Deux-Sèvres (, Poitevin-Saintongese: Deùs Saevres) is a French department. Deux-Sèvres literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department. It had a population of 375,229 in 2023. are the main industries.

Textiles and shoe making, furnitures, mechanics, automotive (Heuliez and Irisbus), chemistry (Rhodia in Melle), food industry and food packaging are the major industries outside of the capital.

The unemployment rate in the département is very low (less than 5%) especially in the north-west, where many small and medium companies are developing rapidly.

The south-west of the département attracts tourists with the Marais Poitevin natural area; the Atlantic coast is close at hand.

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Niort, the prefecture. As of 2023, there are 7 communes with more than 7,000 inhabitants:

{| class=wikitable

! Commune

! Population (2023)

|-

| Niort

| style="text-align: center;" | 59,854

|-

| Bressuire

| style="text-align: center;" | 19,970

|-

| Thouars

| style="text-align: center;" | 13,891

|-

| Parthenay

| style="text-align: center;" | 10,140

|-

| Mauléon

| style="text-align: center;" | 8,573

|-

| Saint-Maixent-l'École

| style="text-align: center;" | 7,595

|-

| Chauray

| style="text-align: center;" | 7,221

|}

Politics

The president of the Departmental Council is Coralie Denoues, elected in July 2021.

Current National Assembly Representatives

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!colspan="2"|Constituency!!Member!!Party

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Deux-Sèvres's 1st constituency

| Bastien Marchive

| PRV

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Deux-Sèvres's 2nd constituency

| Delphine Batho

| Ecology Generation

|-

|style="background-color: " |

| Deux-Sèvres's 3rd constituency

| Jean-Marie Fiévet

| Renaissance

|}

Transport

Niort in the south of the département is connected to Paris and Bordeaux by the A10 motorway, with Nantes by the A83, with La Rochelle and Poitiers by the N11. Another important road in the north of the département is the Route nationale 149 (RN149), which runs roughly east–west from Bressuire to Poitiers, passing around the outskirts of Parthenay. This section of the RN149 forms part of the European route E62 from Nantes to Genoa. The road originally ran from Nantes, but has been bypassed in various stages by the new RN249 dual carriageway. The old section from Nantes to Bressuire has been either renamed or downgraded to the D149.

The north and south of the département are connected by relatively minor roads, with the D743 and D748 linking Niort to Parthenay and Bressuire respectively, whilst the D938 connects to Thouars.

The département has two railway stations on the TGV route between Paris and La Rochelle (Niort and Saint-Maixent), with a journey from Niort to Paris taking 2h15. It is also served by several TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional railway routes, including a route from Poitiers via Niort to La Rochelle, a route from Niort to Saintes, and a route from Tours to Thouars and Bressuire. The région of Nouvelle-Aquitaine provides inter-urban bus service that connects the towns and villages of the département.

There are no airports with scheduled airline service within the département, although is used for private movements. The nearest commercial airports are at Poitiers (Poitiers - Biard Airport), La Rochelle (La Rochelle - Île de Ré Airport) and Nantes (Nantes Atlantique Airport).

<gallery widths="250" mode="packed">

File:Panorama Niort.jpg|Niort

File:Parthenay Citadel from Saint-Paul Bridge 2.jpg|Parthenay

File:Thouars - Hotel de Ville 02.jpg|Thouars

File:Bressuire (13).JPG|Bressuire

File:Coulon-Eglise.jpg|Coulon

</gallery>

Notable people

Famous births in the département:

  • Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (1635&ndash;1719), second wife of Louis XIV
  • Jacques de Liniers (Santiago de Liniers y Bremond) (1753&ndash;1810)
  • Louis-Marcelin, marquis de Fontanes (1757&ndash;1821), poet and politician
  • Henri-Georges Clouzot (1904&ndash;1977), film director
  • Laurent Cantet (1961), Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes 2008, for the movie Entre les murs
  • Catherine Breillat (1948), film maker and novelist
  • Jean-Hugues Anglade (1955), actor
  • René Caillié (1799&ndash;1838) explorer, and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu

Famous people related to the département:

  • Jean-Baptiste Baujault, French sculptor
  • Ségolène Royal (1953), former candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, former representative of the department at the National Assembly, former President of the Poitou-Charentes region (2004–2014) and Minister of Ecology since 2014.

See also

  • Anjou wine
  • Arrondissements of the Deux-Sèvres department
  • Cantons of the Deux-Sèvres department
  • Communes of the Deux-Sèvres department
  • Saint-Laon Church, Thouars

References

  • Prefecture website
  • Departmental council website