Île d'Yeu

French commune
name = L'Île-d'Yeu


caption =
region = Pays de la Loire
department = Vendée
arrondissement = Les Sables-d'Olonne
canton = L'Île-d'Yeu
intercomm =
longitude=-2.34722222222
latitude=46.725
alt mini = 0 m
alt maxi = 32 m
alt moy = 20 m
km² = 23.32
sans = 4,788
date-sans = 1999
dens = 205
insee = 85113
cp = 85350

The Île d'Yeu is an island just off the Vendée coast of western France. It covers an area of 23 km² and had a population in 1999 of 4,788.

The island's two harbours, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule, located in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are famous for the fishing of tuna and crayfish.
Neolithic markings in the native stone and an unusual concentyration of megalithic dolmens and menhirs attest to the island's early sanctity. [ [http://www.ile-yeu.fr/anglais/historique.htm History of Île d'Yeu] ] Whether or not its inhabitants were evangelised at the beginning of the fourth century by Martin of Vertou and Saint Hilaire, Irish monks from Bangor dedicated their monastery on the Île d'Yeu to Hilaire; Saint Amand, from Poitou received early training there, but it was destroyed by Viking raiders in the ninth century.

During the tenth century, monks from Marmoutier near Tours and monks of Saint-Cyprien at Poitiers rebuilt a new monastery and dedicated it to Saint Stephen. The castle built on an islet linked to the coast by a bridge is first mentioned in 1356.

Since the nineteenth century Île d'Yeu has attracted many artists, such as Jean Rigaud (1912-1999), official painter to the French Navy, who had a house there, and his friend Maurice Boitel (born in 1919).

The island's seaweeds have been the subject of studies by the French marine biologist Françoise Ardré.

The leader of France's wartime Vichy régime, Philippe Pétain, died in prison on the island in 1951 and is buried there.

Administratively, the commune of L'Île-d'Yeu (with that spelling) forms part of the Vendée department and the Pays de la Loire region of France.

The island is reached by ferry from Fromentine or Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie.

Map

ee also

* Vieux-château de l'Île d'Yeu

Notes

External links

* [http://www.yeunet.com yeunet.com] (in French)