Le Havre

Le Havre (pop. 199,400), French seaport on the English Channel and the Seine River. It is a transatlantic trade center that manufactures and imports ships, automobiles, electronics, petroleum products, steel, chemicals, sugar, flour, and beer. A fishing village before 1516, when Francis I began the harbor construction, Le Havre lost 80% of its buildings in World War II. The city was subsequently rebuilt, and the harbor was renovated and expanded in the 1970s.

See also: France.