Poitou-Charentes (French pronunciation: [pwatu ʃaʁɑ̃t] ⓘ; Occitan: Peitau-Charantas; Poitevin-Saintongeais: Poetou-Chérentes) was an administrative region on the southwest coast of France.

Southern Poitou-Charentes and Aquitaine is believed to be the region of origin of the Acadian and Cajun populations of North America, such as in New Brunswick, Louisiana, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and Maine.

At first, these French immigrants from the rural areas of Poitou-Charentes settled in what is now eastern Canada, and established an agricultural and maritime economy (farming and fishing).

As an alternate theory, some historians suggest that the name is derived from the indigenous Canadian Mi'kmaq language, in which Cadie means "fertile land".

The region was reunited with the French crown in 1416 and was a province of France until the Revolution (1789–1795), when it was divided into three departments, Vienne, Deux-Sèvres, and Vendée.