Nantes

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the 7th largest city of France, capital of the department of Loire-Inférieure, on the right bank of the tidal Loire (here 2,000 yards wide, and joined by the navigable Erdre and Sèvre-Nantaise), 35 miles from the sea, and 248 S. W. of Paris. The natural beauties of the site have been much improved by art, and, the old town having been demolished 1865-1870, Nantes is one of the handsomest cities in France, with its noble river, quays, bridges, shady boulevards, squares, and statues. The unfinished cathedral (1434-1852) contains Colomb's splendid monument (1507) to the last Duke and Duchess of Brittany, and another (1879) to General Lamoricière. The ducal castle, founded in 938, and rebuilt in 1466, was the occasional residence of Charles VIII. and most of his successors, the prison of Cardinal de Retz and Fouquet, and the place where on April 15, 1598, Henry IV. signed the famous Edict of Nantes. Other notable buildings are the splendid Church of St. Nicholas (1854), the court house (1853), the theater (1787), and the new postoffice (1884), besides a museum, a picture gallery, and a library of 50,000 volumes. The harbor has been extensively improved in recent years. The chief industries are sugar making, shipbuilding, and manufactories of copper and iron. The chief exports are hardware, cereals, and preserved provisions; the chief imports sugar, iron, cocoa, and wines. The Portus Nannetum of the Romans, and the former capital of Brittany-a rank it disputed with Rennes-Nantes has witnessed the marriage of Anne of Brittany to Louis XII. (1499), the embarkation of the Young Pretender (1745), the fall of the Vendéan leader Cathélineau (1793), and the arrest of the Duchess of Berri (1832). Fouché was a native. Pop. about 175,000.