- Port of Honfleur
The Port of Honfleur, "Port de Honfleur", is the harbour of the Norman town of
Honfleur ,France . Expeditions toQuebec from this harbour led to its foundation.History
The port was originally founded by
Viking s.A port of exploration
Jacques Cartier foundedCanada in1534 and gave it toFrance . He adopts the name "Canada" which signifies "village" inHuron . The King of France, Francis 1st, disappointed by the lack ofgold ordiamond s, decided not to exploit the land. It is only two hundred years later, in the XVIITH, thatSamuel de Champlain received orders to settle the vast territory. Having leftHonfleur , he foundedQuébec . The orders of Louis XIV made the first settlements true Norman colonies. More than 4000 peasants settled and planted the land. Fishing, hunting and thefur trade flourished.The Vieux Bassin
The port was remodelled in
1681 byAbraham Duquesne , under orders from Colbert. The former port was a brushed-upon shore in a small haven. Due to the expansion of the port, the Western fortifications of the town were demolished. The port is bordered on three sides, by buildings of two distinct styles; large stone houses on the Southside (Quai Saint-Etienne) and high and narrow wooden houses to the North (Quai Sainte Catherine).The lieutenancy building ("la Lieutenance") is at the entrance to the old harbour. It is an old building of the XVIIITH century, and the former home of the Governor of Honfleur. One of the sides of the building is an old gate of the city, the "Port de Caen", which was to be part of the city's fortifications. It was between
1684 and1789 home to the Lieutenant of the king. It became, in1793 , the commerce tribunal.Former glory
At the end of each year, an
almanac , called the "Annuaire administratif du Département", used to be published, showing statistics relevant toCalvados . Some data of the Port of Honfleur can be found in these books and in1865 , traffic to and from Honfleur was as follows:
*Important traffic withEngland was observed as well as the development of traffic fromNorway . Traffic was 384sailing ship s transporting 44177 tons and 2011steam ship s transporting 272 169 tons. Ferries to and from Le Havre transported 232 809 passengers.
*Goods traffic was composed of eggs, cheeses, butter,poultry , cereals, vegetables, apples and pears andcider toEngland , horses and farm stock fromEngland .The
1881 annuaire was far more precise, detailing the number of passengers to and from several destinations; 199 789 to and form Le Havre, 2 320 to and from Rouen. It also added 115 to and fromSouthampton and 91 toLittlehampton , a total of 345 992 passengers that year.Fishing boats were present in numbers, and in 1881, 75 ships were registered and stationed in Honfleur. The sum from the selling of
seafood amounted to 391 390 Francs. Most of the seafood fished was eaten nearby, but some was exported toParis and other cities and transported by train by theChemins de Fer de l'Ouest . The catch amounted to 183 491 kb of moules (mussel s) and 185 190 kg of fresh fish.Notable imports were wood from Norway, coal from England, wheat from America and lime.
The largest ships to have entered the Port of Honfleur were the "Aneroïd", an English, three-mast sailing ship, the Italian three-mast sailing ship, the "Nostra-Madre" and the English passenger ship, the "Newsleydale", with 5.3 m draft.
Layout
The port is but a series of basins, linked to the
Seine by an access channel.-External links
* [http://www.tourisme.fr/office-de-tourisme/honfleur.htm tourisme.fr]
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