Noirmoutier (also French: Île de Noirmoutier, ; , ) is a

tidal island A tidal island is a raised area of land within a waterbody, which is connected to the larger mainland by a natural isthmus or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide, causing the land to switch between being ...

off the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

coast of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the

Vendée Vendée () 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 were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

raid in 799, when raiders attacked the monastery of Saint

Philibert of Jumièges Philibert of Jumièges (c. 608–684) was an abbot and Monastery, 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'Ado ...

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

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

by the 840s. In 848, they sacked

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. 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 The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

and

. On 4 July 1674, during the

Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, 1672 to 1678, was primarily fought by Kingdom of France, France and the Dutch Republic, with both sides backed at different times by a variety of allies. Related conflicts include the 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and ...

, the island was briefly captured by

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

forces under the command of

Cornelis Tromp Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, ''Count of Sølvesborg'' (3 September 1629 – 29 May 1691) was a Dutch naval officer who served as lieutenant-admiral general in the Dutch Navy, and briefly as a general admiral in the Royal Danish-Norwegian ...

. The Dutch flag flew from the walls on the island for nearly three weeks until, on 23 July, the Dutch abandoned it after blowing up the castle and demolishing the coastal batteries. 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 gove ...

Generalissimo ''Generalissimo'' ( ), also generalissimus, 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 ...

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

, 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 A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

. 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. It is native to southeastern Australia and widely introduced in other warm climates. Description It is a fast-growing ...

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

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, 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. I ...

and salt banks,

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

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 generally not more closely related to each other than they are to ot ...

forests. The communes of the island are grouped into a ''

communauté de communes A (, "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'' (intercommunality). As of 1 J ...

''. The communes are: * Barbâtre * L'Épine * La Guérinière *

Noirmoutier-en-l'Île Noirmoutier-en-l'Île (), commonly referred to as Noirmoutier, is a Communes of France, commune located in the northern part of the island of Noirmoutier, just off the coast of the Vendée Departments of France, department in the Pays de la Loir ...

The island has been a site of uninterrupted human habitation 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 cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

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

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 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 An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

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 borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. 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, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

throughout the year, especially in the winter. There is considerably more precipitation in winter compared to summer.The climate is classified as cool dry summer Mediterranean type (Csb), with 3 months with Tm*2>=P. More than 2300h of sun is too high for a typical oceanic climate.

References

External links

Tourist office website

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{{Authority control 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