Editing Napoleon III (section)

====Development of steamships and early reconstruction on Paris====

New shipping lines were created, and ports rebuilt in [[Marseille]] and [[Le Havre]], which connected France by sea to the US, Latin America, North Africa and the Far East. During the Empire, the number of steamships tripled, and by 1870, France possessed the second-largest maritime fleet in the world after England.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=475}} Napoleon III backed the greatest maritime project of the age, the construction of the [[Suez Canal]] between 1859 and 1869. The canal project was funded by shares on the [[Paris Bourse|Paris stock market]] and led by a former French diplomat, [[Ferdinand de Lesseps]]. It was opened by [[Empress Eugénie]] with a performance of [[Verdi]]'s opera ''[[Aida]].''{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=474}}

The rebuilding of central Paris also encouraged commercial expansion and innovation. The first department store, [[Bon Marché]], opened in Paris in 1852 in a modest building and expanded rapidly, its income increasing from 450,000 francs a year to 20&nbsp;million. Its founder, [[Aristide Boucicaut]], commissioned a new glass and iron building designed by [[Louis-Charles Boileau]] and [[Gustave Eiffel]] that opened in 1869 and became the model for the modern [[department store]]. Other department stores quickly appeared: [[Printemps|Au Printemps]] in 1865 and [[La Samaritaine]] in 1870. They were soon imitated around the world.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=486}}

Napoleon's program also included reclaiming farmland and reforestation. One such project in the [[Gironde|Gironde department]] drained and reforested 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 square miles) of moorland, creating the [[Landes forest]], the largest maritime pine forest in Europe.