This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Les Sables-d'Olonne | |
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Subprefecture and commune | |
.JPG) View of Les Sables-d'Olonne | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
| Motto(s): Advocata nostra, ora pro nobis | |
Location of Les Sables-d'Olonne  | |
  Les Sables-d'Olonne  Les Sables-d'Olonne | |
| Coordinates: 46°29′50″N 1°47′00″W / 46.4972°N 1.7833°WCoordinates: 46°29′50″N 1°47′00″W / 46.4972°N 1.7833°W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Pays de la Loire |
| Department | Vendée |
| Arrondissement | Les Sables-d'Olonne |
| Canton | Les Sables-d'Olonne |
| Intercommunality | Les Sables-d'Olonne Agglomeration |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Yannick Moreau |
| Area 1 | 86.07 km2 (33.23 sq mi) |
| Population (Jan. 2017)[1] | 44,017 |
| • Density | 510/km2 (1,300/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| •��Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 85194 /85100, 85340, 85180 |
| Elevation | 0–59 m (0–194 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Les Sables-d'Olonne (pronounced [le sabl dolɔn]; French meaning: "The Sands of Olonne") is a seaside town in Western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. A subprefecture of the department of Vendée, it has the administrative level of commune. On 1 January 2019, the municipalities of Olonne-sur-Mer, Château-d'Olonne and Les Sables-d'Olonne merged, retaining the latter name.[2]
Location and geography
This section needs expansion with: sources of current information, and information expanding on its physical and political geography. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016) |
Les Sables-d'Olonne is a seaside town in western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated on the coast between La Rochelle and Saint-Nazaire, near the coastal terminus of the A87 that connects it and nearby communities to La Roche-sur-Yon, Cholet, and Angers to the northeast. The nearest major metropolitan center of France, to Les Sables-d'Olonne, is Nantes, to the north (approximately 105 km, by road).[3]
It is at the level of administrative division in the French Republic of a commune[4]—roughly equivalent to civil townships in the United States[citation needed]—and is a sub-prefecture of the Department of Vendée.[5]
History
This section needs expansion with: sources of current information, and supplemental information from 1945 to present. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016) |
Les Sables-d'Olonne (pronounced [le sabl dolɔn]) is French for "the sands of Olonne". It was founded in 1218 from Havre d'Olonne by Savary I de Mauléon, the Lord of Mauléon, Sénéchal of Poitou and prince of Talmont.[citation needed] Its history is tied to the ocean for which it has served as a port and point of maritime commerce.[citation needed] Louis XI separated Les Sables d'Olonne from the town of Olonne in 1472.[citation needed] It became the largest cod-fishing port in France, with 14,000 inhabitants, in the 17th century.[citation needed] During the French Revolution, unlike the surrounding Vendée, the city supported the Republic, and so was often besieged—unsuccessfully, because of its port.[citation needed] The current local tourism industry traces its roots to bathing establishments, first begun in 1825. Rail service reached Les Sables on 29 December 1866, via the line from La Roche-sur-Yon, Bressuire, Saumur, and Tours;[citation needed] express service to and from Paris would arrive in 1971.[citation needed] The city's port served as a base port for American Expeditionary Forces during World War I.[6]Germany occupied Les Sables d'Olonne during World War II[citation needed] and, upon evacuation of that army at war's end, the German army made an effort to destroy the port, and mined the harbor.[citation needed]
Population
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Les Sables-d'Olonne proper, in its geography at the given years. The populations of Olonne-sur-Mer and Château-d'Olonne, absorbed in 2019, are not included.
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| Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE (2007-2017)[8][9] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Interests and events
The Vendée Globe yacht race, which takes place every four years, starts and ends at Les Sables-d'Olonne.[citation needed]
The Musée de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix is a municipal museum situated in a 17th-century building that is devoted to modern and contemporary art, and that has "Musée de France" status.[citation needed] It includes works of Gaston Chaissac (1910–1964) and Victor Brauner (1903–1966).[citation needed][why?]
Les Sables-d'Olonne is the setting for 1948 novel Les Vacances de Maigret, by Georges Simenon.[citation needed]
The town is the birthplace of pirate François l'Olonnais.[citation needed][why?]
Image gallery
The channel, view from the tower St-Clair.
The channel, from the west dock.
Promenade de l'Amiral Lafargue.
The priory St-Nicolas.
The tower St-Clair.
Twin towns
Les Sables-d'Olonne has been a sister town of the following European communities:
Schwabach, Germany since 1975;[citation needed]
Sliema, Malta, since 2005;[citation needed]
Trapani, Italy;[when?][10][11] and
Worthing, United Kingdom, since 1998.[12]
See also
References
- ^ "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ Arrêté préfectoral 17 August 2018 (in French)
- ^ https://ladistance.fr/
- ^ https://www.commune-mairie.fr/les-sables-d-olonne-85100/
- ^ http://www.vendee.gouv.fr/la-sous-prefecture-des-sables-d-olonne-r106.html
- ^ Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War, American Expeditionary Forces: General Headquarters Armies, Army Corps Services of Supply Separate Forces, Volume I (PDF). Center of Military History, United States Army. 1937. p. 55. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
- ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Les Sables-d'Olonne, EHESS. (in French)
- ^ Populations légales 2012, INSEE
- ^ Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017, INSEE
- ^ "Ville des Sables-d'Olonne, la Mairie des Sables-d'Olonne et sa commune (85100)". Annuaire-Mairie (in French). Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ "Comune di Trapani - Comune, Municipiodi Trapani e città, Sicilia". www.comune-italia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ^ Worthing Twinning Association - Home
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les Sables-d'Olonne. |
- City council website (in French)
- Les Sables-d'Olonne, Vendee Globe Race (in English)
- Les Sables-d'Olonne Tourist Board (in French)