Rochefort (Charente-Maritime)
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente-Maritime | |
| Arrondissement | Rochefort ( sub-prefecture ) | |
| Canton | Rochefort | |
| Community association | Rochefort Ocean | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 57 ′ N , 0 ° 58 ′ W | |
| height | 0-29 m | |
| surface | 21.95 km 2 | |
| Residents | 24,151 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 1,100 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 17300 | |
| INSEE code | 17299 | |
| Website | www.ville-rochefort.fr | |
Rochefort ( French for "strong rock") or Rochefort-sur-Mer is a western French city with 24,151 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Charente-Maritime department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (formerly the Poitou-Charentes region ). It is located 28 km south-east of La Rochelle on the right bank of the Lower Charente and is the administrative center of the arrondissement of the same name .
location
Rochefort lies between the sea and the inland, but not directly on the Atlantic Ocean . The city has a port, although the Atlantic Ocean is about 20 km away. The connection to the sea is given by the Charente river . Due to the offshore islands of Ré , Oléron and Aix , the Charente estuary offers a certain protection, which made Rochefort a geographically and strategically favorable place for maritime matters.
history
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Rochefort is first mentioned in 1047. At that time it was a castle called Roccafortis above the Charente, surrounded by a few houses in a swampy area. In 1307 the place came into the possession of the French crown.
When France under Louis XIV built up a fleet in the 17th century in order to be able to be regarded as a sea power under the European powers and to protect its trade routes with the colonies , the choice fell on a naval base because of its favorable location on Rochefort. Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert had the largest naval arsenal in France built here by the architect François Blondel . In the course of 250 years, around 350 ships have been built, equipped, repaired and maintained in Rochefort. From 1689 the chessboard-like city was surrounded by a fortress wall. As a relic from that time, the Royal Ropes Mill ("Corderie Royale") can still be visited as part of the arsenal, where ropes were made for the French Navy in the past .
During the Seven Years' War , an attempt by the British in September 1757 to conquer Rochefort failed. In 1780 the Marquis de Lafayette sailed from here to North America to take part in the American War of Independence . On April 11, 1809, a sea meeting with the British took place at Rochefort, which was costly for the French. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte went to Rochefort in the hope of being able to embark from there for the United States and spent a few days on the offshore island of Île-d'Aix . However, on July 15, 1815, he had to surrender to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland , in command of the British warship HMS Bellerophon .
The importance of the Rochefort arsenal for the French navy declined noticeably from 1900, so that it was closed in 1927. For this purpose, a naval aviation base with an attached flight school developed in Rochefort from 1916 and finally an air force base ( Rochefort military airfield ).
From 1941 to 1943 the German Navy maintained a naval hospital in Rochefort . After the Second World War , Rochefort developed into a health resort .
| Population development | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2009 | 2016 | ||||||
| Residents | 28,648 | 29,226 | 28,155 | 26,167 | 25,561 | 25,797 | 26,801 | 24,047 | ||||||
coat of arms
Description: The coat of arms is divided and split on top in blue with a golden five-pointed star and in silver with a black two-tier tinned tower on an equally colored mountain; below, in black, a three-masted silver sailing ship with two golden square sails on each mast, golden mast pennants and stern flag, sailing on silver waves.
Attractions
See also: List of Monuments historiques in Rochefort (Charente-Maritime)
Rochefort Transporter Bridge
By Ferdinand Arnodin completed on 29 July 1900, after 27 months of construction Transporter Bridge of Rochefort connects the city with Échillais . It is one of the three Arnodin suspension ferries still in existence today, to which a total of nine suspension ferries can be assigned. This historical building ( Monument historique since 1976 ) is only in use today for pedestrians and two-wheelers.
Town twinning
Rochefort is twin town of the German city of Papenburg . The city of Papenburg conducts several student exchanges. And the regionally known secondary school orchestra from Aschendorf is a partner orchestra of a Rochefort orchestra. The Duisburg schools Mercator-Gymnasium and Steinbart-Gymnasium hold an exchange with two Rochefort schools every year.
Further town twinning agreements exist with Burton-upon-Trent (Great Britain) and Torrelavega (Spain).
Personalities
- René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849), doctor and naturalist
- Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759–1800), naturalist and painter
- Adolphe Ganot (1804-1887), physicist
- Pierre Loti (1850–1923), naval officer and writer
- William Ponty (1866-1915), colonial administrator
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961), philosopher and phenomenologist
- Dominique Aury (1907–1998), author of the erotic novel History of the O , published in 1954 under a pseudonym
- Thomas Narcejac (1908–1998), actually Pierre Robert Ayraud , crime novelist
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Charente-Maritime. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84234-129-5 , pp. 623-656.
