Poitou

Poitou (pwät`), region and former province, W France, stretching from the Atlantic coast eastward beyond the Vienne River. It now includes three departments—Vendée in the west, Deux-Sèvres in the center, and Vienne in the east, as well as small areas of several other departments. Poitiers, the historic capital, is the chief industrial center. Other industrial towns are Châtellerault, Niort, La Roche-sur-Yon, and Les Sables-d'Olonne. The Vendée region, or Lower Poitou, extends beyond the departmental boundary of Vendée; it is mostly a pastoral hedgerow country (the bocages), with swamps in the west and in the south. A narrow strip, the Vendean plain, is an intensive wheat-growing region. Upper Poitou is a rich agricultural area; it also has a large dairy industry. A part of the Roman province of Aquitaine, Poitou (known as "the city of the Pictons") fell to the Visigoths (5th cent.) and to the Franks (507). The counts of Poitiers, who originated in the 9th cent., assumed the title duke of Aquitaine. The area was frequently contested by England and France, passing back and forth in possession until the end of the Hundred Years War, when Charles VII definitively incorporated it in the French crown lands.

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Poitou

Historical region, western central France. It was bounded by Brittany, Anjou, Touraine, Marche, and the Atlantic Ocean. It was inhabited by the ancient Gallic tribe of Pictones and became part of Roman Aquitania. A meeting place of northern and southern cultures, its golden age (11th–12th century) was characterized by great Romanesque art and architecture. The counts of Poitiers were succeeded by the Angevin kings of England, but by 1375 the French had won the region back. It was a province of France until the French Revolution, when it was divided into three departments. It is predominantly a rural area; regional specialties include seafood and white wine.

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Poitou

a former province of W central France, on the Atlantic. Chief town: Poitiers

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Poitou 

a historic region in western France, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean. Poitou includes the departments of La Vendée, Vienne, and Deux-Sèvres. Excluding the department of La Vendée and together with the former provinces of Aunis, Saintonge, and Angoumois (now the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime), it constitutes the economic region of Poitou-Charente in the national economic plan. Area, 20,100 sq km. Population, 1.1 million (1973). The principal city is Poitiers.

Most of the region is a hilly plain with typical bocage. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture, particularly animal husbandry, including cattle, pig, and poultry raising. The main crops are wheat, barley, and fodder crops; vegetables are also grown. Most of the industry involves the processing of agricultural raw materials. There is a machine-building industry in Châtellerault and Poitiers. Uranium ore is mined in the Mortagne-sur-Sèvre area, and an enrichment plant is in operation in Ecarpière.

The name “Poitou” is derived from the Pictones, a tribe that inhabited the area in ancient times. Poitou was then part of Aquitania. Beginning in the ninth century, it was a county, and by the end of the century, the counts of Poitou became dukes of Aquitaine. As part of Aquitaine, Poitou passed to the king of England in 1154. Parts of the territory were returned to France during the reigns of Phillip II (Phillip Augustus) (1180–1223) and Louis VIII (1223–26), as confirmed by the Paris Treaty of 1259. During the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), Poitou was returned to England by the Treaty of Brétigny (1360) and was retaken by France in the years 1369–73. During the French Revolution, Poitou was one of the centers of the wars of the Vendée. With the introduction of new administrative divisions in 1790, the province of Poitou was abolished.