Nantes, << nants or nahnt >> (pop. 306,694; met. area pop. 961,521), is a port city in western France, near the mouth of the Loire River. A ship canal connects the city with the port of St.-Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. Shipping and shipbuilding are the major industries of Nantes. Other economic activities include food processing and the production of copper, steel, and aviation and railroad equipment. The city is the capital of the Pays de la Loire region and the Loire-Atlantique department (administrative district). Landmarks include a castle, built in its present form in the 1400’s, and the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, which also dates from the 1400’s.
Gauls built a town on the site of what is now Nantes many years before Roman soldiers established a settlement nearby in the 50’s B.C. In A.D. 1598, King Henry IV of France signed the famous Edict of Nantes in the city’s castle. The edict granted limited religious liberty to Protestants (see Nantes, Edict of).
