Volume 3

France / by D.H. Darby.

  • Great Britain. Naval Intelligence Division.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: France / by D.H. Darby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/574 (page 13)
    Beyond the Paris region rural France is soon reached. To the west, in the countrysides of Hurepoix and the Thimerais, there is a thinning out of the density; a belt of more active agriculture reaches towards the Loire through the cathedral city of Chartres (27,000) and Cha- teaudun (6,000). South of Paris lie the extensive and famous wheatlands of Beauce, but farming is not very intensive and the moderate population is found in villages or large farms usually near a well or other water supply. At the elbow of the Loire stands Orléans (73,000). ‘The rich alluvial margins and terraces introduce a belt of dense agricultural settlement, based largely on viticulture. This strip forms a sharp contrast to the considerable forest in the sands immediately north of Orléans and to the extensive forest region of the Sologne to the south, where population is very thin on the lake-studded clay. Eastwards, on either side of the Yonne, is the irregularly spaced and less numerous population of the Senonais, Gatinais and Pays d’Othe. The chief towns are Sens (18,000) and Montargis (14,000). East and north-east of Paris, on the Tertiary plateaux of Brie, Valois and Soissonais, lies a semicircle of active agricultural popula- tion, grouped largely in villages though with many scattered farms, especially in Brie, where they form a distinct landscape; the distri- bution is irregular owing to the diversified background of loam-covered plateau and river valley. Here in the northern apex of these plateaux is an area for long one of the most wealthy in France, around Noyon, Laon (20,000), Reims and Soissons (20,000), where the varied out- crops of sands and limestones and the limon cappings have long provided fertile arable land, as well as timber and building stone. In the easterly extension of these plateaux an outstanding thickening of population is seen in the Champagne wine district, where many Fig. 3. The distribution of population in the Paris Basin, 1931 Based on the Atlas de France, Plate 73 (Paris, n.d.). A, Amiens; Al, Alengon; Av, Avallon; Ax, Auxerre; B, Beauvais; BI, Blois; Br, Bar-le-Duc; C, Caen; Ca, Chateaudun; Ch, Chalons-sur-Marne; Cm, Com- mercy; Cn, Conflans; Co, Corbeil; Cp, Compiégne; Cr, Creil; Cs, Cosne; Ct, Chaumont; Chr, Chartres; CM, Charleville-Méziéres; Dx, Dreux; Di, Dieppe; D, Dijon; E, Elbeuf; Ep, Epernay; Et, Etampes; Ev, Evreux; F, Fécamp; Fe, La Fére; Fo, Fourmies; G, Gray; Hn, Hirson; J, Joigny; Lu, Lumes; La, Laval; Ln, Laon; Ls, Langres; Lo, Longuyon; Lv, Louviers; Lw, Longwy; H, Havre; M, Mantes; Me, Melun; Mo, Montargis; Mx, Meaux; Nr, Nogent-le-Rotrou; .O, Orléans; Re, Revin; Rm, Reims; R, Rouen; 5, Soissons; Se, Sedan; Sn, Sens; metQ, St Quentin; StD, St Dizier; 'T, Tours; Te, Le Tréport; To, Toul; Tr, Troyes; ~YV, Verdun; Vi, Vitry-le-Frangois.