Le Havre was only a fishing village until 1517, when Francis I had a harbour built there named Havre-de-Grâce (“Haven of Grace”). Enlarged and fortified under the Cardinal de Richelieu and Louis XIV in the 17th century, it was adapted to accommodate bigger vessels under Louis XVI in the late 18th century and was further improved under Napoleon III in the mid-19th century. During World War II the Belgian government was transferred there for a short time after the fall of Antwerp and Ostend to the Germans.

Almost three quarters of Le Havre's buildings were destroyed during World War II but were subsequently rebuilt. The Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the centre is one of the most spacious public squares in Europe. The 16th–17th-century Church of Notre-Dame is one of the few surviving old buildings; although damaged during World War II, it was restored in the 1970s. The Church of Saint-Joseph is an unusual reinforced-concrete edifice. The new museum, built in 1961, houses a collection saved from the old museum, which was destroyed in 1944. Paintings by the 19th-century painter Eugène Boudin and the 20th-century artist Raoul Dufy are housed there.

The port, rebuilt after World War II, has been expanded extensively since the early 1970s. Le Havre is the second port of France, after Marseille, and acts as an outport (seaward terminal for deep-draft vessels) of Paris. In 1976 a deep-water oil port was opened at Antifer, to the north of Le Havre. Restructuring of the existing port created specialized facilities for dry bulks and containers. The majority of traffic is imports, principally crude oil. Other port functions include ship repair and ferry services to England and Ireland. A large industrial zone linked directly to the port is the site of oil-refining, petrochemical, chemical, automotive, cement, and aeronautical-component industries. Together these activities represent a major concentration of employment in the lower Seine valley. Service and administrative functions have also developed, including a university and a growing tourist trade partly based on the yachting harbour and adjacent resort of Sainte Adresse. Pop. (1999) city, 190,905; urban area, 296,773; (2004 est.) city, 184,000.