Départment:
The Indre-and-Loire - 37 - Geography
Area: Center
Surface: 6 127 km²
Population: 529 345 inhabitants (census 1990).
The
Touraine is integral part of the Paris basin. It is drained of is
in west by the average Loire and its affluents, with the junction
of Expensive, of Indre and Vienna enlarged of the Hollow one. Principal
geographical contrast appears between the plates and the valleys
or small valleys; the relief is in hollow. Almost everywhere with
the edge of the valleys the chalk turonienne, easy appears to dig
for the cellars in rock. The North-West belongs to Vaux Dormouse,
without the departmental limit arriving to the Dormouse itself.
Gâtine tourangelle is a country of wood and field crop which covers
all Touraine of the North-East; the canton of Château-Renault
is attached
to Small Beauce. In extreme cases of the Maine-and-Loire, the basin
of Savigné, falunier, changes mixed-farming with the crag extraction
of compaction. The Loire crosses, upstream, the game preserves of
Touraine, grounds of cultures or truck farming on the rich person
alluvia ground, who are dominated by the slopes with vineyards:
soils of Amboise, Montlouis, Vouvray. Downstream from Tours,
country of the islands of Low Touraine (between the Loire, Expensive
and Indre) practical the breeding and market gardening. There remain
nothing any more but some professional fishermen for salmons and
aloses of the Loire. The vine covers the tuffs, sands and gravels,
in the north of the Loire in high valley of Anjou (Bourgueil names
and Saint-Nicolas-of-Bourgueil), between the Loire and Vienna and
in the south of low-Vienna (Chinon name). The plates with cereals
of Champeigne and the Sainte-Maure area (goat's milk cheeses) are
limited towards the east by the gâtines of Montrésor and Loches
(forests, mixed-farming), and towards south-east by the first ponds
of Brenne. Diversified breeding and culture find in extreme cases
of the department of Vienna in the valleys of Claise, Hollow, low
Vienna like in Richelais, fertile soil in the past poitevin.
L' industry
is related either to the agricultural resources (agro-alimentary)
or with the facility of the communications; zones of light industries,
in the tourangelle agglomeration and close to the small cities like
Château-Renault,
Amboise, Bléré, Loches, Preuilly, Descartes, Sainte-Maure, Azay-le-Rideau,
Langeais, Bourgueil, Chinon, L'Ile-Bouchard,
Richelieu. Activity ratio 40,3 % compared to the total population.
Distribution by branches of industry: agriculture 12 %, industry
and BTP 27 %, trades and services 61 %. the department of Indre-
the and-Loire, except for its urbanized center which is the tourangelle
agglomeration, leaves a broad place to the natural zones. Wooded
spaces cover 22 % of the surface, with several famous forests, domanial
like those of Chinon and Loaches, private like those of Amboise
and Castle-the-Vallière. The Loire, "river royal", is not used any
more for navigation since progress of the rail-bound and road transports;
it remains a capricious river: long strikes in summer, believed
in winter or in spring; from where need for the liftings of the
Loire, unceasingly sophisticated since XIIème century. Expensive
and Indre are channeled in a series of levels. The very many mills
formerly on rivers and brooks, and also the old windmills, became
second homes or go tourist. The valleys and small valleys, with
the very green landscapes, cultivated well and abundantly flowered,
made call Touraine "the garden of France" since at least XVème century.
Fishing remains active as a leisure, as well as hunting with shooting
and courre in the principal wooded solid masses rich in stags, roe-deers,
wild boars. The chalk, which forms the basement almost everywhere,
appears out of cliffs at the edge of the valleys; from where many
habitats troglodytic, probably as old as the appearance of the man
in Touraine, but often arranged today with all desirable comfort.
Several very active companies take care of the protection of the
richesse. .
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