CHARENTE, a department of France, formed out of a large portion of the ancient Angoumois and parts of Saintonge and Limousin. The extent is 2280 square miles, or, according to the royal almanack, 588,803 hectares. It is bounded on the north by the departments of the Two Sèvres and of the Vienne, on the east by the departments of Upper Vienne and Dordogne, on the south by Dordogne and the Lower Charente, and on the west by the latter department.
The face of the country is undulating, but nowhere in any degree mountainous. The soil is chiefly calcareous,
dry, and warm, and on many of the hills is mixed with large deposits of sea-shells and other organic remains. The climate is the most agreeable, and considered as the most healthful in France. The cultivation of the vine has the precedence of agriculture in this department, and one third of the land is appropriated to that object. The best wine districts are those of Cognac and Angoulême, in both which red and white wines are very extensively produced, and the latter are chiefly applied to the preparation of brandies. Each peasant has his small distillery; and the value of the brandy exported is estimated to amount to four millions of francs annually. The corn consists of wheat, rye, maize, barley, and oats, but is scarcely sufficient for the consumption; besides the grain, some hemp, flax, saffron, and linseed are regularly supplied. There are some mines of iron, and the metal they yield is of good quality; the product is about 1100 tons annually. The inhabitants amount to 326,855, of whom about 9000 are Protestants. It is divided into five arrondissements, twenty-nine cantons, and 455 communes. The chief place is the city of Angoulême.