Loire River, longest river in France, rising in the southern Massif Central and flowing north and west for 634 miles (1,020 km) to the Atlantic Ocean, which it enters south of the Bretagne (Brittany) peninsula. Its major tributary is the Allier, which joins the Loire at Le Bec d’Allier. Its drains an area of about 45,000 square miles (117,000 square km). The picturesque valley is dotted with châteaus. The river rises at about 4,500 feet (1,370 metres) above sea level, at the foot of the Gerbier de Jonc in the Cévennes near the Mediterranean coast. In its upper course it
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