Rochefort (rôshfôr') or Rochefort-sur-Mer (-sür-mĕr), city (1990 pop. 26,949), Charente-Maritime dept., W France, on the Charente River near the Bay of Biscay. It is a fishing port with shipyards and aircraft and machine industries. It has become a popular health spa since the early 1960s. An important naval base in the days of sailing ships, it was built (1666) by Colbert and fortified by Vauban. In 1815, Napoleon surrendered himself to a British warship off Rochefort. The port's importance declined after the advent of steamships. Today an air force technician school is there.
Rochefort
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Coordinates: 45°56′32″N 0°57′32″W / 45.942111°N 0.958786°W
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Commune of Rochefort |
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| Location | |
  Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Poitou-Charentes |
| Department | Charente-Maritime |
| Arrondissement | Rochefort |
| Canton | Chief town of 13 cantons |
| Intercommunality | Pays Rochefortais |
| Mayor | Bernard Grasset (2008–2014) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–29 m (0–95 ft) (avg. 5 m/16 ft) |
| Land area1 | 21.95 km2 (8.47 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 25,797 (1999) |
| - Density | 1,175 /km2 (3,040 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 17299/ 17300 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Rochefort is a commune in south-western France, a seaport on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime département.
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History
In December 1665 Rochefort was chosen by Jean-Baptiste Colbert as a place of "refuge, defense and supply" for the French navy. Its military harbour was fortified by Louis XIV's commissary of fortifications Vauban. Between 1666-1669 the king had the "Corderie Royale" (then the longest building in Europe) constructed to make cordage for French ships of war. The making of cordage ceased in 1867, and in 1926 the arsenal of Rochefort was closed. The building was burned by occupation forces in 1944 and left abandoned for twenty years. Today it has been restored for municipal and tourist purposes. Another infrastructure of early Rochefort from 1766 was its bagne, a high-security penal colony involving hard labour. Bagnes were then common fixtures in military harbours and naval bases, such as Toulon or Brest, because they provided free labour. During the Jacobin period of the French Revolution (1790-95) over 800 Roman Catholic priests and other religious who refused to take the anti-Papal oath of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy" were put aboard a fleet of prison ships in Rochefort harbor where most died due to inhumane conditions. This was in effect one of the first "Concentration Camps" in the world.
Off Rochefort, from the island of Île-d'Aix where he had spent several days hoping to flee to America, Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to Captain F. L. Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon, on 17 July 1815, ending the "Hundred Days".
Rochefort is a notable example of 17th-century "ville nouvelle" or new town, which means its design and building resulted from a political decree. The reason for building Rochefort was to a large extent that royal power could hardly depend on rebellious Protestant La Rochelle, which Cardinal Richelieu had to besiege a few decades earlier. Well into the 20th century, Rochefort remained primarily a garrison town. The tourist industry, which had long existed due to the town's spa, gained emphasis in the 1990s.
Miscellaneous
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009) |
The town gained some fleeting fame with Jacques Demy's musical movie Les demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) (1967), starring Catherine Deneuve, her slightly elder sister Françoise Dorléac, Gene Kelly and George Chakiris (Bernardo from West Side Story).
It is home to a unique style of bridge called a Transporter bridge, (built 1900) named Pont transbordeur de Rochefort.[1]
Births
Rochefort was the birthplace of:
- Louis-René Levassor de Latouche Tréville (1745-1804), French admiral.
- Charles Rigault de Genouilly (1807-1873), French admiral, conqueror of Vietnam.
- Pierre Loti (1850-1923), author. His house has been turned into a museum
- Pauline Réage, pseudonym of Anne Desclos (1907-1998), author
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961), philosopher
Town Twinning
Burton upon Trent, East Staffordshire, UK
Torrelavega, Cantabria, Spain
Papenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany
Points of interest
- Musée National de la Marine
- Conservatoire du Bégonia, the world's largest begonia collection
- Palmyre Zoo
- L'Hermione, a replica of a 1779 frigate being built in the town
External links
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 | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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Mentioned in
- Rocheford (family name)
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- Henri Rochefort
- Don't Bring Me Down (1994 Album by Spirits)
- Rochford
- L'École de Rochefort
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- Nomad (Electronica Band, '90s, 2000s)
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- Le Moustachu (1987 Comedy Film)
- Les Demoiselles Ont Eu 25 Ans (1993 Film, TV & Radio Film)
- The Hairdresser's Husband (1990 Comedy Drama Film)
