History History

Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d'Armor, like the rest of Brittany, have numerous testimonies of the region's prehistoric past. One can particularly mention La Roche-aux-Fées in the forest of Tressé, composed of forty stones forming a large corridor. There are many megaliths scattered throughout the department, including the menhir of Champ-Dolent near Dol-de-Bretagne, 9 meters high. Also to be seen, the megalithic alignment of the Field of the Rocks in Pleslin-Trigavou which is composed of 65 blocks of white quartz of various sizes or the menhir of Tremblais, 8 meters high, whose main characteristic is to be inclined at 45°. It weighs between 150 and 160 tons. Before setting off to attack Fort Lalatte, you will pass the finger (or tooth) of Gargantua, a menhir 2.64 metres high. Legend has it that the giant Gargantua lost his tooth or finger as he crossed the English Channel to reach the coast of England. The trace of his hooves and his cane would be visible in the rock.

During the ancient times, Saint-Malo did not exist in its current definition. The rock on which the city was built was just occupied by some fishermen. The Celts had invested the territory of Couesnon to Corseul from -1000. The Coriosolites, ancestors of the natives of the Emerald Coast, lived there. The Gallo-Roman city of Aleth (located in the heights of Saint-Servan) was conquered by the Romans in 56 BC and the island of Harbour (where a fort has stood since the end of the 17th century) is said to have been the site of the port of Aleth, the main port between Brest and the Cotentin peninsula. It was in the^5th century that the Bretons freed themselves from the Roman yoke. During your stay, you will be able to appreciate Gallo-Roman ruins in Corseul with the ancient sanctuary called the Temple of Mars or in the city of Aleth where traces of a Gallo-Roman building from the 4th century remain as well as important archaeological furniture. Finally, in Quiou, near Dinan, the remains of an ancient Gallo-Roman villa.

In the 6th century, a hermit named Aaron, who had withdrawn from the temptations of the world, built his hermitage on "the rock" and welcomed the Welshman Mac Low (or Malo in French). The latter became bishop of Aleth and is the origin of the name of the city of Saint-Malo. His successor, Saint Gurval, is said to have erected a church in his honour on the same rock. The wars under Charlemagne and the Norman invasions took their toll on the church. It was not until 1152 that Jean de Châtillon, bishop of Aleth, rebuilt it into a cathedral named Saint-Malo. He was responsible for the transfer of the episcopal see to Saint-Malo-de-l'Isle, the famous rock of Aaron.
This transfer is the starting point of the foundation of the current town which also includes the former parish of Saint-Servan. At the end of the 14th century, Pope Clement VII granted the town to King Charles VI. The fate of the city will be permanently linked to the kingdom of France by the marriage of Anne of Brittany and Charles VIII. With the support of the crown, trade and the art of navigation began to develop.

By landing in Gaspé in 1534, Jacques Cartier, a navigator and the son of a family of shipowners, took possession of the lands of Canada in the name of the King of France and made Saint-Malo part of history. He thought he was exploring a part of the eastern coast of Asia. He will be the first to show the famous St. Lawrence River on the world maps and to describe the life of the Indians of the North-East of North America in his Travelogues.
At the end of his career, Jacques Cartier retired to Rothéneuf, near Saint-Malo, in his manor of Limoëlou which is now open to visitors. He is buried in the Saint-Vincent cathedral in Saint-Malo intra-muros. This was a prosperous period for the region, which saw trade develop with the Americas and the Indies: the city became very rich. The shipowners sent ships to fight against the English with the support of Louis XIV. The privateers of Saint-Malo were reputed to be formidable navigators. The shipowners, enriched by the race wars and the trade thanks to the Compagnie des Indes, built "malouinières" in the Clos Poulet, in the countryside surrounding Saint-Malo, true masterpieces of architecture and holiday resorts away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

With the triangular trade, Saint-Malo turns to the slave trade. Coveted by the English, Saint-Malo will be fortified by Vauban and Garangeau with the construction of forts and the strengthening of its ramparts. Among these shipowners, Robert Charles Surcouf, born in Saint-Malo in 1773, embarked at the age of 13 as a ship's boy and became a captain-merchant at the age of 20, trading in blacks on behalf of planters in Reunion Island. From 1795 onwards, he started to race against the English ships in the waters of the Indian Ocean where he acquired his reputation as a formidable privateer thanks to some exceptional catches. He became one of the richest shipowners in Saint-Malo. It was here that he ended his days at the age of 54. You can embark and live the corsair adventure on board the replica of Surcouf's famous cutter: Le Renard, his last armed ship, which you can see at the quay at the foot of the ramparts or out at sea.

The influence of the writer and politician François-René de Chateaubriand enhanced the region and in particular Combourg, the cradle of romantic Brittany. The nineteenth century is the beautiful part of the Terre-Neuvas, these fishermen who since the sixteenth century left off Canada, on the banks of Newfoundland, from February to October, to fish for cod. Saint-Malo became a major fishing port. The construction of the Napoleon wharf (now the Duguay-Trouin wharf) and two docks accessible to ships of up to 2,000 tons tripled port traffic between 1850 and 1865 (previously Saint-Malo was a beaching port).

From the years 1840-1860, Saint-Malo modernized and entered the era of seaside tourism by building its first bathing establishment on the great strike (the current beach of the Sillon). Eugene Herpin, a local chronicler, had the good idea to call the coast between Cancale and Cape Frehel the Emerald Coast for its particular colors.
Between 1851 and 1911, the agglomeration of Saint-Malo / Saint-Servan increased from 20,000 inhabitants to 25,000. The development of communication routes and railways as well as poster campaigns promoted the coast as a real antidote to Parisian life. At the end of the 19th century, Paramé was only 8 hours by train from Paris. In 1857, a steam ferry provided a link between Saint-Malo and Dinard, and small steamers linked Saint-Malo to Dinan via the Rance. In 1840, a shipping line provides the link with Jersey and Southampton. Finally, the airfield of Pleurtuit was built in 1909.

During the First World War, hotels were transformed into hospitals or refugee centres. Tourism became more democratic after the war and the tourist tax introduced in 1921 enabled municipalities to build campsites, seafront promenades, swimming pools, etc. Tourist offices appeared on the coast and offered guided tours. Sailing schools and cheap hotels were created. The democratization of seaside tourism was to benefit the resorts of Saint-Cast and Sables-d'Or-les-Pins.
The Emerald Coast was not spared by the Second World War, as the Germans had created bastions of resistance to the landing just about everywhere (Atlantic Wall). The city of Aleth was bunkered and Saint-Malo became a strategic point. In 1944, Allied bombing destroyed 80% of the old city to drive out a hundred Germans only. Unlike Brest or Lorient, the city was rebuilt according to its original plan. In all, it took 12 years for the battered city to become a corsair city again. A very good example of the attachment of the Malouins to their history and their built heritage. In July 1948, the town was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Cross of War 1939-1945.

Tourism being a major activity for its economy, the development of the Emerald Coast, its coastline and its heritage, has been a priority for the municipalities after the war. From the 1970s, we communicate on the history of Saint-Malo and on the benefits of thermalism. We organize major events such as the Route du Rhum, the Étonnants Voyageurs, Quai des Bulles, the Fête des Remparts in Dinan or the British Film Festival in Dinard. In 2005, Saint-Malo welcomes the TGV and allows the city to be connected to Paris in only 3 hours. Since 2017, Paris is just 2h17 from the corsair city. One of the major issues today remains the protection of the environment and biodiversity that make the region a place rich in breathtaking landscapes. The future will undoubtedly allow the development of soft mobility and the constitution of the Rance Valley-Emerald Coast Regional Natural Park. The preservation of heritage and its accessibility are also at the heart of current debates: accessibility of the ramparts and opening of a Museum of Maritime History in Saint-Malo, restoration of the ramparts of Dinan and the VIlla des Roches Brunes and the manor of Port Breton in Dinard ... The epidemic of Covid-19 in 2020 has exploded real estate sales on the Coast. Building land is becoming scarce and locals tend to invest outside the seaside towns: Pleurtuit, Pleslin, Saint-Méloir-des-Ondes, Corseul..