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Loire department, Rhône-Alpes region, east-central France, comprising chiefly the ancient Forez region with parts of the historic Lyonnais and Beaujolais provinces. One of the most industrialised areas in France, Loire lies in the eastern part of the Massif Central. Saint-Étienne, the departmental capital, is situated in a coal basin between the Loire River and the Rhône River. Firminy, Le Chambon, Saint-Chamond, and other industrial towns are strung out for 30 miles south-west and north-east of Saint-Étienne. Roanne, in the north, is another industrial centre. Mount Pilat, 4,698 feet, rises south-east of Saint-Étienne between the industrial basin and the Rhône. The Lyonnais Mountains lie to the north-east of Saint-Étienne. The climate is cold and harsh in the extensively forested mountain regions but more clement in the valleys. Much of the marshy and waterlogged Forez Plain has been reclaimed for pastoral farming. Cereals are grown and cattle raised in the Roannais Plain, and cattle farming is practiced in the Lyonnais and Beaujolais heights. Ancient villages with medieval churches and châteaux abound. The department has three arrondissements, Saint-Étienne, Roanne, and Montbrison (the former capital of the Forez county); it is in the educational division of Lyon.

Vendée is historically renowned for the Wars of the Vendée--counterrevolutionary peasant uprisings at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. Vendée borders the Atlantic Ocean for most of the distance between the Loire and the Gironde estuaries. About two-thirds of the département is bocage countryside, characterized by numerous trees and by small hedge-bound fields, which are chiefly either under grass or used for growing fodder crops; there are also many cider apple orchards. Farming is devoted primarily to cattle raising and dairying. In the Gâtine country, extending from north-west to south-east, the hills rise to 945 feet (288 m) and are covered with heath or woods. Inland from the coast in the north and south are extensive marshlands. The marshy Marais Poitevin in the south is drained by canals that are used as thoroughfares by farmers and market gardeners. The coastline stretches for about 125 miles. Much of the coast is lined with woods, including the Forêt d'Olonne located on sand dunes north of Les Sables d'Olonne, a seaside resort with one of the finest stretches of sand in France. On the coast the climate is mild and rainy. The department, which is essentially rural, has three arrondissements, La-Roche-sur-Yon (the capital), Fontenay-le-Comte, and Les Sables d'Olonne. Vendée is in the educational division of Nantes.