History

Vendee is a French territory that is originally called Bas-Poitou. It is part of the earlier province of Poitou. In the south-east corner, the Nieul-sur-l’Autise village is supposed to be the birthplace of the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard 1 of England based himself in Talmont and she is a son of Eleanor. The Hundred Year War in Vendee turned much into a battleground.

Since Vendee held a large number of powerful Protestants controlled by Jeanne d’Albert, the region is really crushed by the French’s Regional Wars which made them penniless in the year 1562 and continued up until the year 1589. Finally King Henri IV released the “Edict of Nantes” and the wars finally came in the end. During the year 1685 the Edict of Nantes is revoked and it caused a lot of Huguenots to escape from Vendee.

Vendee is also considered as the site where the agreeable people revolted in contrast to the Revolutionary Government. This event happened in 1793. They disliked the changes that were inflicted to the Roman Catholic Church by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. So, during the year 1790, the penniless went into an open rebellion in disobedience of the Revolutionary military government conscription. The Guerilla war was recognized as the Revolt in the Vendee that led at the outset by an underground group called Chouans. This war took more than 100,000 lives before it ended in 1796.

The year 1815 was a significant time in history for Napoleon Bonaparte come back from Elba for his Hundred Days. The La Vendee declined to recognize him as well as to stay faithful to King Louis XVIII. A man called General Lamargue led 10,000 men to the La Vendee in order to appease the region.

In the year 1850, the British author Anthony Trollope issued his book entitled “The La Vendee” pointing the history of the war and the whole region. In the introduction, Anthony Trollope pays honor to Madame de la Rochejaguelein on whose reminiscences of the war was based on her story.

The Revolt in the Vendee is the topic of Quatre-vingt-treize. It is basically the last novel of the renowned French writer Victor Hugo. In the writing of Karl Marx about revolutionary struggles in different countries, he used the term “a vendee” meaning focus of constant counter-revolutionary activities.

Geography and Climate

Mont Mercure is the highest point in Vendee which is about 285 meters or 935 feet. The department is bothered by its four rivers that surround them such as the 135-kilometer Serve Nantaise, the Vendee is about 70 kilometers, the Sevre Niortaise is about 150 kilometers and the Lay is about 110 kilometers.

Economy

The primary drivers of the Vendee economy are:

• Tourism
• Agriculture
• Medium/Light Industry 
• Food Processing

Tourism

The shore of the Vendee expands over 160 kilometers of typically sandy beaches. Coupled together with a very mild climate, the beaches attract large numbers of domestic and overseas tourists or vacationers. Several famous resorts include the La Tranche-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean- de-Monts and Leassables-d’Olonne. Various beaches are blue flagged for cleanliness.

The inland of Matais Poitevin is the chief attraction with the marshlands distinction for wildlife, the forested area surrounding the village of Mervent. Morevent is an historical theme park of Puy du Fou, and the systematic countryside of Bocage.

Agriculture

Agriculture remains an important supply of employment in the Vendee. The department of Vendee has the second maximum level of income from agriculture in the whole country of France. The main arable full-grown crops are wheat, sunflowers, colza and maize. Dairy and meat manufacture also features the offshore farming of shellfish. Poultry from the Challans is extremely regarded nationwide because of lamb produce from the salt marshes in the North of Vendee.

Signifying its support for the agricultural sector, the Conseil General of Vendee has stated a policy to endorse the production of irrigation reservoirs in order to decrease dependence on ground water throughout the key summer growing seasons.

Manufacturing and Food Processing

Vendee is home to a huge number of food dispensation firms, including several nationally significant firms. Fleury Michon is a French producer of ready meals as well as charcuterie employs the huge majority of workforce at plants in the Vendee. Other significant employers include biscuit and bakeries producers.

The department of Vendee also has several specialty products including a characteristic brioche by the Label Rouge and a raw cured ham with the same flavor as the bacon.
Wine is also produced in the region around the communes of Brem, Pissotte, Vix and Mareuil-sur-Lay and the marketplace is under the Fiefs Vendeens label. The quality of the manufacturing industry has enhanced remarkably over current years as well as having already get the application V.D.Q.S or Vin Delimite de Qualite Superierur, the wines are on their way towards A.O.C status.

Industry

A lot of the manufacturing industry in the Vendee reproduces its status as a main tourist destination. Mobile homes are produced in Lucon and building of sail yachts and motors takes place at site all over the Vendee department.  The service sector is strongly inclined towards tourism with restaurants, campsites as well as other tourism businesses being significant sources of income and employment.

Demographics

Listed below are the major cities or towns in Vendee.

• Challans
• LaRoche-sur-Yon
• Les Sables-d’Olonne
• Les Herviers
• Fontenay-le-Conte

Culture

More than 100 miles of sandy beaches lined with pine woods and dunes as well as a very mild climate make up the land of Vendee. Today, vendee is a popular tourist destination. There is a wide nude beach on the south of La Fuente sur Mer up to Poite d’Arcay. The Vendee department also boasts of its abbeys, museums and churches as well as sites for nature lovers. This place also has thousands of sign-posted bicycle directions running along the coastal mudflats marked foot paths as well as marshes that attract unsual birds. Fishing is the famous ocean in the Vendee.

The Sacred Heart of Vendee

The sacred heart of vendee is a plain red heart crown with a plain red Christian cross. The sacred heart was used all through the Vendee insurrection between the years 1793 and 1796.  After the execution of Louis XVI, the republican government decided the conscription of 300,000 new soldiers. The region of Vendee is a general insurrection with noble and peasant leaders. The so-called Royal and catholic Army used white flag that is the same with the Fleurs-de-lys.  The Vendee war is a typical war and one of the darkest pages of French history as well as proper evaluation is still to be finished.  Activists still claim for the acknowledgment of Vendee genocide and quite far from the historical reality.