-BORDEAUX  
     
--The Etymology of Bordeaux  
 

Several hypotheses,

  
 

Formerly the city could have been called:

* Bur Wal (Gallic fortress)
* Burg Di Gaëls (town of the Gauls)
* Burg Di Kal (town with a port)
* Bur Dy Gal (large port in the form of an arc)

The Romans could have then Latinzed one of these names to Burdigala.

It is believed that the origin of this word is to be found in "Lower-Latin". Bordicala, Burdicala diminutive of borda, wooden cabin and possibly farm. Whatever it may be, Burdigala became Bourdeaux or Bourdeaus during the Middle Ages. It wasn't until the end of the fifteenth century that the name Bordeaux appeared in charters and public documents.
-

  
--History of the city of BORDEAUX  
  The site of Bordeaux was occupied from the
chalcolithic period (from 3000 to 1200 BC).
-
 
  Second century BC  
 

Burdigala founded.
 At the beginning of the Christian era it became the chief town of the "Bituriges Vivisques" who founded it.
 At the crossroads of wide and natural routes between the Rhine and Spain, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it was at first a tin port. Bordeaux rapidly became a market town around which appeared, from the first century, its vineyards.

  
  Circa 75 AD  
  With the Roman occupation,
the "Municipe Latin" accorded the city with a municipal senate. The Gallo-Roman city extended its grid of streets and monuments over a vast urban area.		  
  Beginning of the third century  
  The city had spread to over 125 hectares and had between 20,000 and 25,000 inhabitants.
- 		 
  Year 276  
  Germanic invasion results in the destruction of the outer city and its surrounding areas,
the city effectively retreats into a rectangular enclosure of 32 hectares centered around a simple port. The city numbers close to 15,000 habitants. This will constitute the base, several centuries later, of the modern city.		  
  Ninth and tenth centuries  
  Arab and Norman invasions,
 as well as conflicts between Carlolingian Princes cause the city to retreat behind it ancient walls.		  
  From 1032  
  Bordeaux comes under the domination of the Dukes of Aquitaine.
The renaissance of the state of Aquitaine, the rise of the Church, strong demographic growth, a fertile countryside and booming wine production, take the city to an impressive era of prosperity.		  
  Year 1152  
  The marriage of Aliénor d'Aquitaine with the future King of England, Henry II,
 unites for three centuries Bordeaux and Guyenne to the English Crown.
The rest of France remains attached to the rule of the Capesians. The political union between the Duchy of Aquitaine and the Kingdom of England favours the export of wine and Gascons to the British Isles.		  
  Twelfth century  
  A revival becomes evident,
 by the spreading of the city beyond its traditional confines. The restoration of the vineyards which from then on become Episcopal, monastic and later bourgeois. Two new suburbs will be built to the South (it's between 1150 and 1227 that the borough of Saint-Éloi develops).
The first during the thirteenth and the second at the beginning of the fourteenth centuries. They will be partially included in the city walls contsructed later. These new walls delimit about 100 hectares and contain approximately 30,000 inhabitants (a high number for that period), giving the city the appearance that will endure until the eighteenth century.		  
  Year 1453  
 

The Battle of Castillon,
 puts to an end the English presence in Guyenne and (momentarily) the economic prosperity due to the commerce with England, the Flanders and certain ports of Southern Europe. The independence enjoyed by the city vis à vis the English Crown permitted a large degree of civic liberty. The task of the new French administration was to reduce the franchises without reducing the city to poverty and at the same time keeping a close watch on its affairs.

The history of Bordeaux up to the eighteenth century is one of a struggle against the encroachment of the State. The centralization of power was, for two hundred years, unwelcomed by Bordeaux's bourgeoisie and there were uprisings in 1548 and from 1649 to 1653 which were severely put down.

  
  Year 1585  
  Montaigne becomes mayor.
The pacified city discovers a new source of profit in the commerce of blue pastel orginating from region of Garonne. The bishops of the House of Rohan, administrators and governors installed by the King of France embellished the city, drained the surrounding marshlands and restored the ancient ramparts. The city is one of the European leading centers during the Age of Enlightenment, with Montesquieu as a forerunner.		  
  Year 1685  
  Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
 preceded by religious wars that worsen the economic crisis.		  
  Year 1730  
  Bordeaux had to wait until this period to have an economic recovery,
largely due to the trade triangle in sugar and coffee between Africa, the French West Indies and the port of Bordeaux. This century was for Bordeaux a splendid era of prosperity.		  
  Louis XIV  
 

After the death of the King,
 the political climate changes. The quarantine is lifted and the government sends to the capital of Guyenne some of its most famous administrators who put to work the city's best urban architects.

Bordeaux finally expands beyond its walls.
The city looks increasingly to its river as an economic resource. The suburbs cease to be isolated and merge with the city. Large streets are built, sumptuous public buildings (such as the present town hall) arise along side magnificent mansions. The old and insanitary neighbourhoods were demolished to make way for new buildings. During this time the marshland to the East and North were drained and put to use.

  
  Year 1789  
  Bordeaux is strongly affected by the French Revolution and the Empire,
which prevents Atlantic trade. The city is briefly tempted to join a call to revolt by the Girondins (elected officials of Gironde), but the loyal Tallien restores the reign of terror. The French Revolution therefore signals an end to the period of prosperity and consequently the urban expansion. However, the sale of national treasures enables the development of some neighbourhoods.		  
  From 1811 to 1822  
 

Construction of the pont de pierre (stone bridge) that crosses the Garonne spanning 500m.
It is not until 1840 that new routes to Senegal are opened for trade in peanuts. Bordeaux then becomes a large port serving the colonies and a staging point for messages bound for South and Central America.

Towards the end of the century, the city begins to industrialize, most notably in chemical, metal, food and oil products. At the same time the vineyards were afflicted by the plant-louse phylloxera.

  
  Nineteenth century  
  Rather than the stagnation brought about by the French Revolution and the Empire, it is the distance of Bordeaux and its port from the important European industrial centers that brought about its decline during the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, under Napoleon III and during the Third Republic, the wine trade and commerce with the colonies ensured a renewing of prosperity which manifested itself in important urban constructions (boulevards, quays). In 1914 to mitigate the decline of the port, large industrial companies expressed a willingness to setup businesses.  
  Twentieth century  
 

Two political events have marked the last few decades:

* 1959 creation of the economic region of Aquitaine
* 1967 creation of the Urban Community of Bordeaux (Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux, CUB)

Bordeaux has experienced an increase in industrialization largely due to petrochemical research. The estuary port of Verdon, became in 1964 the principal oil port on the Atlantic coast.
Large public works (boulevards, Pont St-Jean, Pont d'Aquitaine, roads, motorways, industrial zones) have been or are in the process of being built.

Bordeaux is presently a large university city with an impressive architectural heritage, it is placing a strong emphasis on tourism and using its gastronomic excellence and its nearby unspoilt environment to this end.

  
Source: City of Bordeaux--
  
Return