Vendée. “Discovering the island of Yeu”: an essential book carried by a rich iconography
The author
Jean-François Henry
-Originally from the island of Yeu, Jean-François Henry has guided his research on the history of the maritime environment and on the island of Yeu, in particular.
– He invites us to discover the major stages of the history of the island of Yeu, and the characters who illustrated it.
He is the author of many works on the history of the sea.
Yeu Island
« Located off the Vendée coast, long -lived, the island of Yeu was from the Middle Ages a precious landmark on marine cards, before being coveted by enemy fleets, in particular by the English who occupied it several times.
Over the centuries, its population, numerous and dynamic, has faced and adapted to successive economic changes. Large armament center for cabotage in the XVIIe and 18e centuries, long -term captains nursery in the 19th centuryeit became after the transport revolution, one of the very first tuna fishing ports.
Today, the island is a sought -after pleasure (port of the Meule). Very popular with the many vacationers and tourists who come to seek the change of scenery that their wild environment offers them, it is today faced with new challenges that question its balance and its identity. »»
Discovering Yeu Island
– An exciting synthesis, favoring the strong moments of the island of Yeu, an island which has its particularities. The “adventures” of this territory can therefore diverge from the great historical moments that other places have experienced, other regions.
This island has always been strategically dynamic, and also well placed economically because of its position in the middle of the Atlantic Arc. An advantage, but also a disadvantage because it was coveted militarily by invaders, which explains its hectic history …
The author, Jean-François Henry, from the island of Yeu, tells with passion what this island was with, in particular, the fears of the Vikings or English invaders.
Let’s discover the main lines of his past.
17th / 18th century – The author corrects the image made by a country of fishermen while at the origin – in the 17th century – it was the cabotage of the Bordeaux wines that supported the island Economiquemently (2nd cabotage port after Amsterdam).
18th century – The maritime wars made the Island of Yeu lose half of its inhabitants. Indeed, because of these wars, the king had the inhabitants who were to serve him one year in three in exchange for a pension.
Mid -19th century – A business that will collapse due to the development of the railway, undermining the economic activity of the island.
End of the 19th century – But the island of Yeu will bounce back thanks to the invention of the canned box. 5 canning factories will revive economic activity allowing the island to find at the end of the 19th century the same number of inhabitants as in the end of the 17th century.
Today, Fishing is no longer what it was, like everywhere else. But at the island of Yeu, a little more because the Sardines cans left the island, responding to the continent probably for practical and commercial reasons. Fishing has become secondary: the island has only 80 sailors instead of 800 sixty years ago.
In addition, it does not benefit from an activity of construction of sailboats or naval construction. These activities are dispersed on the continent’s coast.
No salt exploitation either, nor the exploitation of shells and oysters are to be put to the economic credit of the island of Yeu.
Tourism:
Everything is now based on tourism for this island, located 25km from the continent, which has 5,000 people domiciled.
A tourism developed from Easter to All Saints’ Day.
The island of Yeu benefits from remarkable fauna and flora.
An asset for tourism. But, as everywhere, questions must be asked about surcourism.
Is the development of tourism compatible with the preservation of flora and fauna? Is it an opportunity or a danger? Does the island of Yeu also risk a loss of identity with, in particular real estate transmissions or the impossibility for the natives of the place to find accommodation on site?
These questions deserve to be asked and, what could be better to make an argued opinion, than to plunge into the pages of this work to discover the history of the island and all the ins and outs, with force and remarkable iconography including rare archive images.
A wealth of information on personalities, mutations, the daily life of the Islais, the historical evolution, the remarkable geographic positioning, the cabotage of the Bordeaux wines, the cannings.
A remarkable story built on the sand and the rock of the island of Yeu.
128 pages – CVRH Editions
June 5, 2025 – 17 €
On sale in bookstores and on www.histoire-vendee.com
Philippe Brossard-Lotz
Sablais reporter
