Charente
Charente
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|---|---|
Prefecture building of the Charente department, in Angoulême | |
Location of Charente in France | |
| Coordinates: 45°50′N 0°20′E / 45.833°N 0.333°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Prefecture | Angoulême |
| Subprefectures | Cognac Confolens |
| Government | |
| • President of the Departmental Council | Philippe Bouty (DVG) |
| Area | |
• Total | 5,956 km2 (2,300 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 351,603 |
| • Rank | 68th |
| • Density | 59/km2 (150/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | FR-16 |
| Department number | 16 |
| Arrondissements | 3 |
| Cantons | 19 |
| Communes | 363 |
| ^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2 | |
Charente (French: [ʃaʁɑ̃t] ⓘ; Saintongese: Chérente; Occitan: Charanta [tʃaˈɾantɔ]) is a department in the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It is named after the river Charente, the most important and longest river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited. In 2019, it had a population of 352,015.