An excellent paper about the history of the Loire Valley

The Loire River

History is also poetry; Ronsard, poet of the XVIth century... is one of the proof :

See, Mignonne, hath not the Rose,
That this morning did unclose
Her purple mantle to the light,
Lost, before the day be dead,
The glory of her raiment red,
Her colour, bright as yours is bright?

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose
Qui ce matin avoit desclose
Sa robe de pourpre au Soleil,
A point perdu ceste vesprée
Les plis de sa robe pourprée,
Et son teint au vostre pareil.

Ronsard, 1550

"The Loire is at the heart of France, its land and culture. The Loire is the longest river in France. It runs 1,012 kilometres to its mouth at Saint Nazaire, draining over 20% of France's land area into the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean. Its lower valley from Orléans to Nantes is the home of much of French culture, especially its language. The Académie Française considers the form of the French language spoken in the lower Loire valley to be the standard."...

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