Port-Cros () is a French island in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

island group known as the

Îles d'Hyères The Îles d'Hyères (), also known as Îles d'Or (), are a group of four Mediterranean islands off Hyères in the Var department of Southeastern France. Their old name is the Stoechades Islands from ''Stoikhádes'' from ''stoikhás'' meaning ...

. It is part of the commune of

Hyères Hyères (), Provençal dialect, Provençal Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ieras'' in classical norm, or ''Iero'' in Mistralian norm) is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (département), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Al ...

, in the department of Var in the region of

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

. The island was donated to the French government with the promise that a national park, the

Port-Cros National Park Port-Cros National Park () is a French national park established on the Mediterranean island of Port-Cros, east of Toulon. It also administers natural areas in some surrounding locales. History The park was founded in 1963 after the island of ...

, would be created on the island. This was established on 14 December 1963. The island is wide and its most elevated point is . It is .

History

The island was known as ''Messea'' (Middle Island) to the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

. Its present name derives from the small port on the island, which is cross-shaped.

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

tombs on the island indicate that there may have been a Roman colony on the island, and coins and canals of Roman origin have also been found on the island. In the 5th century, the monastery of Lérins established a branch on

Île du Levant Île du Levant (), sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a French island in the Mediterranean off the coast of the Riviera, near Toulon. It is one of the four that constitute the Îles d'Hyères. Part of the island is occupied by the naturist ...

. This foundation on Île du Levant established a branch on Port-Cros in the small valley of Notre-Dame. The monastery on Port-Cros was destroyed by

Barbary pirates The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...

, who repeatedly attacked the Hyères Islands from the 10th to the 16th centuries. In 1531,

François I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nb ...

visited the Hyères, and as a result of being informed by inhabitants of the pirate attacks, charged

Bertrand d'Ornesan Bertrand d'Ornesan, also Bertrand d'Ornezan, Baron de Saint-Blancard (; d. 1540), was a French admiral in the service of King Francis I of France. He was general of the galleys of the Mediterranean (''Amiral de la Flotte du Levant''). Bertrand ...

with the task of constructing fortifications on the islands to defend them against pirates. He elevated the three islands to the status of a

marquisate A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

on 13 February 1532. In 1549, this marquisate passed to Christophe de Rocquendorf. To attract colonists, he granted asylum to

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

criminals, but these caused as much disorder as the pirates they were meant to be a shield against. In 1617, the promised fortifications had not yet been built, but under the direction of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

, construction began with the building of the Tour de l'Éminence, the fort of l'Estissac and the fort at Port-Man.

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

of France fought against piracy in the region, but the lack of a substantial garrison caused the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

to plunder Port-Cros in 1700 and to invade in 1742 before being driven out by the

Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas Jean-Frédéric or Jean-Frederic may refer to: * Jean Frederic Bazille (1841–1870), French Impressionist painter * Jean-Frédéric Chapuis (born 1989), French freestyle skier * Jean Frédéric Auguste Delsarte (1903–1968), French mathematician ...

. The last marquis of the islands was Louis de Colvet, Mirabeau's father-in-law. Colvet sold the islands to Jean Joseph Barthélémy Simon de Savornin in 1783. In 1793, the British attacked Port-Cros again.

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

restored the defenses in 1811 and installed a garrison of veterans. After the fall of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

, the garrison was replaced by a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

of crippled soldiers. The marquisate was purchased by the French state in 1815, and changed hands a number of times before being sold to a Dr. Crotte, who tried to develop the island into a tourist resort. Some facilities for tourists, including a hotel, were built when the island was acquired by Marcel Henry and Claude Balyne. Between the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, the island was visited by numerous figures of the artistic and literary world:

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine '' Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963– ...

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the ev ...

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...

and

Jules Supervielle Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wr ...

Vivienne de Watteville Vivienne Florence Beatrice de Watteville (17 August 1900 – 27 June 1957) was a British travel writer and adventurer, author of two books based on her experiences in East Africa in the 1920s, ''Out in the Blue'' (1927) and ''Speak to the Earth' ...

lived there from 1929, and wrote a book about her first year on the island, ''Seeds that the Wind may bring''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during the Allied invasion of

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

, the Battle of Port Cros took place on the island on 15 August 1944, in which the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

garrison of 150 men fought against a force of American and

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

commandos, known as the

Devil's Brigade The 1st Special Service Force (FSSF) was an elite joint American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, formed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick of the Operations Division of the U.S. General Staff. During the Italian campaign of ...

. The island was captured by the Allies on 17 August 1944. When Madame Henry, the owner of the island, died in 1966, she bequeathed the island to the state, with the exception of the hotel Le Manoir, which her great-nephew, Pierre Buffet, inherited. The Port-Cros National Park was created in 1963. The photographer

Yann Arthus-Bertrand Yann Arthus-Bertrand (; born 13 March 1946) is a French environmentalist, activist, journalist and photographer. He has also directed films about the impact of humans on the planet. He is especially well known for his book '' Earth from Above'' ...

is working on the restoration of the fort at Port-Man.Site du parc national

References

External links

*
Portail des Parc nationaux de France
*
l'Association des Amis de Port-Cros
{{authority control Îles d'Hyères Landforms of Var (department) French Riviera Mediterranean islands Hyeres Car-free islands of Europe

History

References

Further reading

External links