Hiers-Brouage


Hiers-Brouage is a former commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Marennes-Hiers-Brouage.

History

Brouage was founded in 1555 by Jacques de Pons on the Bay of Biscay facing the Atlantic Ocean. The town was founded on swampy land which had previously been underwater. Its name, "Brouage," comes from the surrounding mixture of water and clay, which was called "broue".
Its economy was based on salt and access to the sea. Brouage was known for producing salt that was black in colour, which was often sold to the royal family. Brouage exported large quantities of salt by land and sea as early as the 15th century.
The town was fortified between 1630 and 1640 by Cardinal Richelieu as a Catholic bastion in order to fight against the neighbouring Protestant town of La Rochelle. Gradually the harbour silted up in the last part of the 17th century, leaving the town stranded and useless as a port. It fell into ruin.
The town's most celebrated son is the French navigator Samuel de Champlain, who lived there when young, before being the co-founder of French settlement in Acadia and Quebec. Cartographer Charles Leber du Carlo lived in Brouage at the same time and may have taught the art of map-making to the young Champlain.
In 1825 Brouage was joined to the village of Hiers, away, forming the commune of Hiers-Brouage.

Population

Sights