Hiers

The village of Hiers built on an old island in the Santon archipelago. At that time, the village was an island in the middle of the Gulf of Saintonge, a gulf which will then fill in over the centuries to become nothing more than a marsh today. The island is part of an archipelago with other islets such as those of Guilletterie, Montboileau, Fremailloux and Érablais. Due to its relatively high altitude allowing to control navigation between the mainland and the island of Oléron, a castle and a priory were built from the eleventh century which depended on the seigneury of Broue. The monks of the Saint-Hilaire church were already exploiting the salt. Jacopolis (Brouage) was founded in 1555 on an old deposit of ballast forming bulges of pebbles and mud. Brouage was the outer port of the village of Hiers, it was first designed without military intentions but to be a trading center. Ten years after its foundation, the city receives a visit from Charles IX. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiers-Brouage#Les_origines