Poitevin-Saintongeais in the context of "Aquitaine"

Old French (franceis, françois, romanz; French: ancien français [ɑ̃sjɛ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛ]) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th and mid-14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a group of Romance dialects, mutually intelligible yet diverse. These dialects came to be collectively known as the langues d'oïl, contrasting with the langues d'oc, the emerging Occitano-Romance languages of Occitania, now Southern France.

The mid-14th century witnessed the emergence of Middle French, the language of the French Renaissance in the Île-de-France region; this dialect was a predecessor to Modern French. Other dialects of Old French evolved themselves into modern forms (Poitevin-Saintongeais, Gallo, Norman, Picard, Walloon, etc.), each with its linguistic features and history.

Angoulême (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ɡulɛːm] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Engoulaeme; Occitan: Engoleime) is a small city in the southwestern French department of Charente, of which it is the prefecture.

Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of the river Charente, the city is nicknamed the "balcony of the southwest". The city proper's population is a little less than 42,000 but it is the centre of an urban area of 110,000 people extending more than fifteen kilometres (9.3 miles) from east to west.

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.

Vienne (French pronunciation: [vjɛn] vyen; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Viéne) is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.

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.

Charente-Maritime (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁɑ̃t maʁitim] ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Chérente-Marine; Occitan: Charanta Maritima) is a department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a population of 651,358 with an area of 6,864 square kilometres (2,650 sq mi).