Ille-et-Vilaine

Ille-et-Vilaine (French pronunciation: [il e vilɛn] ; Gallo: Ill-e-Vilaenn, Breton: Il-ha-Gwilen) is a department of France, located in the region of Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named after its two main rivers, the Ille and the Vilaine. It had a population of 1,079,498 in 2019.

Ille-et-Vilaine Ill-e-Vilaenn (Gallo) Il-ha-Gwilen (Breton)
Department
The river Vilaine flowing through Rennes
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Ille-et-Vilaine in France
Coordinates: 48°10′N 01°40′W
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Prefecture	Rennes
Subprefectures	Fougères Redon Saint-Malo
Government
• President of the Departmental Council	Jean-Luc Chenut (PS)
Area 1
• Total	6,775 km2 (2,616 sq mi)
Population  (2021)
• Total	1,098,325
• Rank	21st
• Density	160/km2 (420/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC 1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 2 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	FR-35
Department number	35
Arrondissements	4
Cantons	27
Communes	333
^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

History

Ille-et-Vilaine is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Brittany.

Geography

Ille-et-Vilaine is a part of the current region of Brittany and it is bordered by the departments of Manche to the north-east, Mayenne to the east, Maine-et-Loire to the south-east, Loire-Atlantique to the south, Morbihan to the south-west, and Côtes-d'Armor to the west and north-west – France's shortest administrative department boundary at 20 yards (19 metres), although this was not the case with the department boundary. Also the English Channel (la Manche in French) borders the department to the north.

The department is named after its two main rivers, the Ille and the Vilaine, whose confluence is in Rennes, the capital of the department and of the region. Other important rivers include:

• the Rance, that borders the department in the north-west and flows to the north, creating a deep fjord before reaching the English Channel on the western part of the coast (named Côte d'Émeraude) between the cities of Dinard and Saint-Malo); the Rance river is connected from the west of the department to the Ille river in the north-west suburbs of Rennes with a navigable channel (then the Ille river is channelized to join the Vilaine up to the center of the city of Rennes);
• and the Couesnon that borders the eastern part of the department and which reaches the eastern part of the coast of the English Channel, in the flat Bay of the Mont Saint-Michel.

The department is moderately elevated above the level of the sea, with many hills; however the central part has a dense network of many tributaries to the Ille or the Vilaine from all around the large basin of Rennes. The elevated hills bordering this basin are covered by several old forests now exploited by men for the production of wood. The basin itself is a rich agriculture area, as well as the north-west of the department near the Rance.

In the extreme south of the department the Vilaine goes through a slower decrease in elevation in a small corridor in the area of the city of Redon; in this area, the Vilaine is known for its frequent floods during its recent history, often because of too-intensive draining of agricultural areas around Rennes (some floods also affected some parts of Rennes up to the 1980s due to incorrect management of old equipment of the canal of Ille-et-Rance). To avoid these hazards within inhabited cities, some natural fields bordering the Vilaine in the south of the department are now left floodable, and works for regulating the level have been done including, small artificial lakes with derivation channels, replanting trees in the basin, better management of forests, and regulating the artificial drains made for agriculture.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Rennes, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 6 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:

Commune	Population (2019)
Rennes	220,488
Saint-Malo	46,803
Fougères	20,595
Bruz	18,905
Vitré	18,487
Cesson-Sévigné	17,082

Demographics

The population has grown rapidly over the last few decades and was estimated at 1,051,779 in January 2016.

Population development since 1801:

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1801 488,846 —     1821 533,207 0.44% 1831 547,052 0.26% 1841 549,217 0.04% 1851 574,618 0.45% 1861 584,930 0.18% 1876 602,712 0.20% 1881 615,480 0.42% 1891 626,875 0.18% 1901 614,000 −0.21% 1921 558,574 −0.47% 1936 566,000 0.09%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1946 578,246 0.21% 1954 586,812 0.18% 1962 614,268 0.57% 1968 653,000 1.02% 1975 702,199 1.04% 1982 748,272 0.91% 1990 797,785 0.80% 1999 866,111 0.92% 2006 945,497 1.26% 2011 996,439 1.06% 2016 1,051,779 1.09%
source:

Language

Gallo is a historic minority language spoken in eastern Brittany. Gallo and Breton are both studied at the University of Rennes.

Breton

Historically, the Breton language was little spoken in the eastern part of Brittany, and this was one of the first regions where the language disappeared such that Breton was not spoken for many centuries.

Today, Breton is again spoken due to schools teaching Breton, and due to a small immigration from Western Brittany to Eastern Brittany, where there are more cities with growing industries and external investment and therefore more work. A recent study shows that Breton speakers in this region represent 3.3% of the total number of Breton speakers. The Breton speakers aged 18–30 in this region represent 12.7% of the total number of Breton speakers of that age group. This is because there are relatively few elder speakers but many people are learning the language. The study says that about 1,800 people are learning it (this includes one Diwan school in Rennes, some bilingual public and catholic schools, and evening courses).

Politics

The President of the Departmental Council is the Socialist Jean-Luc Chenut since the 2015 French departmental elections, re-elected in 2021.

The city of Rennes and its suburbs are the original base of the rapid Socialist growth in the department. The city has been governed by Socialist Mayors since 1977, notably by Edmond Hervé between 1977 and 2008. Since then, the growth of middle-class suburbs have helped the Socialists, who have been rapidly gaining strength in those formerly right-leaning areas.

The right remains strong in a strongly Catholic (clerical) area from outside Redon to Vitré or Fougères. In addition, the right is strong in the wealthy coastal area of Saint-Malo and Dinard.

Party		seats
•	Socialist Party	21
•	Miscellaneous Left	8
	Union for a Popular Movement	6
	Miscellaneous Right	6
•	Left Radical Party	5
	Centrist Alliance	4
	MoDem	2
	New Centre	1

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%	2nd Place Candidate	Party	%
	2022	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	70.94	Marine Le Pen	FN	29.06
	2017	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	77.67	Marine Le Pen	FN	22.33
	2012	François Hollande	PS	55.71	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	44.29
	2007	Ségolène Royal	PS	52.39	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	47.61
	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	89.82	Jean-Marie Le Pen	FN	10.18
	1995	Jacques Chirac	RPR	51.19	Lionel Jospin	PS	48.81

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member	Party
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 1st constituency	Marie Mesmeur	La France Insoumise
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 2nd constituency	Tristan Lahais	Génération.s
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 3rd constituency	Claudia Rouaux	Socialist Party
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 4th constituency	Mathilde Hignet	La France Insoumise
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 5th constituency	Christine Cloarec	Renaissance
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 6th constituency	Thierry Benoit	Horizons
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 7th constituency	Jean-Luc Bourgeaux	The Republicans
	Ille-et-Vilaine's 8th constituency	Mickaël Bouloux	Socialist Party

Tourism

• 
  Rennes downtown
• 
  The medieval town of Vitré
• 
  Plage de l'Écluse in Dinard
• 
  Legendary forest Brocéliande in Paimpont forest
• 
  Château de Fougères
• 
  The fishing village of Saint-Suliac
• 
  Stone row La Roche aux fées in Essé

Saint-Malo, the Corsairs' stronghold, view of the walled city from the south-west

See also

• Cantons of the Ille-et-Vilaine department
• Communes of the Ille-et-Vilaine department
• Arrondissements of the Ille-et-Vilaine department
• Saint-Sauveur Abbey Church of Redon

External links

• (in French) Prefecture website
• (in French) Departmental Council website
• (in French) Cultural Heritage