Editing Beach (section)

===History===
[[File:Llandudno.jpeg|thumb|left|A popular Victorian seaside resort. [[Llandudno]], 1856]]

Even in Roman times, wealthy people spent their free time on the coast. They also built large villa complexes with bathing facilities (so-called maritime villas) in particularly beautiful locations. Excavations of Roman architecture can still be found today, for example on the [[Amalfi Coast]] near Naples and in [[Barcola]] in Trieste.<ref>Michael Kassar: Villa Maritima. Elitenarchitektur und Luxus am Beispiel antiker Meeresvillen (2014); Schiavo, The monuments of the Amalfi coast, Milan-Rome, 1941, pp. 175; Zeno Saracino: "Pompei in miniatura": la storia di "Vallicula" o Barcola. In: Trieste All News. 29 September 2018.</ref>

The development of the beach as a popular leisure resort from the mid-19th century was the first manifestation of what is now the global tourist industry. The first seaside resorts were opened in the 18th century for the aristocracy, who began to frequent the seaside as well as the then fashionable spa towns, for recreation and health.<ref name="The business of tourism">{{cite book|last1=Holloway|first1=J. Christopher|title=The business of tourism|last2=Taylor|first2=Neil|publisher=Pearson Education|year=2006|isbn=0-273-70161-4|page=29}}</ref> One of the earliest such seaside resorts, was [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]] in [[Yorkshire]] during the 1720s; it had been a fashionable spa town since a stream of acidic water was discovered running from one of the cliffs to the south of the town in the 17th century.<ref name="The business of tourism"/> The first rolling [[bathing machine]]s were introduced by 1735.

[[File:Brighton, the front and the chain pier seen in the distance.jpg|thumb|''Brighton, The Front and the Chain Pier Seen in the Distance'', early 19th century]]
The opening of the resort in [[Brighton]] and its reception of [[patronage|royal patronage]] from [[King George IV]], extended the seaside as a resort for health and pleasure to the much larger [[London]] market, and the beach became a centre for upper-class pleasure and frivolity. This trend was praised and artistically elevated by the new [[Romanticism|romantic]] ideal of the picturesque landscape; [[Jane Austen]]'s unfinished novel ''[[Sanditon]]'' is an example of that. Later, [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]]'s long-standing patronage of the [[Isle of Wight]] and [[Ramsgate]] in [[Kent]] ensured that a seaside residence was considered as a highly fashionable possession for those wealthy enough to afford more than one home.

====Seaside resorts for the working class====
[[File:The promenade, Blackpool, Lancashire, England, ca. 1898.jpg|thumb|left|[[Blackpool]] [[Promenade]] {{circa|1898}}]]

The extension of this form of leisure to the middle and working classes began with the development of the [[railway]]s in the 1840s, which offered cheap fares to fast-growing resort towns. In particular, the completion of a [[Blackpool Branch Line|branch line]] to the small seaside town of [[Blackpool]] from [[Poulton-le-Fylde railway station|Poulton]] led to a sustained economic and demographic boom. A sudden influx of visitors, arriving by rail, led entrepreneurs to build accommodation and create new attractions, leading to more visitors and a rapid cycle of growth throughout the 1850s and 1860s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Blackpool History|publisher=Blackpool Tourist Office|url=http://www.blackpooltourism.com/resources/files/2_Blackpool%20History.pdf|url-status=dead|access-date=2007-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705082737/http://www.blackpooltourism.com/resources/files/2_Blackpool%20History.pdf|archive-date=2007-07-05}}</ref>

The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire [[cotton mill]] owners of closing the factories for a week every year to service and repair machinery. These became known as [[wakes week]]s. Each town's mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. A prominent feature of the resort was the [[promenade]] and the [[pleasure pier]]s, where an eclectic variety of performances vied for the people's attention. In 1863, the [[North Pier, Blackpool|North Pier]] in Blackpool was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for upper class visitors. [[Central Pier, Blackpool|Central Pier]] was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large open-air dance floor.<ref name="Rough597">{{harvnb|Andrews|2002|p=597}}.</ref>

Many of the popular beach resorts were equipped with [[bathing machine]]s, because even the all-covering [[swimsuit|beachwear]] of the period was considered immodest. By the end of the century the English coastline had over 100 large resort towns, some with populations exceeding 50,000.<ref>{{cite web|last=Walton|first=John K.|title=The seaside resort: a British cultural export|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Sea/articles/walton.html|publisher=Department of Humanities, University of Central Lancashire}}</ref>

====Expansion around the world====
[[File:Monte Carlo Casino seaside facade before 1878 - Bonillo 2004 p113.jpg|thumb|Seaside facade at [[Monte Carlo]], 1870s]]
[[File:The Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps during the First World War, France Q11512.jpg|thumb|British beachgoers at [[Le Touquet]], France, 1918]]
The development of the seaside resort abroad was stimulated by the well-developed English love of the beach. The [[French Riviera]] alongside the [[Mediterranean]] had already become a popular destination for the British upper class by the end of the 18th century. In 1864, the first railway to [[Nice]] was completed, making the Riviera accessible to visitors from all over Europe. By 1874, residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British, numbered 25,000. The coastline became renowned for attracting the royalty of Europe, including [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] and [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]].<ref>Michael Nelson, ''Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera'', Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.</ref>

Continental European attitudes towards [[gambling]] and [[nakedness]] tended to be more lax than in Britain, so British and French entrepreneurs were quick to exploit the possibilities. In 1863, [[Charles III, Prince of Monaco|Charles III]], Prince of [[Monaco]], and [[François Blanc]], a French businessman, arranged for [[steamship]]s and carriages to take visitors from Nice to Monaco, where large luxury hotels, gardens and casinos were built. This area of Monaco was then renamed [[Monte Carlo]] after prince Charles III.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monaco |url=https://www.strasbourg-europe.eu/monaco-en/ |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Centre d'Information sur les Institutions Européennes}}</ref>

Commercial sea bathing spread to the [[United States]] and parts of the [[British Empire]] by the end of the 19th century. The first public beach in the United States was [[Revere Beach]], which opened in 1896. During that same time, [[Henry Flagler]] developed the [[Florida East Coast Railway]], which linked the coastal sea resorts developing at [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], FL and [[Miami Beach]], FL, to winter travelers from the northern [[United States]] and [[Canada]] on the [[East Coast Railway]]. By the early 20th century surfing was developed in [[Hawaii]] and [[Australia]]; it spread to [[southern California]] by the early 1960s. By the 1970s cheap and affordable air travel led to the growth of a truly global tourism market which benefited areas such as the [[Mediterranean]], [[Australia]], [[South Africa]], and the coastal [[Sun Belt]] regions of the [[United States]].