Nantes (pronounced “Nawnt”) is a French city nestled in the Loire Valley 20 miles from the Atlantic coast in Brittany, the thriving commercial hub of the “Loire Atlantique”. This port and industrial city is approximately 350 miles southwest of Paris. Nantes is the eighth largest city in France, with 790,318 inhabitants (2007 estimate). Nantes twinned with Jacksonville Florida in 1984.

History

Originally founded as a town by the Gallic tribe named Namnèti around 70 BC, Nantes was conquered by Julius Caesar in 56 BC and named Portus Namnetus. Christianised in the 3rd century AD, the city was successively invaded by the Saxons (around 285), the Franks (around 500), the Britons (in the 6th and 7th centuries) and the Normans, who laid it waste in 843. Nantes was the home of the Dukes of Brittany beginning in the 14th Century.

It was also the home of slave traders and privateers when Nantes was France’s principal ship-building city. This lovely city also is the birthplace of Jules Verne, the world-renowned 19th Century fiction writer.

Surrounding Nantes are some of France’s richest vineyards, including the Muscadet grapes of Robert de Goulaine, the 11th Marquis de Goulaine. An ancestor of Goulaine, Rene de Laudonniere, in 1564 led 300 Huguenots to establish the first French colony in North America at Fort Caroline, 12 miles east of downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The colony, named in honor of King Charles IX, survived only one year before the lightly defended and hungry inhabitants were massacred by Spanish troops who marched north from their encampment at the site of present day-St. Augustine.

Today, Nantes is the préfecture of the Pays de la Loire région, as well as the Loire-Atlantique département.

Culture

In 2003, the French weekly L'Express voted Nantes to be the "greenest city" in France, while in both 2003 and 2004 it was voted the "best place to live" by the weekly Le Point. In August 2004, Time magazine designated Nantes as the "the most livable city in all of Europe".

Nantes school children have produced artwork for several of Jacksonville’s children’s art auctions, and professional artists have exhibited their works in each other’s cities. In sports, a Jacksonville marathon runner competed in Nantes, and a group of cyclists toured the Loire Valley. Also, a chef exchange provided culinary delights for gourmets in both cities. Jacksonville has participated many times in the Nantes International Fair held in April each year.

Business

Nantes is a bustling manufacturing center for a great variety of products, from aluminum diving bells to plastic bathroom vanities to construction cranes. It is the site of chemical and electronic industries as well as food processing plants.

The twinning of Jacksonville and Nantes was initiated by the chambers of commerce of the two cities in 1980. The official ceremonies linking the two governments were held on August 3, 1984, in Jacksonville, and May 10, 1985, in Nantes.

A great variety of exchanges have taken place. In the educational field, hundreds of high school students from both sides have made visits and their schools have “twinned”. University students from Nantes have completed Jacksonville University’s MBA program, and others have interned with local companies