History & Civilisation
Provence has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Paleolithic sites dating to 900,000 BC have been found along the Cote d’Azur in the interior country above Nice, at the Cave of Valloet and a site dating to 600,000 BC at Terra Amata, in the Alpes-Maritimes.
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Greek sailors from Asia Minor began to arrive along the coast in the 7th century BC, establishing depots for trade with the local inhabitants. The first permanent Greek settlement was Massalia, established at modern-day Marseille in about 546 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor.
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Other Greek settlements were established at Olbia and Antipolis. The Greek traders ventured inland by rivers deep into France, and overland to Switzerland and Burgundy. One enterprising Greek navigator, Pytheas, sailed from Marseille as far as Cornwall in England between 330 and 320 BC in search of tin.
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The Ligures, a Celtic people, began to enter Provence in the 4th century BC. They were gradually assimilated by another Celtic people, the Gauls, and they were soon in conflict with the people of Massalia.
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In the 2nd century BC the people of Massalia appealed to Rome for help against the Ligures. Roman legions entered Provence three times. After this battle, the Romans decided to establish permanent settlements in Provence. In 122 BC, next to the Celtic town of Entremont, the Romans built a new town, Aquae Sextiae, later called Aix-en-Provence.
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In 49 BC, Massalia had the misfortune to choose the wrong side in the power struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar. Pompey was defeated, and Massalia lost its territories and political influence. Roman veterans, in the meantime, populated two new towns, Arles and Frejus, at the sites of older Greek settlements.
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In 8 B.C. the Emperor Augustus built a triumphal monument at La Turbie to commemorate the pacification of the region, and he began to Romanize Provence politically and culturally. Roman engineers and architects built monuments, theaters, baths, villas, fora, arenas and aqueducts, many of which still exist.
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The Pax Romana in Provence lasted until the middle of the 3rd century. Germanic tribes invaded Provence in 257 and 275. By the end of the 5th century, Roman power in Provence had vanished, and an age of invasions, wars, and chaos began.
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Three different dynasties of Counts ruled Provence during the Middle Ages, and Provence became a prize in the complex rivalries between the Catalan rulers of Barcelona, the Kings of Burgundy, the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and the Angevin Kings of France.
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In 1309, Pope Clement V, who was originally from Bordeaux, moved the Roman Catholic Papacy to Avignon. From 1309 until 1377. seven Popes reigned in Avignon before the Schism between the Roman and Avignon churches, which led to the creation of rival popes in both places.
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Provence produced the most memorable song of the French Revolution, La Marseillaise. Though the song was originally written by a citizen of Strasbourg in 1792 and it was originally a war song for the revolutionary Army of the Rhine, it became famous when it was sung on the streets of Paris by the volunteers from Marseille. It became the most popular song of the Revolution, and in 1879 became the national anthem of France.
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Between World War I and World War II Provence was bitterly divided between the more conservative rural areas and the more radical big cities. There were wide-spread strikes in Marseille in 1919, and riots in Toulon in 1935.
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After the defeat of France by Germany in June 1940, France was divided into an occupied zone and unoccupied zone, with Provence in the unoccupied zone. In November 1942, following Allied landings in North Africa, the Germans occupied all of Provence and then headed for Toulon. The French fleet at Toulon sabotaged its ships to keep them from falling into German hands.
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After the end of the War, Provence faced an enormous task of repairing and reconstructing, particularly of the ports and railroads destroyed during the war. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the residents of Provence were struggling to reconcile economic development and population growth with their desire to preserve the landscape and culture that make Provence unique.