Rochefort
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Subprefecture and commune
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Port in Rochefort
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Rochefort  | |
  Rochefort Show map of France  Rochefort Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Coordinates: 45°56′32″N 0°57′32″W / 45.9421°N 0.9588°W / 45.9421; -0.9588 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine |
| Department | Charente-Maritime |
| Arrondissement | Rochefort |
| Canton | Rochefort |
| Intercommunality | CA Rochefort Océan |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Hervé Blanché[1] |
| Area
1
| 21.95 km2 (8.47 sq mi) |
| Population
(2021)[2]
| 23,092 |
| • Density | 1,100/km2 (2,700/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code |
17299 /17300
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| Elevation | 0–29 m (0–95 ft) (avg. 5 m or 16 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Rochefort (French pronunciation: [ʁɔʃfɔʁ] ⓘ; Occitan: Ròchafòrt), unofficially Rochefort-sur-Mer (French pronunciation: [ʁɔʃfɔʁ syʁ mɛʁ]; Occitan: Ròchafòrt de Mar) for disambiguation, is a city and commune in Southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a subprefecture of the Charente-Maritime department, located in the administrative regionofNouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2015: Poitou-Charentes).
Rochefort lies on the river Charente, close to its outflow into the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 30 km southeast of La Rochelle. Rochefort station has rail connections to La Rochelle, Nantes and Bordeaux.
In December 1665, Rochefort was chosen by Jean-Baptiste Colbert as a place of "refuge, defence and supply" for the French Navy. The Arsenal de Rochefort served as a naval base and dockyard until it closed in 1926.
In September 1757, Rochefort was the target of an ambitious British raid during the Seven Years' War.
Another infrastructure of early Rochefort from 1766 was its bagne, a high-security penal colony involving hard labour. Bagnes were then common fixtures in military harbors and naval bases, such as ToulonorBrest, because they provided free labor. During the Jacobin period of the French Revolution (1790–95), over 800 Roman Catholic priests and other clergy who refused to take the anti-Papal oath of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy" were put aboard a fleet of prison ships in Rochefort harbour, where most died due to inhumane conditions.
Off Rochefort, from the island of Île-d'Aix where he had spent several days hoping to flee to America, Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to Captain F. L. Maitland aboard HMS Bellerophon, on 17 July 1815, ending the "Hundred Days".
Rochefort is a notable example of 17th-century "ville nouvelle" or new town, which means its design and building resulted from a political decree. The reason for building Rochefort was to a large extent that royal power could hardly depend on rebellious Protestant La Rochelle, which Cardinal Richelieu had to besiege a few decades earlier. Well into the 20th century, Rochefort remained primarily a garrison town. The tourist industry, which had long existed due to the town's spa, gained emphasis in the 1990s.
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Noteworthy buildings of the original naval establishment include:
Other sights include:
Rochefort was the birthplace of:
Movies: "Les Demoiselles De Rochefort" 1967 - Jacques Demy
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