What is "saintonge"

Saintonge , historically spelled Xaintonge and Xainctonge, is a former province of France located on the west central Atlantic coast. The capital city was Saintes (Xaintes, Xainctes). Other principal towns include Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Jonzac, Frontenay-Rohan-Rohan, Royan, Marennes, Pons, and Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire. The borders of the province slightly shifted through history, and some mapmakers, such as Nicolas Sanson (1650), Johannes Blaeu (1662), and Bernard Antoine Jaillot (1733), show it extending into Cognac, traditionally part of Angoumois, and to the parishes of Braud-et-Saint-Louis and Étauliers, part of the Pays Gabay on the right bank of the Gironde River.

Today, four fifths of the historical Saintonge province occupies the modern département of Charente-Maritime. Most of the other fifth is in Charente, and a small section extends north into Deux-Sèvres, all within the administrative region of Poitou-Charentes.