Aunis () is a historical province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Castrum Allionis (Châtelaillon) the historic capital which gives its name to the province.
It was a fief of the Duchy of Aquitaine. It extended to Marais Poitevin in the north, Basse Saintonge (and Niortais) in the east, and Rochefortais in the south. Aunis had an influence approximately 20–25 km into the Isle of Ré (l'Île de Ré).
The province was officially recognised during the reign of Charles V of France in 1374: "In 1374, Charles V separated La Rochelle from Saintonge to set up a provincial government, comprising the jurisdictions of Rochefort, Marennes and, for a time, Benon. It was thus that Aunis legally became a separate province."
Aunis was the smallest province in France, in terms of area. Nowadays it is a part of the Charente-Maritime département together with Saintonge.
People from Aunis were called Aunisien (masculine) or Aunisienne (feminine). The English term is Aunisian.
Geography Aunis is mostly a rolling chalk plain, whose navigable rivers have always been important modes of communication, and from which came economic development and the urbanisation of the region.
The region is coastal, with varied seafronts and offshore islands, from which maritime activities diversified. Nowadays tourism is of great importance.
Geographic framework
Aunis has two river borders, those of the Sèvre Niortaise in the north, and the Charente in the south. To the west is the Atlantic Ocean and two islands, the Île de Ré and the Île d'Aix. To the east it is bordered by the valley of the Mignon (the main left tributary of the Sèvre Niortaise), by the hills of Saintonge around Saint-Félix, and by the valleys of the Trézence and Boutonne.The territorial boundaries of Aunis have changed a lot over time. Those described here omit enlargement eastwards; for practical reasons, the borders are "usually" confined to administrative limits of the cantons of Surgères and Tonnay-Charente
Aunis is a chalk plain of the Jurassic period, characterised by gently rolling hills, where no valley is completely enclosed, and where the land has a regular descent towards the sea. The islands of Ré and Aix were made at the same time and from the same type of rock. The chalk table completes the triangular promontory which juts into the Atlantic, forming the northern extremity of the Aquitaine Basin.
Large freshwater and seawater marshes have formed in places that have been drained, hardly altering the general relief. The seawater marshes correspond to ancient marine gulfs, made from marine or fluvial sediments. Since the Middle Ages they have been continuously drained by people. In the north, the Marais Poitevin dries up, at the centre there are the valleys of the small river Curé and its main tributary the Virson and in the east the valley of the Mignon. In the south is the marshland of "Little Flanders" (), drained since the 17th century. Together these constitute an important reservoir of fresh water, essential for the agricultural and snail-farming activities of the north of the department.
Transport The geography of the plain was always very unfavourable for communications. The region was almost an enclave, and for a long time on the margins of the French kingdom politically as well as geographically.This regional enclave was even more isolated by the marshes () – Marais Poitevin, Marais de Rochefort – which were for much of history obstacles for overland travel
Huge efforts were made to break this geographical isolation. Without doubt the most spectacular was the coming of the railway in 1857, running from La Rochelle and Rochefort to Paris. This line has been repeatedly modernised (made double track, and electrified in 1993 for use by the TGV).
The regional railways connecting Nantes to Bordeaux also serve Aunis, passing through La Rochelle, Châtelaillon-Plage and Rochefort.
Roads have also been considerably modernised, notably the roads from La Rochelle to Rochefort, from La Rochelle to Niort, the A837 autoroute from Rochefort to Saintes, the viaduct over the Charente at Rochefort, the ring road around La Rochelle, and the bridge to the Île de Ré, all of which are now dual carriageways.
The modernisation of communication infrastructure had its heyday in the second half of the 19th century, at the end of the Second French Empire, and economic activity diversified.
Agricultural and maritime activities The two principal agricultural resources are intensive arable farming (wheat, maize, oil seed) and livestock farming. Dairy cows have long been the mainstay, but more and more cows and bulls are raised for beef (principally in the marshy areas).
Vineyards were virtually abandoned after phylloxera wiped them out in 1876, although there are still some on the Île de Ré.
At sea, between the estuary of the Sèvre Niortaise and the north of La Rochelle, mussel farming () has an important place, while Fouras and the Marais d'Yves Nature Reserve are the main centres for oyster farming. La Rochelle keeps its place as a fishing port thanks to its modern port of Chef-de-Baie, but even so fishing is in decline.The port of La Rochelle is no longer practically used for industrial-scale fishing, but was ranked the 4th largest French fishing port in the early 1970s. Nowadays it is the second fishing port of the Charente-Maritime department, behind Cotinière, on the Île d'Oléron
Reclamation of sea salt from the marshes of Aunis brought the region its riches in the Middle Ages, but this has now completely disappeared from the coast of mainland Aunis. However, it still takes place on the Île de Ré and notably on the nearby Île d'Ars, and has lately achieved a certain notability for its small-volume craft production and minimal postprocessing.
In the north-east of Aunis there is a huge forest of hardwood trees, the Forest of Benon, which has been protected because it is unique to the region. With an area of , it is the Aunisiens' "green belt".
Industrial diversification La Rochelle Chamber of Commerce Rochefort and Saintonge Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Aunis does not have the strong industrial tradition which is the trademark of regions of the North and of Lorraine, and it was only at the end of the 19th century that factories started to be developed. After World War II, industry in Aunis continued, was reinforced, diversified and brought up-to-date.
Three industrial hubs emerged in Aunis to bring together the industries of Charente-Maritime: La Rochelle specialised in railway construction (Alstom) and naval construction (Chantiers navals Gamelin), motor parts (Delphi Corporation), food industries (Senoble), chemicals and pharmaceuticals (Rhodia) and pleasure boats (Dufour, Fontaine-Pajot). It is by far the largest hub of the department. It is also a large commercial port, the eighth largest in all France. In 2007 it was granted the status of ("self-governing port"). Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente developed port activities on the river Charente. The two towns have diverse industrial activities with aerospace (EADS, Simair), automotive industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, chemical and plastics industries, pleasure boating, among them. The industrial area of Rochefort-Tonnay-Charente is the second hub of the department. Surgères has become a hub for the food industry, augmented by metallurgical and plastic industries.
In addition there are two smaller, newer industrial areas: Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis and Marans, Charente-Maritime.
Tourism
Thanks to the sea, Aunis developed its tourist potential which, in the late 19th century, came to the fore with the trend for sea bathing. Bathing beaches such as Châtelaillon-Plage and Fouras gained notability, while the larger beaches such as those of the Île de Ré became national treasures from the 1960s. The Pertuis d'Antioche, which is effectively an inland sea, was popular for pleasure boating in the 1970s. La Rochelle, with its immense Port des Minimes, can hold pleasure boats, and has become the largest pleasure boating port on the French Atlantic. Ars-en-Ré, La Flotte and Saint-Martin-de-Ré are also well-known pleasure ports, while the river ports of Marans on the Sèvre niortaise, and Rochefort, on the Charente, had disused port basins that have become home to pleasure boats, and can each take more than 200 craft.
The Île de Ré lives totally by tourism and can accommodate up to tourists during the summer season. This "invasion" is even more pronounced on the Île d'Aix which accommodates up to tourists each year, even though it does not have a car bridge.
Aunis has also developed its cultural and urban tourism with its two great historical towns of La Rochelle and Rochefort. The small towns of the interior are not without interest and have enhanced their heritage sites, like Surgères (Notre-Dame church, castle, renovated town centre) and Marans (port and river site), Tonnay-Charente (management of Charente quays). Aunis has made huge efforts to put in place green tourism and has developed, notably at Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis, quality tourist bases (lac de Frace, tourist complex of La Taillée).
Demography In 2006 the region had inhabitants,That is, the urban area of La Rochelle and the "rural" areas of the Île de Ré, Aunis and Rochefortais nearly half the total population of Charente-Maritime (47.9%).
In 2010, the northwest of the department had ten of the seventeen towns of over inhabitants, and 31 of the department's 60 communes of over inhabitants.
The region covers , 21.8% of the whole department.
The population density of the region is more than twice that of the departmental average: , compared to for Charente-Maritime as a whole. It is nearly thrice that of the Poitou-Charentes region at and is higher than the national average, which in 2006 was .
The ratio of urban to rural population is comparable to the national average, which is 3:4. This is considerably different from Charente-Maritime as a whole, where the ratio is nearer 3:5.
The region became considerably more urban after World War II, though the population is unevenly distributed. Above all, the Aunis coastal towns have expanded to provide the larger part of employment and leisure.
La Rochelle and Rochefort are the most populous urban areas not just in Aunis but in all Charente-Maritime. The two towns are becoming twin cities with many suburbs, connected by regular railway trains. This heavily built-up area is now home to over inhabitants ( inhabitants in 2006).La Rochelle contributing and Rochefort This urban area is second in the region after the "Clain corridor", which runs between Poitiers and Châtellerault. Near the coast the towns have formed a dense urban web and the population density is particularly high: in the three cantons of Rochefort,The cantons of Rochefort Centre, North and South – 2006 census (municipal population) in the canton of Aytré,This canton combines the communes of Angoulins-sur-Mer, Châtelaillon-Plage and Aytré – 2006 census (municipal population) in the combined cantons of La Rochelle.La Rochelle cantons 1 – 9 and the canton of Aytré – 2006 census (municipal population) The La Rochelle-Rochefort twin city area alone includes nine towns of the seventeen with more than inhabitants, and twenty communes with more than inhabitants, of the sixty in Charente-Maritime in 2006.
The concentration of the population is even greater in the immediate neighbours of La Rochelle, where the canton of La Jarrie had a population density of in 2006.In the community of communes of the Aunis Plain, where the small towns of Aigrefeuille-d'Aunis and La Jarrie are found, the density is nearly ( in 2006)