This page is about the administrative region in France. For other similarly named regions, see Centre Region.

Centre
—  Region of France  —
Flag Logo
Country	France
Prefecture	Orléans
Departments	6 Cher Eure-et-Loir Indre Indre-et-Loire Loir-et-Cher Loiret
Government
- President	François Bonneau
Area
- Total	39,151 km2 (15,116.3 sq mi)
Population (2008-01-01)
- Total	2,538,000
- Density	64.8/km2 (167.9/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
NUTS Region	FR2
Website	regioncentre.fr

Centre is one of the 26 regions of France, located towards the northwest of the actual centre of the country, around the Loire Valley. Its capital is Orléans, although its largest city is Tours.

Contents 1 Features 2 Name 3 Major communities 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Features

The main feature of Centre is the Loire Valley. It includes the rich, fertile valleys of the Loire River and its tributaries: Cher, Indre, Loiret, etc. It is in Centre that are located the famous châteaux of the Loire Valley, which attract many tourists to the region.

[edit] Name

The name Centre was chosen by the French central government based purely on geography, as Centre is composed of too many historical provinces to use a historical name. However, Centre is not in the geographical centre of France, and the name has been criticized as being overly dull and nondescript.

It has been proposed to rename the region Val de Loire (i.e. "Valley of the Loire"), which would give more character to the name of the region. Val de Loire is a name associated with positive images of the Loire Valley, such as the chateaux, the gentle and refined lifestyle, wine, the mild and temperate climate. The name change has not yet been adopted, but the term is sometimes juxtaposed with the region's name, as in Centre - Val de Loire.

[edit] Major communities

• Blois
• Bourges
• Chartres
• Châteauroux
• Dreux
• Fleury-les-Aubrais
• Joué-lès-Tours
• Orléans
• Tours
• Vierzon

[edit] See also

• Saint-Benoît-du-Sault

[edit] External links

• Media related to Centre at Wikimedia Commons
• Région Centre Official website
• (English) Centre at the Open Directory Project
• The Centre region of France Overview of the region and main attractions

v • d • e Department prefectures of Centre Orléans (Loiret) • Bourges (Cher) • Chartres (Eure-et-Loir) • Châteauroux (Indre) • Tours (Indre-et-Loire) • Blois (Loir-et-Cher)

v • d • e Regions of France     Alsace Aquitaine Auvergne Bourgogne Brittany Centre Champagne-Ardenne Corsica Franche-Comté Île-de-France Languedoc-Roussillon Limousin Lorraine Midi-Pyrénées Nord-Pas-de-Calais Basse-Normandie Haute-Normandie Pays de la Loire Picardy Poitou-Charentes Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Rhône-Alpes Overseas regions: French Guiana · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Réunion

Coordinates: 47°30′N 1°45′E / 47.5°N 1.75°E / 47.5; 1.75