Nantes is named after a tribe of Gaul, the Namnetes, who established a settlement between the end of the second century and the beginning of the first century BC on the north bank of the Loire near its confluence with

Location
Nantes is in north-western France, near the Atlantic Ocean and 340 kilometres (210 miles) south-west of Paris. Bordeaux, the other major metropolis of

Nantes had 314,138 inhabitants in 2018, the largest population in its history. Although it was the largest city in Brittany during the

Nantes' cityscape is primarily recent, with more buildings built during the 20th century than in any other era. The city has 127 buildings listed as monuments historiques, the 19th-ranked French city. Most of the old buildings were made of tuffeau stone (a

Prehistory and antiquity
The first inhabitants of what is now Nantes settled during the Bronze Age, later than in the surrounding regions (which have Neolithic monuments absent from Nantes). Its first inhabitants were apparently attracted by

Local government
Nantes is the préfecture (capital city) of the Loire-Atlantique département and the Pays de la Loire

For centuries, Nantes' economy was linked to the Loire and the Atlantic; the city had France's largest harbour in the 18th century. Food processing