Quiberon [key], peninsula, Morbihan dept., NW France, in Brittany, projecting into the Bay of Biscay. The town of Quiberon (1993 est. pop. 4,647), a fishing port and resort, is at the tip of the peninsula and is linked with the mainland by a thin stretch of sand. Sardine canning is the major industry. A force of some 3,000 French royalists was landed at Quiberon by British ships in 1795 in the hope of reviving the Vendée movement, an anti-Revolution peasant uprising. The local population failed to rally, and bad weather prevented the British ships from giving assistance. Thus, the invaders were forced to capitulate; but, contrary to the capitulation terms, the French government ordered all prisoners executed. Some 750 were shot, and the rest were allowed to escape. Quiberon Bay was also the scene (1759) of a victory by the British under Lord Hawke over a French fleet in the Seven Years War (1756–63).
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