DEUTZ (anc. Divitio), formerly an independent town of Ger many, in the Prussian Rhine Province, on the right bank of the Rhine, opposite to Cologne, and incorporated with it since 1888. It contains the church of St. Heribert (a 17th century), cavalry barracks, artillery magazines, and gas, porcelain, machine and carriage factories. It has a handsome railway station on the banks of the Rhine. To the east is the manufacturing suburb of Kalk. The old castle in Deutz was in 1002 made a Benedictine monastery by Heribert, archbishop of Cologne. Permission to fortify the town was in 1230 granted to the citizens by the arch an inland department of western France, formed in 1790 mainly of the three districts of Poitou, Thouarsais, Gatine and Niortais, added to a small portion of Saintonge and a still smaller portion of Aunis. Area, 2,337 sq.m. Pop. (1931), 308,481. It is bounded N. by Maine-et-Loire, E. by Vienne, S.E. by Charente, S. by Charente-Inf erieure and W. by Vendee. The Sevre of Niort traverses the southern portion, and the Sevre of Nantes (an affluent of the Loire) drains the north-west. There are three regions—the Gatine, in the north and centre, the Plaine in the south and the Marais—distinguished by their geological and physical character. The Gatine, formed of primitive rocks (granite and schists), is the continuation of the "Bocage" of Vendee and Maine-et-Loire. Its surface is irregular and covered with hedges and clumps of wood or forests. Application of lime has improved the soil, which is naturally poor. The Plaine, rest ing on oolite limestone, is treeless but fertile. The Marais, a low lying alluvial district in the extreme south-west, is extremely pro ductive when properly drained. The highest points, several above 700 ft., are found in a line of hills which begins in the centre of the department, to the south of Parthenay, and stretches north west into the neighbouring department of Vendee. It divides the region drained by the Sevre-Nantaise and the Thouet (both affluents of the Loire) in the north from the basins of the Sevre Niortaise and the Charente in the south. The climate is mild, the annual temperature at Niort being 52°, the rainfall nearly 25 in. Winters are colder in the Gatine, summers warmer in the Plaine.
Three-quarters of the entire area of Deux-Sevres, which is primarily an agricultural department, consists of arable land. Wheat and oats are the main cereals. Potatoes and mangold wurzels are the chief root-crops. Niort is a centre for the growing of vegetables (onions, asparagus, artichokes, etc.) and of angelica. Much beetroot is raised to supply the distilleries of Melle. Colza, hemp, rape and flax are also grown. Vineyards are numerous in the neighbourhood of Bressuire in the north, and of Niort and Melle in the south. The department is well known for the Par thenay breed of cattle and the Poitou breed of horses; and good mules are reared in the south. The system of co-operative dairy ing is practised in some localities. The apple-trees of the Gatine and the walnut-trees of the Plaine bring a good return. Some coal is mined, and the department produces building-stone and lime. There is manufacture of textiles (serges, druggets, linen, handker chiefs, flannels, and knitted goods). Tanning and leather-dressing are carried on at Niort and other places, and gloves are made at Niort. Wool and cotton spinning, hat and shoe making, dis tilling, flour-milling and oil-refining are also main industries. The department exports cattle and sheep to Paris and Poitiers; also cereals, oils, wines, vegetables and its industrial products.
The Sevre-Niortaise and its tributary the Mignon furnish 19 m. of navigable waterway. The department is served by the Ouest Etat railway. It contains a large proportion of Protestants, es pecially in the south-east. The four arrondissements are Niort, Bressuire, Melle and Parthenay; the cantons number 31, and the communes 357. Deux-Sevres is part of the region of the IX. Army Corps (Tours) and of the diocese and the academie (educational circumscription) of Poitiers, where also is its court of appeal.
Niort (the capital), Bressuire, Melle, Parthenay, St. Maixent, Thouars and Oiron are the principal places in the department. Several other towns contain features of interest. Among these are Airvault, where there is a church of the 12th and 14th centuries which once belonged to the abbey of St. Pierre, and an ancient bridge built by the monks ; Celles-sur-Belle, where there is an old church rebuilt by Louis XI., and again in the 17th cen tury; and St. Jouin-de-Marnes, with a fine Romanesque abbey church with Gothic restoration.