La Rochelle
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on the seaward side by the islands of Ré and Oléron. To the south of the old town is the picturesque Vieux Port (Old Harbor). Since this is too small for modern requirements, however, large seagoing ships and La Rochelle's fishing fleet (the fifth largest in France) now use the new harbor beyond the Pointe des Minimes.

Between the 14th and the 18th C. La Rochelle was one of France's leading maritime towns, carrying on an independent trade with North America from an early period. During the 16th C. wars of religion, as a Huguenot stronghold, it was the scene of much fighting. In 1628 it was besieged by Richelieu's forces and starved into surrender. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and the loss of Canada in 1763 ended La Rochelle's great days; but with its old harbor defenses and its arcaded houses the town has preserved much of the character of the Huguenot period.

The famous physicist René-Antoine de Réaumur (1683-1757), inventor of the Réaumur temperature scale, was born in La Rochelle.