History of La Rochelle

La Rochelle has always looked to the sea. Foreigners — above all the English, who long ruled it — called it the “White City”, because it looked dazzling white when seen from the water. Its towers, quays and arcades tell the story of a merchant republic that grew rich on the Atlantic, defied the King of France, and paid for it with one of the longest sieges in French history.

A rock among the marshes

La Rochelle began as a fishing village on a rocky spur surrounded by marshes — the “little rock” of its name. In the 12th century the Dukes of Aquitaine made it a free port, and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s marriage to Henry Plantagenet opened the English market to its merchants.

1. 961The name is first recorded, as Rupella, in a charter of William of Aquitaine.
2. 1130sDuke William X takes control of La Rochelle and makes it a free port.
3. 1139A charter of Eleanor of Aquitaine exempts the Knights Templar from duties; La Rochelle becomes their largest base on the Atlantic.
4. 1152Eleanor marries Henry Plantagenet, the future Henry II of England: the English market opens to the town.
5. 1175Henry II grants La Rochelle a communal charter.
6. 1199Eleanor confirms the commune and the town elects its first mayor, Guillaume de Montmirail.

The great Atlantic port

Until the 15th century La Rochelle was the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast. Wine and brandy were shipped from its quays, and the town protected its wealth behind walls and the harbour towers that still stand today.

1. 13th centuryThe Old Port is dug, replacing an earlier harbour that had silted up.
2. 1224Louis VIII besieges the town and joins it to the royal domain.
3. 1360Under the Treaty of Brétigny, La Rochelle passes to the King of England.
4. 1371–1372The townspeople drive the English out; Charles V confirms the town’s privileges.
5. 14th centuryThe wine and brandy trade flourishes; the Saint-Nicolas Tower and the Chain Tower guard the harbour mouth.
6. 1445–1468The Lantern Tower, 55 m high, is built as a lighthouse and seamark; in 1478 the Grosse-Horloge gate becomes a belfry.

The Huguenot stronghold

In the 16th century the town embraced Calvinism. From 1568 it was one of the main Protestant strongholds of France, organised as a Reformed republic on the model of Geneva — besieged by the royal armies in 1572–1573 and again in 1627–1628.

1. 1568La Rochelle becomes a leading Huguenot stronghold.
2. 1572–1573After the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre, the royal army besieges the town; the siege ends in a compromise, and the Peace of La Rochelle (1573) allows Protestant worship in Montauban, Nîmes and La Rochelle.
3. 1622 and 1625New Protestant revolts set the stage for the great siege.

The great siege of 1627–1628

To end the Protestant stronghold, Louis XIII and his chief minister Cardinal Richelieu, who led the blockade in person, surrounded La Rochelle by land and sealed it off from the sea with a stone dyke. The English allies of the town could not break through. After fourteen months, starved and decimated, the town surrendered.

1. June 1627The Duke of Buckingham lands about 6,000 English soldiers on Île de Ré to help the Huguenots; after three months he is driven back at Saint-Martin.
2. 10 September 1627The first cannon shots are fired at Fort Louis: the siege begins.
3. From November 1627Clément Métezeau builds the sea dyke — about 1,400 to 1,500 m long, raised by 4,000 workers — while 12 km of entrenchments, 11 forts and 18 redoubts close the land side.
4. 1628Two English relief fleets, in April and September, fail to break the dyke.
5. 28 October 1628La Rochelle surrenders unconditionally. Its population has fallen from about 27,000–28,000 to about 5,000; the town loses its mayor and its privileges.
6. 1629The Peace of Alais strips the Huguenots of their political and military rights but keeps their freedom of worship; the town walls are razed.

Atlantic trade, New France and the slave trade

After the siege the port turned to the Americas. Soldiers, settlers and young women sailed from La Rochelle to New France, and its shipowners grew rich on the colonial trade — including the triangular trade in enslaved Africans, sugar from the West Indies and furs from Canada.

1. 1663–1673An estimated 768 Filles du Roi (“King’s Daughters”) sail from La Rochelle to Quebec; on 19 April 1665 the Carignan-Salières regiment, about 1,200 men, leaves for New France.
2. 24 July 1684Robert de La Salle sails from La Rochelle to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi.
3. 1685The revocation of the Edict of Nantes drives many Huguenots into exile; in 1689 some of them found New Rochelle, in North America.
4. 1742–1784Saint-Louis Cathedral is built to the designs of Jacques V Gabriel.
5. 1762Joseph Vernet paints the port for Louis XV’s series of the Ports of France.
6. 1763With the Treaty of Paris, France loses Canada and Louisiana, two of the port’s main markets.
7. 18th centuryLa Rochelle is one of France’s major slave-trading ports: according to the historian Jean-Michel Deveau, about 427 slave ships sailed from here. The last, the Saint-Jacques, left on 26 April 1792; slavery in the colonies was abolished on 4 February 1794.

A port city in the 19th and 20th centuries

New docks, the railway and the deep-water port of La Pallice turned the old merchant town into a modern port city. In the Second World War the Germans built a submarine base at La Pallice, and La Rochelle was not liberated until May 1945.

1. 1778–1856The wet dock is dug (in service in 1808) and the quays of the Old Port are rebuilt.
2. 6 September 1857The first railway station opens, north of the future trawler basin; the trawler basin itself is dug in 1862.
3. 1864The submarine Plongeur carries out diving trials in the harbour.
4. 1891The railway reaches La Pallice, the new commercial port.
5. 19 November 1922The present station by Pierre Esquié is inaugurated; it is listed as a historic monument in 1984.
6. Second World WarGermany builds a submarine base at La Pallice.
7. 12 September 1944 – 8 May 1945About 20,000 German troops under Ernst Schirlitz hold the “La Rochelle pocket” until 7 May 1945; French troops enter the town the next day.

La Rochelle today

Under the impetus of its mayor Michel Crépeau, La Rochelle became a pioneer of the pedestrian town centre and of shared bicycles. Today it is the prefecture of Charente-Maritime, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a university town and one of the great sailing harbours of Europe.

1. 1970–1971La Rochelle creates the first pedestrian zone in France and is the first town to sign a protected historic district (secteur sauvegardé).
2. 1970sThe yellow self-service bicycles, among the first public bike schemes anywhere, are launched under Michel Crépeau.
3. 1972The Les Minimes marina is created; with about 4,700 berths it is one of the largest in Europe.
4. 1988The bridge to Île de Ré opens and the floating Maritime Museum opens in the trawler basin.
5. 1993–1994The University of La Rochelle is created and the TGV arrives on an electrified line; in 1994 the fishing fleet leaves the Old Port for Chef de Baie.
6. 2013–2019The town hall is gutted by fire on 28 June 2013 and reopens in December 2019.
7. 2023La Rochelle has 79,851 inhabitants.

Sources: Wikipedia (La Rochelle, en) · Wikipedia (La Rochelle, fr) · Wikipedia (Siege of La Rochelle) · Wikipedia (Siège de La Rochelle, fr) · Wikipedia (Tour de la Lanterne) · Wikipedia (Vieux-Port) · Wikipedia (Gare de La Rochelle-Ville) · Wikipedia (Ports of France). Where sources differ (length of the dyke, population during the siege, date of the bicycle scheme), both figures or a rounded date are given. Checked 14 October 2026.