Noirmoutier (also French: Île de Noirmoutier, ; br, Nervouster, ) is a tidal island off the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

department (85).

History

Noirmoutier was the location of an early

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

raid in 799, when raiders attacked the monastery of Saint

Philibert of Jumièges Saint Philibert of Jumièges (c. 608–684) was an abbot and monastic founder, particularly associated with Jumièges Abbey. Life Philibert was born in Gascony, the only son of Filibaud, a magistrate of Vicus Julius (now Aire-sur-l'Adour). ...

in 799. The Vikings established a permanent base on the island around 824, from which they could control southeast

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

by the 840s. In 848, they sacked

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. From 862 until 882,

Hastein Hastein (Old Norse: ''Hásteinn'', also recorded as ''Hastingus'', ''Anstign'', ''Haesten'', ''Hæsten'', ''Hæstenn'' or ''Hæsting'' and alias ''Alsting''Jones, Aled (2003). ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society: Sixth Series'' Cambridge ...

used it as a base from which he raided

Francia Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...

and

. Noirmoutier was the site of several campaigns in the War of the Vendée, as well as a massacre and the place of execution of the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ) is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used. Usage The word (), an Italian term, is the absolute superlative of ('general') thus me ...

Maurice D'Elbée Maurice-Joseph-Louis Gigost d'Elbée (; 21 March 1752 – 6 January 1794) was a French Royalist military leader. Initially enthusiastic about the Revolution, he became disenchanted with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and retired to his est ...

, who faced the firing squad seated in a chair due to wounds accumulated from an earlier battle. St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier was born on this island on 31 July 1796.

Geography

The island comprises ten localities and four distinct

Communes of France The () is a level of administrative divisions, administrative division in the France, French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipality, municipalities in the United States and Canada, ' in Germany, ' in ...

. Its length is approximately , and its width varies from to . Its area of . Noirmoutier is referred to as the ''Island of Mimosas'', due to the temperateness of its climate, which allows for the flowering of ''

Acacia dealbata ''Acacia dealbata'', the silver wattle, blue wattle or mimosa, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, native to southeastern Australia in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory, and widel ...

'' (mimosa) year-round. The island is predominantly

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

and salt banks, sand dunes and

evergreen oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

forests. The

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

of the island are grouped into a ''

communauté de communes A ''communauté de communes'' (, "community of communes") is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of ''intercommunalité'' (in ...

''. The communes are: *

Barbâtre Barbâtre () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. Geography The altitude of the commune of Barbâtre lies between 0 and 19 meters. The area of the commune is 12.47 km2. Arms The arm ...

* L'Épine * La Guérinière * Noirmoutier-en-l'Île The island has been a site of uninterrupted human inhabitation since prehistoric times, and is a popular tourist destination. Parts of the island have been reclaimed from the sea. In 2005 it served as the finish of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

Transport

The island is most notable for the Passage du Gois, a paved-over sandbank with a length of , one of the routes that connect the island to the mainland. It is flooded twice a day by the high tide. Until the early 1970s, a ferry service operated across the Strait of Fromentine between the La Fosse pier on the island and

Fromentine Fromentine is a district of La Barre-de-Monts, in the Vendée region of France. It is located opposite the island of Noirmoutier and is the main way to "l'Ile d'Yeu". History The name Fromentine seems to be a transformation of ''froment'' (whe ...

pier on the mainland. This was superseded by the construction of the Noirmoutier Bridge, inaugurated in July 1971.

Events

Every year, an international foot race; the '' Foulées du Gois'', is held across it, starting at the onset of the high tide. La “Fête de la Bonnotte” (Bonnotte party) is also an annual festival celebrating the first day of potato harvest on the island of Noirmoutier.

Infrastructure

In response to an effort by the French government to add offshore wind projects to the national grid, a 496 MW wind farm is being developed near the island, with a planned commissioning date of 2021.

Climate

Noirmoutier experiences an oceanic climate typical of the west coast of France. Both the winters and summers are heavily moderated by the surrounding

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. There is a low degree of

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak da ...

throughout the year, especially in the winter. There is considerably more precipitation in winter compared to summer.

References

External links

Tourist office website

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Tidal islands of France Landforms of Vendée Islands of Pays de la Loire Ramsar sites in Metropolitan France Poitou Pays de la Loire region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Vendée-geo-stub