/ |title=Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français |publisher=Assemblée nationale}}</ref>!!Party
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|La France Insoumise}}" |
| [[Charente's 1st constituency]]
| [[René Pilato]]
| [[La France Insoumise]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|En Marche!}}" |
| [[Charente's 2nd constituency]]
| [[Sandra Marsaud]]
| [[La République En Marche!]]
|-
|style="background-color: {{party color|National Rally (France)}}" |
| [[Charente's 3rd constituency]]
| [[Caroline Colombier]]
| [[National Rally (France)|National Rally]]
|}

==Economy==
[[Cognac (drink)|Cognac]] and [[Pineau des Charentes|pineau]] are two of the major agricultural products of the region, along with butter.  The Charentaise slipper (a type of slipper made from felt and wool) is another well-known traditional product.

==Tourism==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px" style="text-align:left">
File:Angouleme cathedral StPierre ac.JPG|[[Angoulême Cathedral]]
File:Vigny Maine-Giraud 2011a.jpg|[[Champagne-Vigny]]
File:Verteuil 16 Charente aux Cordeliers.jpg|[[Verteuil-sur-Charente]]
File:La Couronne Abbaye2010.jpg|Abbey of [[La Couronne, Charente|La Couronne]]
File:Plassac-Rouffiac église 2012.jpg|[[Plassac-Rouffiac]]
File:Aubeterre 16 Église façade 2013.jpg|[[:fr:Église Saint-Jacques d'Aubeterre-sur-Dronne|Aubeterre-sur-Dronne]]
File: DeviatLaFaye2.JPG|[[Château de la Faye (Deviat)|Château de la Faye]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Arrondissements of the Charente department]]
* [[Cantons of the Charente department]]
* [[Communes of the Charente department]]
* [[Kaolin deposits of the Charentes Basin]]
* [[Megalithic sites of Charente]]

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Charente |volume=5 |short=x}}
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.charente.gouv.fr/ Prefecture website]
* {{in lang|fr}} [https://www.lacharente.fr/ Departmental Council website]

{{Departments of France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Charente| ]]
[[Category:1790 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Nouvelle-Aquitaine region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Departments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1790]]