port of the Moon
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How it came to be
Bordeaux grew on a crescent-shaped bend of the Garonne, the curve that gives it the name Port of the Moon. Around 300 BC a Celtic tribe named the town Burdigala, and from about 60 BC, under Roman rule, it became a trading centre for tin and lead.
In the 12th century Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married the future Henry II of England, and Bordeaux passed to the English crown. The wine trade became the source of its wealth, and English rule lasted until the Battle of Castillon in 1453, after which the city was annexed by France.
The 18th century was a second golden age: the port shipped coffee, sugar and indigo across Europe and was the second busiest in the world after London. The Place de la Bourse (1735-1755) was designed by the royal architect Jacques Gabriel, and the Grand Théâtre opened in 1780. In the same era Bordeaux shipowners carried 150,000 Africans into slavery in some 500 voyages. In 2007 about 40 percent of the city's area was inscribed.
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