Aigues-Mortes is a French commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of southern France.
Aigues-Mortes is famous for the well-preserved city walls. The town is located in the Gard département, near the northern border of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the South of France. It lies in the coastal marshland of the Petite Camargue. Its altitude is 0 – 3 m above sea level, and is liable to flooding. The town was once on the coast, but the delta of the River Rhône constantly changes the landscape here and it is now several miles in-land, though not far from salt water. The name Aigues-Mortes means "dead-waters" a reference to the semi-stagnant salt water marshes (marais and étangs) referred to as Eaux Mortes (Latin Aquae Mortuae, Occitan Ayga Mortas) which surround the town. In 1240, the King of france Louis IX took an interest in developing the village as a Mediterranean port. He obtained it by exchanging lands with the monks of the local abbey (l'Abbaye de Psalmodie), so gaining rights to gabelle - a tax on local salt production. Aigues was rebuilt on the orders of Louis as France's first Mediterranean port. He built a road to the village and constructed the Carbonnière tower to serve as a lookout tower. He also built the Constance tower to house a garrison. This was the embarkation point of the Seventh Crusade (1248) and for the Eighth Crusade (1270).
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Keywords: 1240, aigues, camargue, city, crusades, france, france., king, louis, medieval, mortes, provence, saint, south, st., statue, walls
