France Commune of Le Mans Saint-Julien cathedral
Région	Pays de la Loire
Département	Sarthe (préfecture)
Arrondissement	Le Mans
Canton	Chief town of 9 cantons
Intercommunality	Communauté urbaine du Mans
Mayor	Jean-Claude Boulard (2001-2008)
Land area¹	52.81 km²
Population² (1999)	146,105
Population density (1999)	1,275 pers./km²
Altitude	38 m - 134 m (avg. 51 m)
INSEE/Postal code	72181 / 72000
1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km². 2 Not counting those already counted in another commune (such as students and military personnel).

Coordinates: 48°0′18″N, 0°11′52″E

Le Mans (pronounced /lə mɑ̃/ in French) is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. It is the préfecture (capital) of the Sarthe département. Its inhabitants are called Manceaux and Mancelles.

History

First mentioned by Ptolemy (Geography 2.8.8), the Roman city Vindinium was the capital of the Aulerci, a client tribe of the Aedui. Le Mans is also indentified as the town known as Civitas Cenomanorum (City of the Cenomani). Their city lay in the territory of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. An amphitheatre built in the 3rd century CE is still visible.

Gregory of Tours mentions a Frankish sub-king Rigomer, who was killed by Clovis in his campaign to unite the Frankish territories.

As the principal city of Maine, Le Mans was the stage for struggles in the 11th century between the counts of Anjou and the dukes of Normandy. When the Normans had control of Maine, this allowed William the Conqueror to successfully invade England; however in 1069 the citizens revolted and expelled the Normans, which led to Hugh V being proclaimed count of Maine.

During World War II, Le Mans was captured by the US 5th Armored Division on August 8, 1944 following their breakout from the Normandy beachheads.

Sights

Le Mans has a well-preserved old town (Vieux Mans) and a cathedral: Cathédrale St-Julien, dedicated to St Julian of Le Mans, who is honored as the city's first bishop. There are remnants of a Roman wall in the old town and Roman baths by the river.

Demographics

At the 1999 French census, there were 293,159 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (aire urbaine) of Le Mans, with 146,105 of these living in the city proper (commune).

Demographic evolution of Le Mans between 1962 and 2005

1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2005
132,181	143,246	152,285	147,697	145,502	146,105	141,432

Miscellaneous

Motorsports

The city is best known for its connection with motorsports. There are actually two separate racing tracks at Le Mans, though they share certain portions. The smaller is the Bugatti Circuit (named after Ettore Bugatti, founder of the car company bearing his name), a relatively short permanent circuit which is used for racing throughout the year. The longer and more famous Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe is composed partly of public roads, which are closed to the public when the track is in use for racing, and has been host to the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race since 1923. The first French Grand Prix took place here in 1906. The "Le Mans start" takes its name from the way racers lined up across the street from their cars and ran across the street and jumped into their cars to begin.

Births

Le Mans was the birthplace of:

• Henry II of England, born 1133
• Geoffroy V d'Anjou, born 1113

Geoffrey de Goreham or Gorron, became Abbott of St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK, in 1119

Others

The culinary specialty of Le Mans is rillettes, a shredded pork paté.

Near Le Mans at Mayet there is one of the tallest radio masts in France (height: 342 metres).