Lynn has ranked high among English seaports from early times.
The coast of Sardinia contains few seaports, but a good proportion of these are excellent natural harbours.
It was one of the five seaports which remained Byzantine until the time of Pippin.
On the whole, however, France is inadequately provided with natural harbours; her long tract of coast washed by the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay has sqarcely three or four good seaports, and those on the southern shore of the Channel form a striking contrast to the spacious maritime inlets on theEnglish side.
A decree of 1857 granted to the Paris-Lyons Company the right to construct a line linking Algiers with Oran (266 m.) and Constantine (290 m.) and shorter lines joining the seaports to the trunk line, notably Philippeville to Constantine (54 m.).