Mayenne

Mayenne (Lat. Meduana), a French department formed out of the old provinces of Maine and Anjou, now containing the arrondissements of Laval, Château-Gontier, and Mayenne, has an area of 1996 sq. m. and a pop. of (1872) 350,637; (1891) 332,387. The valleys of the Mayenne, Vilaine, and Sarthe are fairly fertile, and yield wheat, barley, flax, potatoes, hemp, and fruit (especially apples for cider). Cattle-breeding, coal and slate mining, and cotton spinning and weaving are the other chief industries. Chief-town, Laval.—The river Mayenne, after a course of 127 miles in a southerly direction, joins the Sarthe at Angers to form the Maine, a tributary of the Loire. It is navigable up to Laval.—The town of Mayenne, on the river Mayenne, 78 miles by rail S. by W. of Caen, has a picturesque ruined castle (taken by the English in 1424), steep narrow streets, and manufactures of calico and linen. Pop. (1872) 8790; (1886) 9940; (1891) 9369.