The Maine (French pronunciation: [mɛːn] ) is a river, a tributary of the Loire, 11.5 km (7.1 mi) long, in the Maine-et-Loire département in France.
It is formed by the confluence of the Mayenne and Sarthe rivers north of Angers. It flows through this city and joins the Loire southwest of Angers.
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The Sarthe (French pronunciation: [saʁt] ) is a 313.9-kilometre-long (195.0 mi) river in western France. Together with the river Mayenne it forms the river Maine, which is a tributary to the river Loire.
Its source is in the Orne department, near Moulins-la-Marche. It flows generally southwest, through the following departments and towns:
The Loire (/lwɑːr/ LWAR, US also /luˈɑːr/ loo-AR, French: [lwaʁ] ; Occitan: Léger [ˈledʒe]; Arpitan: Lêre; Breton: Liger [ˈliːɡɛr]; Latin: Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of 1,006 kilometres (625 mi), it drains 117,054 km (45,195 sq mi), more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône.
It rises in the southeastern quarter of the French Massif Central in the Cévennes range (in the department of Ardèche) at 1,350 m (4,430 ft) near Mont Gerbier de Jonc; it flows north through Nevers to Orléans, then west through Tours and Nantes until it reaches the Bay of Biscay (Atlantic Ocean) at Saint-Nazaire. Its main tributaries include the rivers Nièvre, Maine and the Erdre on its right bank, and the rivers Allier, Cher, Indre, Vienne, and the Sèvre Nantaise on the left bank.
Angers (French: [ɑ̃ʒe] , UK: /ˈɒ̃ʒeɪ/, US: /ɒ̃ˈʒeɪ, ˈændʒərz/;) is a city in western France, about 300 km (190 mi) southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the province are called Angevins or, more rarely, Angeriens.
Angers proper covers 42.70 square kilometres (16.49 sq mi) and has a population of 154,508 inhabitants, while around 432,900 live in its metropolitan area (aire d'attraction). The Angers Loire Métropole is made up of 29 communes covering 667 square kilometres (258 sq mi) with 299,500 inhabitants (2018). Not including the broader metropolitan area, Angers is the third most populous commune in northwestern France after Nantes and Rennes and the 18th most populous commune in France.
Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe (French pronunciation: [ʃɑtonœf syʁ saʁt] ) is a former commune in the Maine-et-Loire department of western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Les Hauts-d'Anjou. It is approximately 175 miles (280 km) from Paris. It had a population of 3,067 in 2022. The river Sarthe flows to the east of the town near where the Sarthe and river Mayenne join to form the river Maine.
Châteauneuf-sur-Sarthe is to the north of the Loire Valley, an area famous for its historic towns, wine-growing region and cultural landscape. The local areas is heavily farmed both for arable and pastoral uses.
The Mayenne (French pronunciation: [majɛn] ) is a 202.3 km (125.7 mi) long river in western France, principally located in the French region of Pays de la Loire. Together with the river Sarthe and its tributary the Loir it forms the Maine, which is a tributary to the Loire.
Maine-et-Loire (French pronunciation: [mɛn e lwaʁ] ) is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-et-Loire to the east, Vienne and Deux-Sèvres to the south, Vendée to the south-west, and Ille-et-Vilaine to the north-west. Its prefecture is Angers; its subprefectures are Cholet, Saumur and Segré-en-Anjou Bleu. Maine-et-Loire had a population of 818,273 in 2019.
The Château d'Angers is a castle in the city of Angers in the Loire Valley, in the département of Maine-et-Loire, in France. Founded in the 9th century by the Counts of Anjou, it was expanded to its current size in the 13th century. It is located overhanging the River Maine. It is a listed historical monument since 1875. Now open to the public, the Château d'Angers is home of the Apocalypse Tapestry.