Chamonix, France

The first recorded appearance of Chamonix can be found in 1091 when the Chamonix Valley was donated to the Abbey Saint Michel (in Italy) by the Count of Genevois. At that time the valley's sole occupants were sheep farmers and their flock.
What could be classified as the first era of tourism for the 'Vallee de Chamouny' began in 1741 with two English explorers Windham and Pocock who 'discovered' Montenvers. Their enthusiastic retelling of their exploits initiated the first trickle of visitors to the valley. In 1760 this led a Swiss doctor, de Saussure, to offer a prize to the first person to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. However, it was to be another 26 years before Dr Paccard and Jaques Balmat, two Chamonix locals, set foot on the summit for the very first time.

In 1770 the very first hotel for tourists was opened, L'Hotel d'Angleterre - at this point English visitors outnumbered other nationalities. Since then the Chamonix valley has hosted mountaineers, skiers, painters, tourists and writers - such as Byron and Shelley.

In 1860, in recognition of the fact that the French had helped the Italians against the Austrians, the people of the Haute Savoie and Savoie voted to rejoin France. This in turn led to access routes to the valley being opened up with the construction of a new and improved road from Geneva to Chamonix in readiness for Napoleon IIIs visit in September 1860.

With the opening up of the valley came a new era of exploration and mountaineering. Between 1863 and 1865 more than 100 peaks were summited, many by the English. In 1890, Joseph Vallot built an observatory for high mountain studies near the summit of Mont Blanc. A second observatory was completed in 1893 on the summit, but soon succumbed to an ice fall.

With the dawn of the 20th Century came a new flood of tourists. For the first time mountain guides were surpassed by hoteliers as the largest economic power in the valley. The construction and development continued unabated with Chamonix hosting the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924.

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