La Rochelle.

Abstract

The site and situation of La Rochelle might suggest that a great port should have developed. Certainly there were periods of greatness in the past but La Rochelle has experienced only limited demographic and economic growth in recent decades. Now the city has surpassed a population total of 100 000. The industries of the port are now overtaken by recently arrived enterprises, which have little or nothing to do with the specifically maritime character of the city but rather make use of the pool of labour that it commands. Tertiary activities are on the increase and the recent rise of tourism adds an important new function to the life of the city. -H.Clout