The Saline of Salin-de-Giraud in the Southern France
The Camargue was exploited in the Middle-Ages by Cistercian and Benedictine monks. In the XVI-XVIIth centuries, big estates, known locally as mas, were founded by rich landlords from Arles. At the end of the XVIIIth century, the Rhône was dyked up. In 1858, the building of the digue à la mer (dyke to the sea) achieved protection of the delta from erosion. The north of the Camargue is made of agricultural land. Main crops are cereals, grapevine and rice. Near the seashore, salt extraction started in the antiquity and was a source of wealth for the Cistercian "salt abbeys" of Ulmet, Franquevaux and Psalmody in the Middle Ages. Salt industry started in the XIXth century and big chemical companies such as Péchiney and Solvay founded the 'mining' city of Salin-de-Giraud. The boundaries of the Camargue are constantly revised by the Rhône as it transports huge quantities of mud downstream - as much as 20 million m³ annually. Some of the étangs are in fact the remnants of old arms and legs of the river. The general trend is for the coastline to move outwards. Thus Aigues-Mortes for instance – on the coast when it was built – is now some 5 km (3 miles) inland. The pace of change has been modified somewhat in recent years by man-made barriers, such as dams on the Rhône and sea dykes, but flooding remains a problem across the region.
Size: 5500px × 3667px
Location: Salin-de-Giraud, Camargue, France, Francia
Photo credit: © Danilo Poccia / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: acqua, camargue, colle, collina, evaporation, hill, industry, pinf, pond, sale, saline, salt, south, sud, violet, water
