Editing Lorient (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Lorient}}
=== Prehistory and classical antiquity ===
Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presence of [[Megalith|megalithic architecture]]. Ruins of [[Roman roads]] (linking [[Vannes]] to [[Quimper]] and [[Port-Louis, Morbihan|Port-Louis]] to [[Carhaix]]) confirm [[Gallo-Roman]] presence.

=== Founding ===
[[File:Lorient-au-18-eme-siecle.jpg|thumbnail|left|Lorient in the 18th century]]
In 1664, [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] founded the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East Indies Company]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|pages=66–87|year=1939|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> In June 1666, an [[Ordonnance|ordinance]] of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] granted lands of [[Port-Louis, Morbihan|Port-Louis]] to the company, along with Faouédic on the other side of the [[roadstead]]. One of its directors, Denis Langlois, bought lands at the confluence of the [[Scorff]] and the [[Blavet]] rivers, and built [[slipway]]s. At first, it only served as a subsidiary of Port-Louis, where offices and warehouses were located.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=67|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> The following years, the operation was almost abandoned, but in 1675, during the [[Franco-Dutch War]], the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East Indies Company]] scrapped its base in [[Le Havre]] since it was too exposed during wartime, and transferred its infrastructures to l'Enclot, out of which Lorient grew. The company then erected a chapel, workshops, forges, and offices, leaving Port-Louis permanently.<ref name="Chaumeil P68">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=68|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

The city's name is derived from ''Le Soleil d'Orient'', the first ship constructed at the site, in 1669. Workers gave the site the name of the ship, which, by contraction, became simply ''L'Orient'' and finally ''Lorient''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://troisponts.net/2012/09/11/lorigine-du-nom-de-lorient/|title=L'Origine du nom de Lorient|date=11 September 2012}}</ref>

The [[French Navy|French Royal Navy]] opened a base there in 1690, under the command of [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay|Colbert de Seignelay]], who inherited [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert|his father]]'s position as [[Secretary of State of the Navy (France)|Secretary of State of the Navy]]. At the same time, [[privateer]]s from [[Saint-Malo]] took shelter there.<ref name="Chaumeil P68"/> In 1700, the town grew out of l'Enclot following a law forcing people to leave the domain to move to the Faouédic heath. In 1702, there were about 6,000 inhabitants in Lorient, though activities slowed, and the town began to decline.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=69|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

===Growth under the Company of the Indies===
[[File:Le port et la rade de Lorient vers 1800.jpg|left|thumb|L'Enclos at the end of the 18th century]]
The town experienced a period of growth when [[John Law (economist)|John Law]] formed the [[Mississippi Company|Perpetual Company of the Indies]] by absorbing other [[chartered companies]] (including the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]]), and chose Lorient as its operations base. Despite the [[economic bubble]] caused by the Company in 1720, the city was still growing<ref name="Chaumeil P70">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=70|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> as it took part in the [[Atlantic triangular slave trade]]. From 1720 to 1790, 156 ships deported an estimated 43,000 slaves.<ref>René Estienne, ''[https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/indes/sites/default/files/Compagnie_des_Indes_et_traite_negriere.pdf « Les archives des compagnies commerciales et la traite : l'exemple de la Compagnie des Indes »]'', Service historique de la Défense, Lorient, janvier 2009</ref> In 1732, the Company decided to transfer its sales headquarters from [[Nantes]] to Lorient, and asked architect [[Jacques Gabriel]] to raise new buildings out of [[dimension stone]]s to host these new activities, and to embellish the L'Enclos domain.<ref name="Chaumeil P70"/> Sales began in 1734, peaking up to 25 million ''[[Livre tournois|livres tournois]]''.<ref name="Chaumeil P71">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=71|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> In 1769, the Company's monopoly ended with the scrapping of the company itself, under the influence of the [[Physiocracy|physiocrats]].<ref name="Chaumeil P73">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=73|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

Until the Company's closure, the city took advantage of its prosperity. In 1738, there were 14,000 inhabitants, or 20,000 considering the outlying villages of Kerentrech, Merville, La Perrière, Calvin, and Keryado, which are now neighbourhoods within the present-day city limits. In 1735, new streets were laid out and in 1738, it was granted city status. Further work was undertaken as the streets began to be paved, wharves and slipways were built along the Faouédic river, and [[thatching|thatched]] houses were replaced with stone buildings following 18th-century classical architecture style as it was the case for l'Enclos.<ref name="Chaumeil P71"/> In 1744, the city walls were erected, and proved quickly useful as [[Raid on Lorient|Lorient was raided]] in September 1746.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=72|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> Following the demise of the Company, the city lost one-seventh of its population.<ref name="Chaumeil P74">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=74|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

In 1769, the city evolved into a full-scale [[naval base]] for the [[French Navy|Royal Navy]] when the [[Louis XV of France|King]] bought out the Company's infrastructures for 17,500,000 ''[[livre tournois|livres tournois]]''.<ref name="Chaumeil P73"/> From 1775 on, the [[American Revolutionary War]] brought a surge in activity, as many [[privateers]] hailed from Lorient. When the war ended, transatlantic lines opened to the [[United States]], and in 1785, a new commercial company started under [[Charles Alexandre de Calonne|Calonne]]'s tutelage (then [[Controller-General of Finances]]) with the same goal as the previous entities, i.e. conducting trade in [[India]] and [[China]], with again Lorient standing as its operative base.<ref name="Chaumeil P74"/>

The [[French Revolution]] and the subsequent [[Napoleonic wars]] put an end to trade for nearly two decades.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=75|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

=== 19th and early 20th centuries ===
[[File:Berthe Morisot The Harbor at Lorient.jpg|thumb|The Harbor at Lorient, 1869 painting by [[Berthe Morisot]].]]
[[File:Lorient - Cours de la Bôve (1907).jpg|thumb|Cours de la Bôve (1907)]]

Maritime activities slowed at the start of the 19th century. Activity at the shipyards and naval base reached a low that would last until the [[July Monarchy]]. During this period, the city was more of an administrative center.<ref name="Chaumeil P76">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=76|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> The first [[secondary school]] opened in 1822, a [[lazaretto]] in 1823, and [[barracks]] in 1839.<ref name="Chaumeil P77">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=77|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

The city began to modernize in the second quarter of the century; in 1825, a roofed slipway and a [[drydock]] were added to the shipyards.<ref name="Chaumeil P76"/> A [[sardine]] [[cannery]]<ref name="Chaumeil P80">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=80|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref> opened the same year. The first [[gasworks]] was built in 1845.<ref name ="Chaumeil P79">{{cite journal|last=Chaumeil|first=Louis|title=Abrégé d'histoire de Lorient de la fondation (1666) à nos jours (1939)|journal=Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l'Ouest|volume=46|issue=1|year=1939|page=79|language=fr|doi=10.3406/abpo.1939.1788}}</ref>

In the second half of the 19th century, the [[steam engine]] allowed the ports to strengthen their output.<ref name="Chaumeil P77"/> The first [[locomotive]] reached the city in 1865.<ref name="Chaumeil P80"/> In 1861, the original [[drydock]] was enlarged as a second one was dug out. The same year, the [[ironclad]] ''[[French ironclad Couronne|Couronne]]'' was built on a design directly inspired by the ''[[French ironclad Gloire|Gloire]]'' [[ship class|class]], though unlike her wooden-hull predecessors, she was entirely made of iron. She was followed in 1876 by the ironclad ''[[French ironclad Redoutable|Redoutable]]'', the first ship in the world with a steel structure.

In 1889, fishing expanded following the creation of the municipal fish market,<ref name="Chaumeil P79"/> and the arrival of [[steam-powered]] [[fishing trawler]]s in 1900. The [[Fishing port of Lorient-Keroman|Keroman fishing port]] construction started in 1920.

=== World War II ===
In 1941, the [[Nazi Germany|Germans]], then [[Military Administration in France (Nazi Germany)|occupying France]], chose to establish a [[U-boat base]] at Lorient. The [[submarine]] facilities quickly became targets of constant bombing from [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] air forces. The Germans decided to build a complex of bomb-proof [[submarine pen]]s, their [[Lorient U-boat base|largest U-boat base]], which would house the [[2nd U-boat Flotilla|2nd]] and the [[10th U-boat Flotilla|10th]] U-boat flotillas for the bulk of the [[Battle of the Atlantic]]. [[Karl Dönitz]], then [[Befehlshaber der U-Boote|supreme commander of the U-boat Arm]], moved his staff into the Kernevel villa, just across the water from Keroman, in [[Larmor-Plage]].

In 1943–1944, Lorient was nearly razed to the ground by Allied [[Strategic bombing during World War II|bombing]], which failed to destroy the submarine pens despite 4,000 tons of bombs dropped.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lagarrigue|first=Max|title=Comment les Français vivent-ils les bombardements alliés?|journal=Arkheia|year=2007|url=http://www.arkheia-revue.org/Les-bombardements-allies-comment.html|access-date=21 March 2013|archive-date=3 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703074452/http://arkheia-revue.org/Les-bombardements-allies-comment.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the book ''Steel Boats, Iron Hearts'' (by former {{GS|U-505||2}} crewman [[Hans Goebeler]]), after the Allies failed to damage the U-boat bunkers the bombing shifted to the city itself to deny the Germans workers and other resources. Before the bombings, thousands of leaflets were dropped on the population instructing the inhabitants to evacuate.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hans|first1=Goebeler|title=Steel Boats, Iron Hearts|date=2008|publisher=Savas Beatie LLC}}</ref> Between 14 January 1943 and 17 February 1943, as many as 500 high-explosive [[aerial bomb]]s and more than 60,000 [[incendiary bombs]] were dropped on Lorient.

After the [[Normandy landings]] in June 1944 and the [[Operation Cobra|subsequent breakout]], Lorient was surrounded by Allied troops on 12 August 1944. Its usefulness as a naval base gone, Lorient was left in a state of siege, surrounded by the [[French Forces of the West]], supported by a US infantry division. On 10 May 1945, the [[Atlantic pockets|German garrison]] surrendered, [[End of World War II in Europe|two days after]] the official final [[German Instrument of Surrender|unconditional surrender of Germany]]. In 1949, the city of Lorient was awarded the [[Legion of Honour]] and the ''[[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de guerre 1939–1945]]''.

=== Reconstruction ===
[[File:Hôtel de Ville de Lorient.JPG|thumb|The [[Hôtel de Ville, Lorient|Hôtel de Ville]] (city hall)]]

In April 1945, the Reconstruction Ministry advocated the use of temporary wooden shacks. These shelters were shipped as a kit to be built on site. In 1948, there were 28 settlements under the city's authority, and 20 more in the [[urban area]], distributed among the neighboring towns of [[Ploemeur]], [[Lanester]], [[Hennebont]] and [[Quéven]]. Each of these neighbourhoods could hold up to 280 houses. A new [[Hôtel de Ville, Lorient|Hôtel de Ville]] (city hall) was completed in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patrimoine.lorient.bzh/histoire/architecture/batiments-publics/hotel-de-ville-de-1940-a-nos-jours/ |title=Hôtel de ville de 1940 à nos jours|publisher=Patrimoine Lorient|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028182541/https://patrimoine.lorient.bzh/histoire/architecture/batiments-publics/hotel-de-ville-de-1940-a-nos-jours/  |archive-date=28 October 2021 }}</ref>

This temporary housing would stand from 10 to 40 years depending on the location. The last shack in the largest settlement, Soye, was torn down in 1991. Today, only a few buildings dating to the 18th century still stand.