Saint-Malo

Commune of Saint-Malo
Saent-Malo
Saintmalo.jpg
View of the walled city
Location
Paris plan pointer b jms.gif
Map highlighting the commune of
Administration
Country France
Region Bretagne
Department Ille-et-Vilaine
Arrondissement Saint-Malo
Canton Saint-Malo-Nord and Saint-Malo-Sud
Intercommunality Saint-Malo
Mayor René Couanau (UMP)
(2008-2014)
Statistics
Elevation 0–51 m
(avg. 8 m)
Land area¹ 36.58 km²
Population²
(2007)		 52,737
 - Density 1385/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 35288/ 35400
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.
France

Saint-Malo (Breton: Sant-Maloù; Gallo: Saent-Malô) is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine department.

Contents

Demographics

The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season. With the suburbs included, the population is about 135,000.

The population of the commune more than doubled in 1968 with the merging of three communes: Saint-Malo, Saint-Servan (population 14,963 in 1962), and Paramé (population 8811 in 1962).

Date of Population
(Source: Cassini[1] et INSEE[2])
1793 1800 1806 1820 1821 1831 1836 1841 1846 1851
10,730 9147 9934 - 9949 9981 9744 10,053 10,076 9997
1856 1861 1866 1872 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896
10,809 10,886 10,693 12,316 10,295 11,212 10,500 11,896 11,476
1901 1906 1911 1921 1926 1931 1936 1946 1954
11,486 10,647 12,371 12,390 13,137 12,864 13,836 11,311 14,339
1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2004 2007 -
17,137 42,297 45,030 46,347 48,057 50,675 - 52,737 -
For the census of 1962 to 1999 the official population corresponds with the population without duplicates according to the INSEE.

Inhabitants of Saint-Malo are called Malouins.

History

Saint-Malo during the Middle Ages was a fortified island at the mouth of the Rance River, controlling not only the estuary but the open sea beyond. The promontory fort of Aleth, south of the modern centre in what is now the Saint-Servan district, commanded approaches to the Rance even before the Romans, but modern Saint-Malo traces its origins to a monastic settlement founded by Saint Aaron and Saint Brendan early in the 6th century. Its name is derived from a man said to have been a follower of Brendan, Saint Malo.

Saint-Malo had a tradition of asserting its autonomy in dealings with the French authorities and even with the local Breton authorities. From 1490–1493, Saint-Malo declared itself to be an independent republic, taking the motto "not French, not Breton, but Malouins".[3]

Saint-Malo became notorious as the home of the corsairs, French privateers and sometimes pirates. (In the nineteenth century the city's "piratical" notoriety was portrayed in Jean Richepin's play Le flibustier and in César Cui's like-named opera derived therefrom.) The corsairs of Saint-Malo not only forced English ships passing up the Channel to pay tribute, but also brought wealth from further afield. Jacques Cartier, who sailed the Saint Lawrence River and visited the sites of Quebec City and Montreal — and is thus credited as the discoverer of Canada, lived in and sailed from Saint-Malo, as did the first colonists to settle the Falklands – hence the islands' French name Îles Malouines, which gave rise to the Spanish name Islas Malvinas.

The commune of Saint-Servan was merged, together with Paramé, and became the commune of Saint-Malo in 1967.

Saint Malo was the site of an Anglo-French summit in 1998 which lead to a significant agreement regarding European defence policy. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac stated that "the [European] Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises".

Food

Saint-Malo has one of the highest concentration of sea food restaurants in Europe. It is famous for its local oysters from the nearby village of Cancale.

Transport

Saint-Malo is a terminal for a ferry service to Portsmouth in England via the Channel Islands. It also has a railway station offering direct TGV service to Paris and several links to Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands via a fast ferry catamaran service.

Sites of interest

Saint-malo.

Now inseparably attached to the mainland, Saint-Malo is the most visited place in Brittany. Sites of interest include:

Personalities

Saint-Malo was the birthplace of:

Saint-Malo

Twin towns

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "http://cassini.ehess.fr/ Population avant le recensement de 1962".
  2. ↑ "INSEE: Population depuis le recensement de 1962".
  3. ↑ S. et J. Beaulieu, Saint Malo et l'histoire, p 10 to 32

External links