Charente-Maritime in the context of "Rochefort, Charente-Maritime"

La Rochelle (UK: /ˌlæ rɒˈʃɛl/, US: /ˌlɑː roʊˈʃɛl/, French: [la ʁɔʃɛl] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: La Rochéle) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With 78,535 inhabitants in 2021, La Rochelle is the most populated commune in the department and ranks fourth in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, the regional capital, Limoges and Poitiers.

Situated on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean the city is connected to the Île de Ré by a 2.9-kilometre-long (1+3⁄4-mile) bridge completed on 19 May 1988. Since the Middle Ages the harbour has opened onto a protected strait, the Pertuis d'Antioche and is regarded as a "Door océane" or gateway to the ocean because of the presence of its three ports (fishing, trade and yachting). The city has a strong commercial tradition, having an active port from very early on in its history.

Poitou-Charentes (French pronunciation: [pwatu ʃaʁɑ̃t] ; Occitan: Peitau-Charantas; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Poetou-Chérentes) was an administrative region on the southwest coast of France. It comprised four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. It included the historical provinces of Angoumois, Aunis, Saintonge and Poitou.

Poitiers was the regional capital. Other important cities were La Rochelle, Niort, Angoulême, Châtellerault, Saintes, Rochefort and Royan.

Clérac (French pronunciation: [kleʁak]) is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France.

The historian and philologist James Germain Février (1895–1976) was born in Clérac.

The Charente (French: [ʃaʁɑ̃t] ; Occitan: Charanta [tʃaˈɾantɔ]) is a 381-kilometre (237 mi) long river in southwestern France. Its source is in the Haute-Vienne département at Chéronnac, a small village near Rochechouart. It flows through the departments of Haute-Vienne, Charente, Vienne and Charente-Maritime. The river flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Rochefort.

Saintongeais (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃tɔ̃ʒɛ] ; endonym: 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.

Saintongeais, which is a langue d'oïl variety, and Gascon, which is a langue d'oc variety, have significantly influenced the Acadian and Cajun dialects of French spoken in Canada and the United States respectively.

Saintes (French: [sɛ̃t] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Sénte) is a commune and historic town in western France, in the Charente-Maritime department of which it is a sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Saintes is the second-largest city in Charente-Maritime, with 25,518 inhabitants in 2021. The city's immediate surroundings form the second-most populous metropolitan area in the department, with 56,598 inhabitants. While a majority of the surrounding landscape consists of fertile, productive fields, a significant minority of the region remains forested, its natural state.

In Roman times, Saintes was known as Mediolanum Santonum. During much of its history, the name of the city was spelled Xaintes or Xainctes.

Cognac (/ˈkɒn.jæk/ KON-yak, also US: /ˈkoʊn-, ˈkɔːn-/ KOHN-, KAWN-, French: [kɔɲak] ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime, in an officially designated wine-growing region. This region is divided into six districts with different cognacs produced in each.

Cognac production falls under French appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) designation, with production methods and naming required to meet certain legal requirements. Among the specified grapes, Ugni blanc, known locally as Saint-Émilion, is most widely used. The brandy must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Tronçais, Allier or Nevers – the majority coming from the first two. Cognac matures in the same way as whiskies and wines barrel-age, and most cognacs spend considerably longer "on the wood" than the minimum legal requirement.

Île de Ré (French pronunciation: [il də ʁe]; variously spelled Rhé or Rhéa; Poitevin: ile de Rét; English: Isle of Ré, /reɪ/ RAY) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait.Its highest point has an elevation of 20 metres (66 feet). It is 30 kilometres (19 miles) long and five kilometres (3 miles) wide. The 2.9 km (1.8 mi) Île de Ré bridge, completed in 1988, connects it to La Rochelle on the mainland.