Editing Lorient (section)

===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>