Visualizations atlas
Map of the provinces investigated : Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, Angoumois (PASA)
Map of PASA region ports
Map of customs offices in the PASA region
The decline of the La Rochelle region following the loss of Canada
Highly specialized ports: the slave trade, the salt trade, and the brandy trade
La Rochelle, a dominating port but not a regional hub
Products with the highest export value in 1789: comparison between the La Rochelle customs region and the French average
Evolution of the share of La Rochelle trade in relation to France as a whole
Home country of ships departing from the region in 1789
Home ports of ships departing from the PASA region in 1789
Destinations of ships sailing from the PASA region to another country in 1789
Home port of ships sailing to another country in 1789
Share of French navigation in the region
Comparison of colonial, local, and other exports by customs office
Flows of ships outfitted by the port of La Rochelle in 1787
Ports of departure of vessels transporting salt in 1789 from the PASA region, aggregated by cumulative tonnage
Destination of ships departing from Marennes in 1789, aggregated by country and by cumulative tonnage
Evolution of brandy exports from the La Rochelle customs region (free ports not included)
Comparison of brandy exports from different customs regions (free ports not included - no data for Montpellier in 1770)
Origin of brandy exports from the La Rochelle customs region in 1789 (free ports not included)
Maps of ships leaving Marennes with salt in 1789, sized by cumulative tonnage
Comparison of colonial, local, and other exports by customs office
How were the data and visualization produced ?
Data in this chart was drawn from the Toflit18 database, and more specifically from the records of foreign exports (free ports not included). The flows were classified into three categories based on the type of products traded.
A product marked as originating from one of the provinces of the PASA region was classified as "local product", a product falling into the categories "Coffee", "Sugar", "Indigo", or "Unprocessed cotton" of the Toflit18 "Revolution & Empire" category was classified as "colonial product". The remaining products were grouped under "other products".
How to read the visualization?
This chart shows that La Rochelle exported few products from the PASA region. The bar color corresponds to the origin of the products. The size of the bars is proportional to the values exported in each category by each port in 1789. While Tonnay-Charente exported more than 5 million livres worth of products from the region (mainly brandy), La Rochelle only exported at a value under 250,000 livres, which was less than Marennes, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, or Rochefort. La Rochelle exported a lot of colonial and other products originating from the rest of France and Europe (mainly for the slave trade).