Aigues-Mortes

Aigues-Mortes is a town and commune in the Gard département, in southern France, famous for the well-preserved city walls surrounding the city.

The foundation of the city is attributed to Marius Caius, around 102 BC, but the first document mentioning a place called "Ayga Mortas" (dead waters) dates from the 10th century.

Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) rebuilt the port in the 13th century as France's only Mediterranean port at that time. It was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade (1248) and the Eighth Crusade (1270). The town is actually several miles inland and the port, as such, would have been in nearby lagoons and estuaries, linked to Aigues-Mortes.

In 1893 a conflict between the French and the Italians who worked in the salt evaporation ponds of Peccais erupted, killing nine and injuring hundreds on the Italian side (Enzo Barnabà, Le sang des marais, Marseille, 1993).