The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Dieppe

DIEPPE, dē'ĕp, France, seaport in the department of Seine-Inférieure, 93 miles north-northwest of Paris. It is situated between two ranges of chalk hills at the mouth of the river Arques. The harbor accommodation is extensive, there being an outer harbor and four inner basins or docks, and a dry dock 341 feet long and 23 feet deep, but Dieppe has been out-distanced as a port by Havre. The manufactures include works in ivory, the most famed in Europe; works in horn and bone, lace-making, sugar-refining and shipbuilding. Fish is the staple trade. Imports include coal, iron, pitch and cement; exports, silk, wines, brandies, fruit and potatoes also manufactures. The church of Saint Jacques is the principal ecclesiastical foundation, built between the 12th and 16th centuries. Among educational institutions are a commercial college and a school of navigation. The suburb of Le Pollet, connected with the town by a drawbridge, is inhabited by sailors and fishermen said to be of Venetian extraction. The castle was erected for defense against the English in 1435, and successfully withstood siege in 1442, but was subsequently captured and destroyed several times. The town suffered severely from the plague in 1668 and 1670, and was reduced to ruins by the English and Dutch in 1694. It was occupied by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War. Pop. 23,973.