Arrondissement of Saintes

The arrondissement of Saintes is an arrondissement of France, in the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital is the city of Saintes.
History.
When the Charente-Maritime department was created on 1790, the "arrondissement" of Saintes was part of that original department.
It was the centre of the old province of Saintonge.
Geography.
It is the largest of the "arrondissements" of the Charente-Maritime department but the third by population. It has an area of , and a population of 128,786 inhabitants for a density of inhabitants/km².
Saintes is in the central part of the department. It is bordered to the north by the "arrondissement" of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, to the east by the "arrondissement" of Cognac (Charente department), to the south by the "arrondissement" of Jonzac, to the southwest by the Gironde department (through the Gironde estuary), to the west and northwest by the "arrondissement" of Rochefort.
Composition.
Cantons.
After the reorganisation of the cantons in France, cantons are not subdivisions of the "arrondissements" so they could have "communes" that belong to different "arrondissements".
In the "arrondissement" of Saintes, there are only two cantons where all their "communes" are in the "arrondissement": the Saint-Porchaire and Saintes cantons. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and "arrondissements":
Communes.
The "arrondissement" of Saintes has 89 "communes"; they are (with their INSEE codes):
The "communes" with more inhabitants in the "arrondissement" are: