Increasingly, you will see our region no longer being referred to as Poitou-Charentes, but instead as Nouvelle-Aquitaine. What is behind this change? In 2014, a territorial reform was undertaken across France and, with effect from 1 January 2016, the old regions of Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes were merged to become Nouvelle-Acquitaine.
Nouvelle-Aquitaine is now the largest administrative region in France, covering one-eight of the 'hexagon' (as mainland France is nicknamed). The new region has around 5.8m inhabitants and its capital is Bordeaux.
The departments - Charente Maritime, Charente, Deux Sevres, Vienne, etc - will still bear their existing names.
For the time being, we shall continue to use 'Poitou-Charentes' not least because of the many legacy maps and publications, but over the next few years you can expect to see the new region's name becoming more and more prominent.