Arrondissement of La Rochelle

The arrondissement of La Rochelle is an arrondissement of France, in the Charente-Maritime department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its capital, and the prefecture of the department, is the city of La Rochelle.
History.
When the Charente-Maritime department was created on 1790, the "arrondissement" of La Rochelle was part of that original department.
Geography.
The "arrondissement" of La Rochelle is the smallest of the "arrondissements" of the Charente-Maritime department but the one with more people living in it. It has an area of , and a population of 210,151 inhabitants for a density of inhabitants/km².
La Rochelle is the northernmost "arrondissement" of the department. It is formed from the old province of "Aunis", with centre in La Rochelle, its historical capital.
It is bordered to the north by the Vendée department, to the east by the Deux-Sèvres department, to the south by the "arrondissement" of Rochefort, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
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 La Rochelle, there are only two cantons where not all their "communes" are in the "arrondissement": the Châtelaillon-Plage and La Jarrie cantons. The following table shows the distribution of the "communes" in the cantons and "arrondissements":
Communes.
The "arrondissement" of La Rochelle has 58 "communes"; they are (with their INSEE codes):
The "communes" with more inhabitants in the "arrondissement" are: