Prehistory and classical antiquity
Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in area of Lorient are attested by the presence of megalithic architecture. Ruins of Roman roads (linking Vannes to Quimper and Port-Louis to Carhaix) confirm Gallo-Roman presence.
Founding
Lorient in the 18th century
In 1664, Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded the French East Indies Company. In June 1666, an ordinance of Louis XIV granted lands of Port-Louis to the company, along with Faouédic on the other side of the roadstead. One of its directors, Denis Langlois, bought lands at the confluence of the Scorff and the Blavet rivers, and built slipways. At first, it only served as an subsidiary of Port-Louis, where offices and warehouses were located. The following years, the operation was threatened of being abandoned several times, but in 1675, during the Franco-Dutch War, the French East Indies Company decided to scrap its base in Le Havre, too exposed during wartime, and transferred its infrastructures to l'Enclot, out of which Lorient grew. The company then erected a chapel, workshops, forges, and offices, leaving Port-Louis permanently.
The French Royal Navy opened up a base there in 1690, under the impulse of Colbert de Seignelay, who inherited his father's position as Secretary of State of the Navy. A the same time, privateers from Saint-Malo took shelter there. In 1700, the town grew out of l'Enclot following a law forcing people to leave the domain to move to the Faouédic heath. In 1702, there were about 6,000 inhabitants in Lorient, though activities slowed, and the town began to decline
Growth under the Company of the Indies
L'Enclos at the end of the 18th century
The town experienced a period of growth when John Law formed the Perpetual Company of the Indies by absorbing other chartered companies (including the French East India Company), and chose Lorient as its operative base. Despite the economic bubble caused by the Company in 1720, the city was still blooming as it took part in the Atlantic triangular slave trade. From 1720 to 1790, 156 ships deported an estimated 43,000 slaves. In 1732, the Company decided to transfer its sales headquarters from Nantes to Lorient, and asked architect Jacques Gabriel to raise new buildings out of dimension stones in order to host these new activities, and to embellish the L'Enclos domain. Sales began in 1734, peaking up to 25 millions livres tournois. In 1769, the Company's monopoly ended with the scrapping of the company itself, under the influence of the physiocrats.
Up until its closure, the city took advantage of the Company's prosperity. In 1738, there were 14,000 inhabitants, or 20,000 considering the outlying villages of Kerentrech, Merville, La Perrière, Calvin, and Keryado, which are now neighbourhoods comprised in the present-day city limits. In 1735, new streets were laid down and in 1738, it was granted city status. Further work was undertook as the streets began to be paved, wharfs and slipways were built along the Faouédic river, and thatched houses were replaced with stone buildings following 18th-century classical architecture style as it was the case for l'Enclos. In 1744, the city walls were erected, and proved quickly useful as Lorient was raided in September 1746. Following the demise of the Company, the city lost one seventh of its population.
In 1769, the city evolved into a full-scale naval base for the Royal Navy when the King bought out the Company's infrastructures for 17,500,000 livres tournois. From 1775 on, the American revolutionary war brought a surge in activity, as many privateers hailed from Lorient. When the war concluded, transatlantic lines opened to the United States, and in 1785, a new commercial company started under Calonne's tutelage (then Controller-General of Finances) with the same goal as the previous entities, i.e. conducting trade in India and China, with again Lorient standing as its operative base.
The French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic wars put an end to trade for nearly two decades.
19th century to the beginning of the 20th century
The Harbor at Lorient, 1869 painting by Berthe Morisot.
Cours de la Bôve (1907)
Maritime activities slowed at the start of the 19th century, the shipyards and the naval base reached a low that would last until the July Monarchy. During this period, the city was more of an administrative center. The first secondary school opened in 1822, a lazaretto in 1823, and barracks in 1839.
The city began to modernize in the second quarter of the century: in 1825, a roofed slipway and a drydock were added to the shipyards. A sardine cannery opened the same year. The first gasworks was built in 1845.
In the second half of the 19th century, the steam engine allowed the ports to strengthen their output. The first locomotive reached the city in 1865. In 1861, the original drydock was enlarged as a second one was dug out. The same year, the ironclad Couronne was built on a design directly inspired by the Gloire class, though unlike her wooden-hull predecessors, she was entirely made of iron. She was followed in 1876 by the ironclad Redoutable, the first ship in the world with a steel structure.
In 1889, fishing expanded following the creation of the municipal fish market, and the arrival of steam-powered fishing trawlers in 1900. The Keroman fishing port construction started in 1920.
World War II
In 1941, the Germans, then occupying France, chose to establish one of their U-boat headquarters in Keroman. But the submarines quickly became targets of constant bombing from Allied air forces. It was decided to build the largest World War II U-boat base in Keroman, which would house the 2nd and the 10th U-boat flotillas for the bulk of the Battle of the Atlantic. Karl Dönitz, then supreme commander of the U-boat Arm, moved his staff in the Kernevel villa, just across the water from Keroman, in Larmor-Plage.
In 1943-1944, Lorient was nearly razed to the ground by Allied bombing, which failed in their objective of destroying the submarine pens, despite 4,000 tons of bombs dropped.
On May 10, 1945, the German garrison surrendered. In 1949, the city of Lorient was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Croix de guerre 1939-1945.
Reconstruction
Lorient city hall
In April 1945, the Reconstruction Ministry advocated the use of temporary wooden shacks. These shelters were shipped as a kit to be built on site. In 1948, there were 28 settlements under the city's authority, and 20 more in the urban area, distributed among Ploemeur, Lanester, Hennebont and Quéven. Each of these neighbourhoods could hold up to 280 houses.
The transition period lasted from 10 to 40 years depending on the location. The last shack in the largest of them, Soye, was torn down in 1991. Today, only a few buildings dating back to the 18th century still stand.
