The city traces its origins to the Gallo-Roman period, attested by the remains of important salt marshes and villas. The Dukes of Aquitaine granted it a charter as a free port in 1130. With the opening of the English market following the second marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, the presence of the Knights Templar and the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem quickly made this small town the largest port on the Atlantic. To this day, the city still possesses a rich historical fabric, including the Saint-Nicholas tower, and an urban heritage. The capital of Aunis, it has become the most important coastal city between the Loire and Gironde estuaries. La Rochelle's urban activities are many in number and strongly differentiated, being a city with port and industrial functions that are still important, but also including a predominantly administrative and tertiary sector that is reinforced by the University of La Rochelle and a rapidly developing tourism industry. In the early 21st century, the city has consistently been ranked among France's most liveable cities. Until 2015, the town was part of the administrative region called Poitou-Charentes, prior to the delimitation of regions in France. More information...
According to PR-model, larochelle.fr is ranked 142,839th in multilingual Wikipedia, in particular this website is ranked 16,463rd in French Wikipedia.
The website is placed before kyoukaikenpo.or.jp and after theindependentghana.com in the BestRef global ranking of the most important sources of Wikipedia.
