Nantes, France

From Encyclopediak

Nantes, Nants, a city of France, capital of the Department of Loire-Inferieure, situated on the River Loire, 215 in. s.w. of Paris and at the junction of the Erdre and the Sevre-Nantaise rivers. The city is built upon the banks of the rivers and on numerous islands, which are connected by bridges. The prominent buildings include the Cathedral of St. Pierre, the Hotel de Ville, the Palace cf Justice, the Church of St. Nicholas and museums of paintings and natural history. The Place Royale of Louis XVI is one of the most noted open places in the city. Nantes contains a number of monuments celebrated for their sculpture. The educational institutions in clude hydrographical schools, schools of agriculture and numerous learned and hidustrial societies. The public library contains about 200,000 volumes, and the city maintains an observatory and a botanical garden. The leading industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of textiles, soap, machinery, glass, chemicals, metal wares, pottery and distilled liquors. Large ships reach the city through a canal, and an extensive foreign trade is carried on. In the Middle Ages Nantes was the capital of Brittany. It was from here that Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598. Population in 1911, 170,535.