Deux-Sèvres

Deux-Sèvres is a French département. Deux-Sèvres literally means "two Sèvres": the Sèvre Nantaise and the Sèvre Niortaise are two rivers which have their sources in the department.

History
Deux-Sèvres was one of the 83 original départements created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790.

Departmental borders were changed in 1973 when the inhabitants of the little commune of Puy-Saint-Bonnet became formally associated with the rapidly growing adjacent commune of Cholet. Cholet is in the neighbouring department of Maine-et-Loire: in order to avoid the associated communes being administered in separate departments, Puy-Saint-Bonnet was transferred into Maine-et-Loire.

Geography and economics
The climate is mild, the annual temperature averaging 11 degrees Celsius.

The département remains rural: three-quarters of the area consists of arable land. Wheat and oats are the main products grown, as well as potatoes, apples, and walnuts. Niort is the center for growing vegetables and angelica. Some beetroot is grown in the district of Melle. Vineyards are numerous in the north (Vins du Haut-Poitou), and there are some in the south. The département is also well known for the breeding of cattle, mules, and horses. The Parthenais breed of cattle is named after the town of Parthenay in the north of the département. Also, dairy products are produced in significant quantities (butter in Échiré and goats' cheese).

Some quarries are in operation (in Mazières-en-Gâtine, La Peyratte or Saint-Varent), as well as lime extraction operations.

Textiles, leather-tanning, and flour milling were the traditional industries of Niort, the capital and major city. Nowadays, Niort, with 60,000 inhabitants, is an important commercial and administrative center; in particular it is one of the main financial centers in France (fourth in rank after Paris, Lyon and Lille). Niort is the national headquarters of some of the major insurance companies in France (MAAF, MACIF, MAIF and others) and regional headquarters of others such as Groupama. The regional headquarters of several national banks including Banque Populaire and Crédit Agricole are located there. The services sector is also heavily represented in Niort, in consulting, accounting, brokerage and software. Chemistry, pharmacy (Boiron) and aeronautics (Zodiac Group, Leach International) are the main industries.

Textiles and shoe making, furnitures, mechanics, automotive (Heuliez and Irisbus), chemistry (Rhodia in Melle), food industry and food packaging are the major industries outside of the capital.

The unemployment rate in the département is very low (less than 5%) especially in the north-west, where many small and medium companies are developing rapidly.

The south-west of the département interests tourists with the Marais Poitevin natural area; the Atlantic coast is close at hand.

Transport
Niort in the south of the département is connected to Paris and Bordeaux by the A10 motorway, with Nantes by the A83, with La Rochelle and Poitiers by the N11. Another important road in the north of the département is the Route nationale 149 (RN149), which runs roughly east-west from Mortagne-sur-Sèvre to Poitiers, passing through Bressuire and Parthenay. The RN149 forms part of the European route E62 from Nantes to Genoa. In Autumn 2008, the Route nationale 249 (RN249), currently running from Nantes to Cholet, was extended, continuing, eventually, towards Bressuire and on to Poitiers. This will become part of the E62 and bypass the current RN149.

The north and south of the département are connected by relatively minor roads, with the D743 and D748 linking Niort to Parthenay and Bressuire respectively, whilst the D938 connects to Thouars.

The département has two railway stations on the TGV route between Paris and La Rochelle (Niort and Saint-Maixent), with a journey from Niort to Paris taking 2h15. It is also served by several TER Poitou-Charentes regional railway routes, including a route from Poitiers via Niort to La Rochelle, a route from Niort to Saintes, and a route from Tours to Thouars and Bressuire. A railway bus service operated as part of the TER Poitou-Charentes network follows the RN149 from Poitiers to Nantes, calling at Parthenay and Bressuire. Additionally the département provides the Réseau des Deux-Sèvres, an inter-urban bus service that connects the towns and villages of the département.

There are no airports with scheduled airline service within the département, although Niort - Souche Airport is used for private movements. The nearest commercial airports are at Poitiers (Poitiers - Biard Airport), La Rochelle (La Rochelle - Île de Ré Airport) and Nantes (Nantes Atlantique Airport).

Births
Famous births in the département :
 * Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (1635–1719), second wife of Louis XIV
 * Jacques de Liniers (Santiago de Liniers y Remond) (1753–1810)
 * Louis-Marcelin, marquis de Fontanes (1757–1821), poet and politician
 * Henri-Georges Clouzot (1904–1977), film director
 * Laurent Cantet (1961), Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes 2008, for the movie Entre les murs
 * Catherine Breillat (1948), film maker and novelist
 * Jean-Hugues Anglade (1955), actor
 * René Caillié (1799–1838) explorer, and the first European to return alive from the town of Timbuktu

Famous people related to the département :
 * Ségolène Royal (1953), former candidate for the 2007 French presidential election, former representative of the department at the National Assembly and current President of the Poitou-Charentes region