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Marseilles (Municipality, Bouches-du-Rhône, France): House flags of shipping companies

Last modified: 2004-10-02 by ivan sache
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A short history of the port of Marseilles

It is well-known and historically proved that Marseilles (then Massilia/Massalia) was founded by seamen coming from the Greek city of Phokia, in Asia Minor. The Massaliotes were fiery seamen, the most famous of them being Pytheas (IVth century BP), who calculated the latitude of Marseilles and sailed up to Ireland and maybe even further to the north, and Eutymenes. The maritime power of Massalia ended when the city chose the party of Pompeius against Julius Caesar and lost its independence. A new maritime era started with the Crusades and the independence of the Republic of Marseilles. After the incorporation of Provence into France in 1481, Marseilles could not afford the competition with Genoa, Venice, Montpellier and the Spanish ports and started slowly to decline.

In 1599, the Chamber of Commerce of Marseilles, the first in France, was created upon Henri IV's request. Louis XIV punished the revolt of Marseilles by entering himself the city through its broken walls, but modernized the port and created the galley arsenal (Arsenal des Galères). Colbert organized the shipping activity, so that trade with Levant and Barbaria (Northern Africa) increased tenfold within a few years. However, the unsuccessful wars of the end of the XVIIth century and the resulting economic crisis considerably handicapped maritime trade. In 1720, the ship Grand Saint-Antoine brought black plague from Syria and introduced the disease in Marseilles, thanks to forged quarantine certificates. The epidemic killed 100,000 in Provence, including 40,000 only in Marseilles.
At the end of the Ancient Regime, Marseilles had 120,000 inhabitants and the value of the local trade was about 1/5 of the global French trade.

The Revolution was welcomed in Marseilles, but the city once again revolted and was severely repressed. Trade nearly disappeared and was restricted to local coastal shipping. The English blockade during the First Empire did not improve the economical situation. The re-establishment of trade started under the Restauration but took much more time than expected. In the middle of the XIXth century, Marseilles had 200,000 inhabitants, and the efficient local administration promoted industrial development. The old basin of the Vieux-Port was deemed to small and it was decided to build a new port in the north of the city.

The Second Empire favoured the industrial revolution all over France, and especially in Marseilles. The three new basins of la Joliette, le Lazaret and Arenc were built. Within 25 years, the length of the quays increased threefold. The number of steamships increased from 30 to 200. This increase in trade was mostly caused by the colonization and the companies founded and funded by the French State for that purpose. It is said that Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal "forged a golden key