BORDEAUX HISTORY
A Brief History of Bordeaux
Part 8: Nineteenth Century Bordeaux
The nineteenth century witnessed a turn in the economic fortunes
of Bordeaux once more as the city received a triple blow.
The slave trade ended in 1815, there was a slump in the
sugar trade and phylloxera destroyed the region’s
vines in 1878 resulting in millions of vines having to
be uprooted and burned. The problem was resolved by grafting
European vines onto the stem of the phylloxera resistant
American vine and eventually Bordeaux reclaimed its title
as the fine wine capital of the world.
This century produced another local who was to have worldwide
influence in the field of economics. 
Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) was born in Bayonne in the Aquitaine region and although his public career as an economist did not begin until 1844, Bastiat authored many works on economics and political economy. A classical liberalist with a deep distrust of governments, one of Bastiat’s most important contributions to the field of economics was his admonition that good economic decisions can only made by taking into account the “full picture”. In other words, not only observe the immediate consequences of a decision but also the long-term effects. His words hang hauntingly relevant to our twenty-first century economy…
