Seine-Maritime (French pronunciation:[sɛnmaʁitim]) is a department of France in the Normandyregion of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inférieure. It had a population of 1,255,633 in 2019.
Rouen (UK: /ˈruːɒ̃,ˈruːɒn/, US: /ruːˈɒ̃,ruːˈɒn/; French:[ʁwɑ̃] or [ʁu.ɑ̃]) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population of the metropolitan area (French: aire d'attraction) is 702,945 (2018). People from Rouen are known as Rouennais.
Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy during the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman and Angevin dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th to the 15th centuries. From the 13th century onwards, the city experienced a remarkable economic boom, thanks in particular to the development of textile factories and river trade. Claimed by both the French and the English during the Hundred Years' War, it was on its soil that Joan of Arc was tried and burned alive on 30 May 1431. Severely damaged by the wave of bombing in 1944, it nevertheless regained its economic dynamism in the post-war period thanks to its industrial sites and its large seaport, which merged with the ports of Le Havre and Paris in 2021 to form the HAROPA Port.
Cauchois (French pronunciation:[koʃwa]; Norman: Caucheis) is one of the eastern dialects of the Norman language that is spoken in and takes its name from the Pays de Caux region of the Seine-Maritime department.
Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the English Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very close to the Prime Meridian. Le Havre is the busiest port on the northern French Coast and largest container port in France. it is the second largest city in the Normandy region of France with total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation being smaller than that of Rouen.It is also the second largest subprefecture in France, after only Reims. The name Le Havre means "the harbour" or "the port". Its inhabitants are known as Havrais or Havraises.
The city and port were founded by King Francis I in 1517. Economic development in the early modern period was hampered by religious wars, conflicts with the English, epidemics, and storms. It was from the end of the 18th century that Le Havre started growing and the port took off first with the slave trade then other international trade. After the 1944 bombings the firm of Auguste Perret began to rebuild the city in concrete. The oil, chemical, and automotive industries were dynamic during the Trente Glorieuses (postwar boom) but the 1970s marked the end of the golden age of ocean liners and the beginning of the economic crisis: the population declined, unemployment increased and remains at a high level today.
Claude Monet lived at Giverny near the river for more than forty years. In his garden, by diverting a branch of the Epte, he established a water garden with a water-lily pond and Japanese-style bridge. The river appears in a number of his works, including Peupliers au bord de l'Epte.
Seine-Maritime in the context of Normandy (administrative region)
Normandy (/ˈnɔːrməndi/NOR-mən-dee; French: Normandie[nɔʁmɑ̃di]; Norman: Normaundie) is the northwesternmost of the eighteen regions of France, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Félix François Faure (French:[feliksfʁɑ̃swafɔʁ]; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-Inférieure in 1881. He rose to prominence in national politics up until unexpectedly assuming the presidency, during which time France's relations with Russia improved.
According to David Bell, Felix Faure was born in Paris and moved to Le Havre where he became a successful shipowner. He moved up from local politics and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1881. He started as a junior minister and became minister for marine and colonies. He was elected seventh president of the Third Republic in 1895 and died in office in 1899.