Saint-Nazaire is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.

The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. Given its location, Saint-Nazaire has a long tradition of fishing and shipbuilding. The Chantiers de l’Atlantique, one of the largest shipyards in the world.

Saint-Nazaire was a small village until the Industrial Revolution but became a large town in the second half of the 19th century, thanks to the construction of railways and the growth of the seaport. Saint-Nazaire progressively replaced Nantes as the main haven on the Loire estuary. The town was one of the most damaged in France during World War II.

History

Antiquity

Archaeologists believe that Saint-Nazaire is built upon the remnants of Corbilo, an Armorican Gaulish city populated by the Namnetes tribe, which was the second-largest Gaulish city, after Massilia (now Marseille).

Geography

The town of Saint-Nazaire is located on the north bank of the Loire estuary, 50 km west of Nantes. It is near the marshes of Brière, an important regional natural park with many animal and plant species, the second largest wetland in France after the Camargue.

According to INSEE, Saint-Nazaire is the commune-center of an urban unit (commonly: agglomeration), gathering eleven communes located on the right bank of the Loire estuary and on its oceanic prolongation, from Donges to Le Croisic.

The eastern part of the town is on the alluvial terrain between the Brière and the Loire estuary. The western part, more extensive, corresponds to the extension of the hillside of Guérande: the relief is hilly and of higher altitude, where one finds a granite and metamorphic base. Geologically, Saint-Nazaire is located in the Armorican massif.

Education

Schools

The primary schools of Saint-Nazaire (Carnot, Jean-Jaurès, Lamartine, Jules Ferry, Ferdinand Bush, Boncourt, etc.).

The junior schools have nearly 7,000 pupils in 12 colleges: public colleges Albert Vinçon; Pierre Norange; Manon Roland; Jean de Neyman; Jean Moulin, accommodate around 1,350 pupils each. Private colleges include:

• Saint-Louis: 1,000 pupils, boarding school (historically a college for boys)
• Sainte-Therese (historically a college for girls)

The high schools educate 6,000 pupils into 11 colleges, with the technical school Aristide Briand having some 3,500 pupils, one of the largest colleges of France; an experimental college, the private college of Saint-Louis mainstream education; the hotel private college Sainte-Anne; the private of mainstream education and technological college Our-Lady-in Espérance.

University

The University of Saint-Nazaire is a college of the University of Nantes, the second largest university in France with approximately 35,000 students, including nearly 5,000 on the university campus of Saint-Nazaire.

Transport

Railway

TGV (high speed train) connection to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Strasbourg, with trains to Paris via the LGV Atlantique taking just over 2 hours. TER Pays de la Loire provides links to Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche sur Yon, and other regional cities and towns.

Air travel

Saint-Nazaire airport is located 5 km (3 mi) south-east of Saint-Nazaire, in the commune of Montoir-de-Bretagne. It has an annual capacity of approximately 150,000 passengers, and is the operational and maintenance base for Eagle Aviation France.

Economy

The economy of the city is founded on the activity of the port, including export of manufactured goods but also on the services, being given sizeable size of the city. Commercial fishing has almost completely disappeared in spite of the existence of a small fleet of fisheries and fishing vessels.

Today, the local economy is more diversified and its situation is more in line with that of France as a whole. The major industries are: Airbus A380 transporter ship Ville de Bordeaux

• Shipyard
• Airbus
• Aeronautical engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Port