Belle ÃŽle

Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / height missing

Belle- Ile -en- Mer ( old spelling: Belle Isle, Breton: Enos ar Gerveur ) is located south of Lorient and is the largest of the Breton islands.

The island is part of the Morbihan department, 87 km ² and had 11,000 inhabitants in 1876. Lies 14 km from Quiberon. It is surrounded by rocks, but the interior is rich in fertile pasture and arable land. The inhabitants driven agriculture, horse breeding, fishing (especially anchovy ), Salzschlämmerei, trade in grain, livestock and fishing. Capital is the port of Le Palais ( bret. Porzh Lae ), which is dominated by the image of the pyramidal citadel, which was built by Vauban in the 17th century.

The main towns are Le Palais, sauzon, Bangor and Locmaria.

Charles IX. gave the island the Marshal de Retz as Marquisat, whose son sold it in 1658 to the financial director Fouquet, who had it fix. His grandson was the famous Marshal Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet de Belle -Isle, who ceded the island in 1718 for the county Gisors the crown.

In Belle- Ile won the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hawke over the French at Conflans on November 20, 1759 at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.

At Belle- Ile is the lighthouse Goulphar, which was put into service in 1835.

• Position: 47 ° 18 ' 39 " N, 3 ° 13' 39" W47.310969 - 3.227547
• Fire: 2 times white every 10 seconds
• Height of 52 m
• Visible 27 nautical miles

The lighthouse and its cultivation, the administration is for the Austonnung throughout the French Atlantic coast.

Today, the island has around 5,120 (as of 2008) residents and residents, home of the summer but around 20,000 holidaymakers. Tourism has become one of the main sources of income.