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Charente (river)

River in southwestern France

Summary

River in southwestern France

Field	Value
name	Charente
native_name	oc
image	Charente à Tonnay.jpg
image_caption	The Charente in Tonnay-Charente
map	La Charente et ses affluents principaux.png
map_caption	The Charente and its main tributaries
mapframe	yes
mapframe-zoom	7
source1_location	Haute-Vienne
mouth_location	Atlantic Ocean
mouth_coordinates
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	France
length	381 km
discharge1_avg	40 m3/s
basin_size	10000 km2

| mapframe-zoom = 7

The Charente (; ) is a 381 km long river in southwestern France. Its source is in the Haute-Vienne département at Chéronnac, a small village near Rochechouart. It flows through the departments of Haute-Vienne, Charente, Vienne and Charente-Maritime. The river flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Rochefort.

Navigation

The Charente was described by the French king François I as 'the most beautiful river in the kingdom', and was navigable in its natural state until mills were erected at many locations in the 14th century. Some locks were built but through navigation remained impossible for centuries. Improvements to the navigation were projected under Louis XVI in 1772, but work was interrupted by the Revolution. The project was revived under the Restoration and canalisation completed in 1835. The waterway was abandoned in 1957. The départements took over operation in 1963, and the waterway is now entirely recreational for the 164 km to the town of Angoulême.

The historic towns of Cognac, Jarnac, Saintes and Rochefort make the river a popular destination for boaters, mainly in rental boats, with moorings provided at most towns and villages along the route. The locks are 34.8 by.

Tributaries

Tributaries include the rivers Antenne, Boëme, Né, Coran, Seugne, Bramerit, Boutonne, Arnoult, Touvre and Bonnieure.

The river Boutonne is navigable over a distance of 31 km to Saint-Jean-d'Angély, but a barrier at the confluence prevents access except under exceptional conditions.

Towns

Towns and villages include Vergeroux, Soubise, Rochefort and Tonnay-Charente on the tidal river, and Saint-Savinien, Taillebourg, Saintes, Cognac, Jarnac, Saint-Simon and Angoulême on the navigable river, while Montignac-Charente and Civray are on the river's upper course.

References

{{sandre
Edwards-May, David. (2010). "Inland Waterways of France". Imray Laurie Norie & Wilson Ltd.
[http://www.fluviacarte.com/fr/voies-navigables/region-centre-ouest-3/voie-charente-45 Charente (amont et aval)], Fluviacarte

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

rivers-of-france charente-basin rivers-of-charente rivers-of-charente-maritime rivers-of-haute-vienne rivers-of-vienne-(department) rivers-of-nouvelle-aquitaine

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