The
Marais Poitevin (
Poitevin Marsh) is a large area of marshland in Western
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, a remnant of the former Gulf of Poitou (the name meaning "
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
's Marsh", "Marsh of Poitou region"). It consists for two thirds of a western zone near the sea called the "dry marsh" (or "dried marsh"), used for farming and breeding, and for one third of an eastern zone called the "wet marsh", a maze of islets criss-crossed by picturesque canals now used for touristic rowboating and nicknamed
The Green Venice (
la Venise Verte).
With a surface area of 970 km², it is the largest marsh on the Atlantic coast and the second largest of the whole country (after the
CamargueThe Camargue is located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the River Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône. Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named...
).
The
Marais Poitevin (
Poitevin Marsh) is a large area of marshland in Western
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, a remnant of the former Gulf of Poitou (the name meaning "
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
's Marsh", "Marsh of Poitou region"). It consists for two thirds of a western zone near the sea called the "dry marsh" (or "dried marsh"), used for farming and breeding, and for one third of an eastern zone called the "wet marsh", a maze of islets criss-crossed by picturesque canals now used for touristic rowboating and nicknamed
The Green Venice (
la Venise Verte).
Overview
With a surface area of 970 km², it is the largest marsh on the Atlantic coast and the second largest of the whole country (after the
CamargueThe Camargue is located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the River Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône. Administratively it lies within the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, the appropriately named...
). Extending across three departments (
VendéeThe Vendée is a department in the Pays-de-la-Loire region in west central France, on the Atlantic Ocean. The name Vendée is taken from the Vendée river which runs through the south-eastern part of the department.- History :...
,
Deux-SèvresDeux-Sèvres is a French département.-Name:...
, and
Charente-MaritimeCharente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
), it is situated west of
NiortNiort is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.The Latin name of the city was Novioritum.The population of Niort is 60,486 and more than 125,000 people live in the urban area....
, north of
La RochelleLa Rochelle is a city in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department....
, and south of
Fontenay-le-ComteFontenay-le-Comte is a town and commune of western France. It is located in the Vendée département, for which it is the sous-préfecture, in the Pays de la Loire région. Population : 13,792.-Geography:...
.
Although the area was declared a Regional Natural Park (
parc naturel régional) in 1979, it lost that status in 1997 as intensive agricultural development around the Marsh meant the unique character of the region was endangered, leaving only a core Interregional Park (
Parc Interrégional du Marais poitevin) of 185 km². Attempts to get back the full Park label started in 2002, leading to a new chart being proposed in 2006; accepted by the local authorities, it was rejected in late 2008 by the government due to a perceived "juridical fragility".
Tourism includes boating in traditional barques, which is a form of
puntingThis article concentrates on the history and development of punts and punting in England, for other usages see Norfolk punt and the general disambiguation pages at punt and punter....
. There are several piers (
embarcadères), from which boats can be hired. The myriad canals are covered in green duckweed (hence the Green Venice nickname) and the drained marsh land is home to a varied fauna.
The
Marais Poitevin is also the most important area of
angelicaAngelica is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far North as Iceland and Lapland...
cultivation in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Further reading
External links
Tourism in the Marais Poitevin The interregional park Marais Poitevin Organisation for the defence of the Marais Poitevin A guide to punting on the Marais Poitevin (Venise Verte)