Saintongeais ( séntunjhaes ) is a dialect of Poitevin–Saintongeais spoken halfway down the western coast of France in the former provinces of Saintonge , Aunis and Angoumois , all of which have been incorporated into the current departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime as well as in parts of the neighbouring department of Gironde and a town in Dordogne . Although many of the same words are used in both Charente departments, they differ in what they mean or in how they are pronounced.
13-442: Charente ( French: [ʃaʁɑ̃t] ; Saintongese : Chérente ; Occitan : Charanta [tʃaˈɾantɔ] ) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine , south western France . It is named after the 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 , are sited. In 2019, it had
26-483: A population of 352,015. Charente is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the former province of Angoumois , and western and southern portions of 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 production. Although
39-601: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about Romance languages is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Miscellaneous left Miscellaneous left ( Divers gauche , DVG ) in France refers to left-wing candidates who are not members of any party or a member of party that has no elected seats. They include either small left-wing parties or dissidents expelled from their parties for running against their party's candidate. Numerous divers gauche candidates are elected at
52-596: Is a langue d'oc variety, have significantly influenced the Acadian and Cajun dialects of French spoken in Canada and the United States respectively. Its area covers the entire department of Charente-Maritime (except the very north), the west and centre of the department of Charente , and the northern department of Gironde with its Pays Gabaye and its enclaves around Saintonge, Monségur . Today, Saintongeais
65-542: Is largely part of the Aquitaine Basin , with the north-eastern part in the Massif Central . The 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 , Limousin , Périgord and Poitou . The department is part of the current region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine . It
78-425: Is no longer widely spoken except in the countryside. It is still used in television shows, magazines and radio programs. Some words from Saintongeais are still used in the region. Words like since (floorcloth) are so widespread that they are considered by some to be French. Along with French, Saintongeais is used in the magazine Xaintonge , which is published twice a year. The great promoters of spoken Charentais at
91-533: Is surrounded by the departments of Charente-Maritime , Dordogne , Haute-Vienne , Vienne and Deux-Sèvres . The southernmost “major” town (town with over 1,000 people) in the Charente is Chalais . The most populous commune is Angoulême , the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 9 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants: The inhabitants of the department are called Charentais or in feminine, Charentaise . Population development since 1791: The President of
104-596: The Departmental Council is Philippe Bouty of the Miscellaneous left (DVG), elected in July 2021. Cognac and 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. Saintongese dialect Saintongeais, which is a langue d'oïl variety, and Gascon , which
117-530: The beginning of the twentieth century were "le Barde Saintongeais" Goulebenéze [ fr ] , succeeded by Odette Comandon [ fr ] , author of comedy and folk tales, patois actress and storyteller. Athanase Jean , a country doctor, also wrote several plays in the dialect and helped promote the Saintonge culture. [REDACTED] Media related to Poitevin-saintongeais language at Wikimedia Commons This article about French culture
130-514: The department's population peaked in 1851. 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 . During
143-419: The overall population during the first decade of the twenty-first century. 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, placing the department fourth in this respect behind Paris, Dordogne and Alpes-Maritimes . It
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#1732765724851156-420: 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. The accelerating pace of industrial and commercial development during the first half of the nineteenth century led to a period of prosperity, and
169-433: 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
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