The region of Pays de la Loire was created in
1956 (with all the other original regions) as an administrate unit, and included the five departments listed above; it was not
altered during the reorganization of 2016. It contains a small
part of the former Brittany: somewhat illogically the regional
capital is the old Breton capital Nantes. Nantes is in the
department of Loire-Atlantique and also the departmental
capital and regional. All of the old county of Anjou is contained in Pays de
la Loire, mostly in the department of Maine et Loire (capital
Angers), as is the old county of Maine although this is
divided between the departments of Mayenne (capital Le Mans)
and Sarthe (capital Laval). Part of the old county
of Poitou is in Pays de la Loire (in Vendée, capital
La-Roche-sur-Yon) but it is mostly in the former region of
Poitou-Charantes, which itself was slotted into a new region of
Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 2016. Part of the county of Touraine is
also in Pays de la Loire, the remainder is in Centre. There are
also lesser parts of other old counties and provinces included.
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