East of the Bay of Biscay, Bordeaux is a leading French seaport on the banks of the Garonne River, near the point where the Garonne and Dordogne rivers meet to form the Gironde River. The city administers five deepwater ports downstream. Large quantities of the famous Bordeaux wines are exported. Other valuable products include hides and skins, sugar, rice, cotton and woolen cloth, fishes, fruits, and vegetables. The harbor is divided by the Pont de Bordeaux, a bridge of 17 arches. Among the city's fine old buildings are the 12th-century Cathedral of St-André, the Grand Théâtre, and the Church of St-Michel, whose bell tower is the tallest in the south of France. Bordeaux has been an educational center for many centuries, the main university having been founded in 1441. As far back as the time of the Roman Empire, Bordeaux was a flourishing city, called Burdigala. In 1154, when the husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine became Henry II of England, the Bordeaux region passed under English control. It became French again at the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453. During the Franco-Prussian War, and briefly in each world war, the French government moved to Bordeaux. Population (1999 census), 215,363. |