CHERBOURG, a naval station, fortified town and seaport of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the de partment of Manche, on the English Channel, 232 m. W.N.W. of Paris on the Ouest-Etat railway. Pop. (1931) 32,587. Cherbourg is situated at the mouth of the Divette, on a small bay at the apex of the indentation formed by the northern shore of the Cotentin peninsula, backed by the steep Montagne du Roule.
Cherbourg is supposed to occupy the site of the Roman station of Coriallum, but nothing definite is known about its origin. The peninsula, stretching far towards the Isle of Wight, seems to have been used by prehistoric traders of the bronze age as a starting place for the British Isles. William the Conqueror, under whom the settlement appears as Carusbur, provided it with a hospital and a church ; and Henry II. of England on several occasions chose it as his residence. Under Philip Augustus it be came of military importance ; in 1295 it was pillaged by an English fleet from Yarmouth, and in the 14th century it frequently suf fered during the wars against the English. Captured by the English in 1418 after a four months' siege, it was recovered by Charles VII. of France in 1450. An attempt was made under Louis XIV. to construct a military port. Fortifications constructed by Vauban in 1686 were dismantled in 1689. Harbour-works were begun under Louis XVI. and continued by Napoleon I. It was left, however, to Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III., to complete them. By 1858, L8,000,000 had been expended on the works: in 1889 the harbour was farther extended.
The naval and commercial harbours are distant from each other about half a mile. The former consists of three main basins cut out of the rock, and has an area of 55 acres. The minimum depth of water is 3o ft. Connected with the harbour are dry docks, ship-building yards, magazines, rope walks, etc. There is a large naval hospital close to the harbour. The com mercial harbour at the mouth of the Divette communicates with the sea by a channel 65o yd. long. It consists of two parts, an outer and tidal harbour 171 acres in extent, and an inner basin 15 acres in extent, with a depth on sill at ordinary spring tide of 25 ft. Outside these harbours is the triangular bay, which forms the roadstead of Cherbourg. The bay is naturally sheltered on every side but the north, where lies the huge breakwater
m. in length (begun by Louis XVI.), with a width of 65o ft. at its base and 3o ft. at its summit, which is protected by forts, and leaves passages for vessels to the east and west. The trans-atlantic liners lie to within this digue.
Near the roadstead is the church of La Trinite, a good ex ample of the Flamboyant style (1423-1504), and one of the few historic buildings of Cherbourg. A rich collection of paintings is housed in the hotel de ville. A statue of the painter J. F. Millet, born near Cherbourg, stands in the public garden. Cherbourg is a fortified place of the first class, headquarters of one of the five naval arrondissements of France, and the seat of a sub-prefect. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, and a naval school. The chief industries of the town proper are fishing, saw-milling, tanning, ship-building, iron- and copper-founding and rope-making. The bathing beach is fre quented by local holiday-makers. Cherbourg is a port of call for trans-atlantic steamers. The chief exports are stone for road making, butter, eggs and vegetables; the chief imports are coal, timber, superphosphates and wine from Algeria. Great Britain is the principal customer.
