St-Malo

Seaport and resort in the Ille-et-Vilaine département in Brittany, western France, 80 km/50 mi northwest of Rennes on the River Rance; population (1990) 49,300. It is a busy fishing, trading, and passenger port, and has printing, machinery and electrical industries. A dam built across the river in 1967 uses the 13-m/44-ft tides to feed the world's first successful tidal power station. The town took its name from the Welshman Maclou, or Malo, who was bishop here in about 640.

Features The town is situated on an island on the right bank of the estuary, joined to the mainland by a causeway called the Sillon Ridge. The islands in the bay are studded with the military emplacements of the two world wars. Although St-Malo was almost completely destroyed during World War II, in August 1944, it has been rebuilt almost exactly as it was before. The town still has its ramparts dating from the 15th to 18th centuries. There are many fine 16th- and 17th-century stone houses grouped in winding, narrow streets around the cathedral. The town is popular with tourists and has a casino.

History It was the birthplace of the French writer and politician Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768), and Jacques Cartier, a native of the town, set sail from here in 1534 in search of the Northwest Passage; he landed at the St Lawrence River and called it Canada. In 1967 it was merged with Saint-Servan to the south and the seaside suburb of Paramé to the east.