Port-Louis (; ) is a commune in the

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coast ...

department of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

in north-western France.INSEE commune file
/ref> Inhabitants of Port-Louis are called in French ''Port-Louisiens''.

History

At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

established warehouses in Port-Louis. They later built additional warehouses across the bay in 1628, at the location which became known as "L'Orient" (''the

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

'' in French). In 1664, during the reign of King

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

, the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in t ...

was established at Port-Louis. The company established a shipyard at

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

. The Company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769. In 1770, King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

issued an edict that required the Company to transfer to the state all its properties, in return for which the King agreed to pay all of the Company’s debts and obligations. The French government then took over the shipyards as a naval port and arsenal.

Citadel

The Spanish engineer Cristóbal de Rojas built the Fuerte de Águila at the start of the Brittany Campaign in 1590 at what was then known as Port Blavet during the War of the Catholic League. At the time, the governor of Brittany,

Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count ...

, a Catholic, was in revolt against King Henry IV, a Protestant, and the Spaniards were invited to provide support to their coreligionists. The King converted to Catholicism in 1593, and eventually defeated de Mercœur in 1598, gaining control of the fort. The fort was extended in 1616-1636, during the reign of King

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

. In 1836 Louis Napoleon, the future Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephe ...

, was a prisoner in the citadel. Later prisoners included 1836, Communards and members of the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the Nazi occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War. Resistance cells were small groups of armed men ...

, among others. Today, the citadel houses four museums: *Museum of the French East India Company (Musée de la Compagnie des Indes) *Museum of Naval Weapons (Musée des Armes Navales) *Museum of Port-Louis and the Citadel (Musée de Port-Louis et de la Citadelle) *Museum of the Arsenal (Musée de l'Arsenal) Citadelle de Port-Louis (1) - Entrée 2

History

Citadel

See also