Editing La Rochelle (section)

===La Rochelle and the New World===
{{Further|France-Americas relations}}
[[File:La Rochelle slave ship Le Saphir 1741.jpg|thumb|La Rochelle [[slave ship]] ''Le Saphir'' [[ex-voto]]'', 1741]]
[[File:LaRochelleHarbour1762.jpg|thumb|La Rochelle harbour in 1762 – [[Joseph Vernet]]; [[Musée de la Marine]]]]

Because of its western location, which saved days of sailing time, La Rochelle enjoyed successful fishing in the western Atlantic and trading with the [[New World]], which served to counterbalance the disadvantage of not being at the mouth of a river (useful for shipping goods to and from the interior). Its [[Huguenot|Protestant]] ship-owning and merchant class prospered in the 16th century until the Wars of Religion devastated the city.<ref>Kurlansky, Mark. ''Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World''. Walker and Co., New York, 1997 pp. 51–52. {{ISBN|0-8027-1326-2}}.</ref> The British navy in wartime were alert that shore watchers at La Rochelle were employed.<ref>"Charles II - volume 161: July 1–7, 1666." ''Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles II, 1665-6.'' Ed. Mary Anne Everett Green. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1864. 485-510. [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/chas2/1665-6/pp485-510 British History Online] Retrieved 26 June 2021.</ref>

The period following the wars was a prosperous one, marked by intense exchanges with the New World ([[New France|Nouvelle France]] in Canada, and the [[Antilles]]). La Rochelle ''armateurs'' (shipowners) became very active<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/outre_0300-9513_1976_num_63_231_1919 |last=Pritchard |first=James S |title=The Pattern of French Colonial Shipping to Canada before 1760 |pages=190 |journal=[[Persée (web portal)|Persée]]|year=1976 |volume=63 |issue=231 |doi=10.3406/outre.1976.1919 |access-date=23 September 2019}}</ref> in [[triangular trade]] with the New World, dealing in the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] with Africa, [[sugar trade]] with [[plantations]] of the [[West Indies]], and [[fur trade]] with Canada. This was a period of high artistic, cultural and architectural achievements for the city.{{Citation needed|date = June 2019}}  La Rochelle was also the port city from which the Carignan-Salieres Regiment departed for Nouvelle France.  In 1664, based upon attacks by the Iroquois against the Quebec inhabitants and following the request of the New France Sovereign Council,  the French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered the 24 companies composing the Carignan-Salières Regiment to duty in New France.  Beginning with departures from the port of La Rochelle, France on 19 Apr 1665, five troop ships and one supply ship left the French coast.  A sixth troop ship, Le Breze, began the journey from the Antilles island in the West Indies.   All of the seven ships arrived at Quebec City during the three-month period between 19 Jun 1665 and 14 Sep 1665.  They carried approximately 1,200 men of the regiment.  Additionally, it was from this port city that many of the estimated 768 women known as the [[Filles du Roi]] (Daughters of the King), set sail for Quebec during the period of 1663 to 1673.{{citation needed|date = April 2023}}

[[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|Robert de La Salle]] departed from La Rochelle, France, on 24 July 1684, with the aim of setting up a colony at the mouth of the [[Mississippi]], eventually establishing [[Fort Saint Louis (Texas)|Fort Saint Louis]] in Texas.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXPbUIeAHSUC&pg=PA20 |title=''From a watery grave'' |author=James E. Bruseth |year=2005 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9781585444311 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref>

The city eventually lost its trade and prominence during the decades spanning the [[Seven Years' War]], the [[French Revolution]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. During that period France lost many of the territorial possessions which it had had in the New World, and also saw a significant decrease in its [[sea power]] in the continuing conflicts with Britain, ultimately diminishing the role of such harbours as La Rochelle. After abolitionist movements led by such people as [[Samuel de Missy]], the slave trade of La Rochelle ended with the onset of the French Revolution and the war with England in the 1790s, the last La Rochelle slave ship, the ''Saint-Jacques'' being captured in 1793 in the [[Gulf of Guinea]].<ref name="Marshall">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fXZaLhmVt2IC&pg=PA60|title=The French Atlantic: Travels in Culture and History|first=Bill|last=Marshall|date=15 April 2018|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=9781846310515}}</ref> In February 1794, the National Convention passed the [[Law of 4 February 1794]], which effectively freed all colonial slaves.{{Citation needed|date = June 2019}}

In 1809, the [[Battle of the Basque Roads]] took place near La Rochelle, in which a British fleet defeated the French Atlantic Fleet.{{Citation needed|date = June 2019}}