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Charente-Maritime (Department, France)

Flag of Charente-Maritime - Image by Ivan Sache, 26 September 2009

Administrative data
Flag of Charente-Maritime
Charente-Maritime (Department, France): Municipal flags
Yacht clubs

See also:

Administrative data

Code: 17
Region: Poitou-Charentes
Traditional provinces: Aunis, Saintonge, Poitou
Bordering departments: Charente, Gironde, Deux-Sèvres, Vendée

Area: 6,864 km²Population (2006): 598,915 inhabitants

Préfecture: La Rochelle
Sous-préfectures: Jonzac, Rochefort, Saintes, Saint-Jean d'Angély
Subdivisions: 5 arrondissements, 51 cantons, 472 communes.

The department is named after river Charente (360 km), tributary of the Atlantic Ocean. Formerly known as Charente-Inférieure (Lower Charente), the department was renamed Charente-Maritime on 4 September 1941.

Ivan Sache, 11 November 2009

Flag of Charente-Maritime

In 2008, the General Council changed the department's logo and flag. The current flag is white with blue-white-green stripes on top and bottom, with proportions 13:2:7:106:7:2:13 and, in the middle, elements of the logo of the Department.

The logo of the Department of Charente-Maritime is made of two birds, blue and green, respectively, flanked in NW by a golden quarter of circle and with the writing "la / Charente / Maritime" in blue letters. On the flag, the writing appears as "la Charente / Maritime" on the left of the birds.
The two birds already appeared on the previous logo of the department.

Former flag of Charente-Maritime - Image by Pascal Gross, 12 August 2000

The logotype that appears on the former flag of the department is the property of the General Council of Charente-Maritime.
The official symbolism of the flag is the following:

Two seagulls are flying in unison. The land bird is green, the sea bird is blue. In Charente-Maritime, land and sea are the assets of our success and the promises for our future. This symbol of harmony and balance is inviting all the inhabitants and friends of Charente-Maritime to unite in order to support Charente-Maritime and take part to its flight.

Ivan Sache, 15 September 2001, after information kindly provided by Cécile Cassara (PR Director of the General Council of Charente-Maritime)