Port-Cros () is a French island in the Mediterranean island group known as the

Îles d'Hyères The Îles d'Hyères (), also known as Îles d'Or (), are a group of four Mediterranean islands off Hyères in the Var department of Southeastern France. Islands With a combined area of , the Îles d'Hyères consist of *Porquerolles – , ...

. It is part of the commune of Hyères, in the department of

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The island was donated to the French government with the promise that a national park, the Port-Cros National Park, would be created on the island. This was established on 14 December 1963. The island is wide and its most elevated point is . It is .

History

The island was known as ''Messea'' (Middle Island) to the ancient Greeks. Its present name derives from the small port on the island, which is cross-shaped. Roman tombs on the island indicate that there may have been a Roman colony on the island, and coins and canals of Roman origin have also been found on the island. In the 5th century, the monastery of Lérins established a branch on Île du Levant. This foundation on Île du Levant established a branch on Port-Cros in the small valley of Notre-Dame. The monastery on Port-Cros was destroyed by

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

, who repeatedly attacked the Hyères Islands from the 10th to the 16th centuries. In 1531,

François I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...

visited the Hyères, and as a result of being informed by inhabitants of the pirate attacks, charged

Bertrand d'Ornesan Bertrand d'Ornesan, also Bertrand d'Ornezan, Baron de Saint-Blancard (d. 1540), was a French admiral in the service of King Francis I of France. He was general of the galleys of the Mediterranean (''Amiral de la Flotte du Levant''). Bertrand d' ...

with the task of constructing fortifications on the islands to defend them against pirates. He elevated the three islands to the status of a marquisate on 13 February 1532. In 1549, this marquisate passed to Christophe de Rocquendorf. To attract colonists, he granted asylum to common law criminals, but these caused as much disorder as the pirates they were meant to be a shield against. In 1617, the promised fortifications had not yet been built, but under the direction of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, construction began with the building of the Tour de l'Éminence, the fort of l'Estissac and the fort at Port-Man. Louis XIV of France fought against piracy in the region, but the lack of a substantial garrison caused the British to plunder Port-Cros in 1700 and to invade in 1742 before being driven out by the

Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas (9 July 1701 – 21 November 1781) was a French statesman and Count of Maurepas. Biography Early years He was born at Versailles, of a family of administrative nobility, the son of Jérôme Phély ...

. The last marquis of the islands was Louis de Colvet, Mirabeau's father-in-law. Colvet sold the islands to Jean Joseph Barthélémy Simon de Savornin in 1783. In 1793, the British attacked Port-Cros again.

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

restored the defenses in 1811 and installed a garrison of veterans. After the fall of the First French Empire, the garrison was replaced by a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of crippled soldiers. The marquisate was purchased by the French state in 1815, and changed hands a number of times before being sold to a Dr. Crotte, who tried to develop the island into a tourist resort. Some facilities for tourists, including a hotel, were built when the island was acquired by Marcel Henry and Claude Balyne. Between the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, the island was visited by numerous figures of the artistic and literary world:

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

, André Malraux, André Gide,

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet-diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative ...

, Paul Valéry and

Jules Supervielle Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wri ...

Vivienne de Watteville Vivienne Florence Beatrice de Watteville (1900–1957) was a British travel writer and adventurer, author of two books based on her experiences in East Africa in the 1920s, ''Out in the Blue'' (1927) and ''Speak to the Earth'' (1935). She is best ...

lived there from 1929, and wrote a book about her first year on the island, ''Seeds that the Wind may bring''. During World War II, during the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

invasion of Provence, the Battle of Port Cros took place on the island on 15 August 1944, in which the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

garrison of 150 men fought against a force of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and Canadian commandos, known as the Devil's Brigade. The island was captured by the Allies on 17 August 1944. When Madame Henry, the owner of the island, died in 1966, she bequeathed the island to the state, with the exception of the hotel Le Manoir, which her great-nephew, Pierre Buffet, inherited. The Port-Cros National Park was created in 1963. The photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is working on the restoration of the fort at Port-Man.Site du parc national

References

External links

*
Portail des Parc nationaux de France
*
l'Association des Amis de Port-Cros
{{authority control Îles d'Hyères Landforms of Var (department) French Riviera Mediterranean islands Hyeres

History

References

Further reading

External links