The story of this place
Bordeaux, set on a graceful curve of the Garonne, grew fabulously wealthy in the 18th century as one of France's greatest Atlantic ports, its elegant stone quays and the sweeping Place de la Bourse of 1730s built on booming commerce. Much of that fortune came from the triangular trade: Bordeaux ships carried goods to West Africa, enslaved Africans to the Caribbean, and sugar, coffee and indigo back to France, financing the city's golden age. For centuries this was glossed over; only in recent decades has Bordeaux publicly reckoned with its role in the slave trade through memorials and museum displays. Twice, in 1914 and 1940, the French government fled here from a threatened Paris, briefly making Bordeaux the nation's capital.