Île de Sein

Île-de-Sein
Enez-Sun

Close-up of the island
Île-de-Sein
Administration
Country France
Region Brittany
Department Finistère
Arrondissement Quimper
Canton Pont-Croix
Mayor Jean-Pierre Kerloc'h
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 0–9 m (0–30 ft)
Land area1 0.58 km2 (0.22 sq mi)
Population2 214  (2008)
 - Density 369 /km2 (960 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 29083/ 29990
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

The Île de Sein is a French island in the Atlantic Ocean, off Finistère, 8 kilometres from the Pointe du Raz (raz meaning "water current"), from which it is separated by the Raz de Sein. Its Breton name is Enez Sun. The island, with its neighbouring islets, forms the commune of Île-de-Sein in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.

Lying on the sea routes going south from the English Channel, Sein is well known for the dangers of its waters, the Chaussée de Sein, a vast zone of reefs stretching more than thirty miles from east to west, requiring numerous lighthouses, beacons, and buoys. In the past, it was also known for its wreckers

During World War II, all the men of the island, a total of 124 between the age of fourteen and fifty-four, embarked on their fishing boats for England where they joined Charles de Gaulle's Free French in London after hearing de Gaulle's call to resistance in his appeal to the French on 18 June 1940.  In 1946, the island as a whole was admitted into the extremely select Order of the Liberation for this feat and its residents were exempted from paying income tax, a privilege they enjoy to this day.

During the 1960s, the renowned French artists Maurice Boitel and Jean Rigaud painted in the Île de Sein.

Contents

Population

Inhabitants of Île-de-Sein are called in French Sénans.

Historical populations
Year Pop. ±%
1793 327
1800 349 +6.7%
1806 363 +4.0%
1821 437 +20.4%
1831 468 +7.1%
1841 462 −1.3%
1846 440 −4.8%
1851 482 +9.5%
1856 509 +5.6%
1861 611 +20.0%
1866 654 +7.0%
1872 650 −0.6%
1876 727 +11.8%
1881 792 +8.9%
1886 805 +1.6%
1891 842 +4.6%
1896 907 +7.7%
1901 990 +9.2%
1906 1,038 +4.8%
1911 1,072 +3.3%
1921 1,077 +0.5%
1926 1,128 +4.7%
1931 1,254 +11.2%
1936 1,328 +5.9%
1946 1,144 −13.9%
1954 1,131 −1.1%
1962 1,094 −3.3%
1968 835 −23.7%
1975 607 −27.3%
1982 504 −17.0%
1990 348 −31.0%
1999 242 −30.5%
2008 214 −11.6%

See also

References

Further reading

External links