History Of Bordeaux

This small city in the southwest of France has long been at the hub of the most important wine growing region in the world. Since the 13th century, Bordeaux has been exporting its many wine varietals to the rest of Europe, and although the last couple of centuries saw this city of 650,000 fall into general disrepair, there is at long last a massive urban renewal project underway.

The Celts and Romans

Bordeaux has been occupied for thousands of years. First by the Celts, who established a small village they named Burdigala around 300 BC, then by the Romans, who displaced the Celts in 60 BC. With the fall of the Roman Empire came hundreds of years of strife and chaos. Until the 12th century, Bordeaux was successively plundered by the Vikings, Vandals, Visigoths, Francs and Normans.

English rule

Peace finally returned to the city in 1154, when the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine married the French Count Henri Plantagenet, who became King Henry II of England within months of the wedding. Bordeaux fell under English control for the next three centuries, during which time it began to grow and prosper. By exporting wine to England, it earned its reputation in the wine trade.

Hundred Years War

After the Hundred Years War, Bordeaux fell under French rule. In 1462, Louis XIV gave the city of Bordeaux official recognition as a part of France. However, the region returned to turmoil over the following years as the town was devastated by revolution, empire and the Terror.

Golden Age

Things settled down in the 18th century and Bordeaux once again experienced a golden age of prosperity as a result of its wine trade with the UK, Germany and the West Indies. Many of the city’s buildings (around 5,000 of them) were built during this period and they still stand today. Although the French government withdrew to Bordeaux during the wars of 1870, WWI and WWII, the city has never really attained a defining character apart from its role as a global wine trader for the region.

Modern times

Today, Bordeaux is a city of warehouses, factories, suburbs and wide quays. Despite being France’s fifth largest city, it is considered the most ‘un-French’ city in the country, due to its 300-year long occupation by the English. Much of greater Bordeaux looks rather seedy and rundown, but fortunately there are several urban renewal projects underway working to restore the city’s lovely historical centre. It may lack the vibrancy of Paris, but Bordeaux is still an important cultural centre and transportation hub between southern France and Spain. The city is working on a new network of trams and is busy restoring many of its lovely 18th century buildings in the old downtown districts. All of this construction will make the city rather ugly and disrupted in the immediate future, but the long-term results will be one of the great triumphs of urban renewal in France.