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French Riviera History
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The French Riviera is a major prehistoric site. In fact, several million years B.C. the French Riviera was inhabited by man. Traces of human activity have been found in the Tachou cave in Roquebrune Cap Martin.
300 000 years B.C. the first homes were built around the beaches of Terra Amata (now the site of Boulevard Carnot, to the East of the harbour in Nice).
200 000 years B.C. the Lazaret Cave (in Nice) was inhabited by hunters.
80 000 years B.C. Neanderthal man lived in the surrounding caves. Weapons dating from 30 000 years B.C. have been found in the Grimaldi grottoes, proving that Homo sapiens sapiens lived in this area. The oldest rock engravings of figures date back to 1800 years B.C. and are found in the
"Vallée des Merveilles".
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Between 900 and 600 years B.C. the Ligurian tribes came to inhabit the Riviera coastline. They left behind them a number of fortified constructions and rock paintings on Mount Bégo in the Vallée des Merveilles. Later on, with the arrival of the Celts, the inhabitants came to be known as the
Celto-Ligurians.
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600 years B.C. the Phocaeans set up home in Marseilles and established several trading posts: Hyères, Antibes, Nice, Monaco... Trade also spread into Provence and the Languedoc region and the inhabitants there adopted the customs of the Phocaeans: cultivating olive trees, vines, pottery, sculpture...
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Around 100 years B.C. the various trading posts
were attacked by neighbouring tribes until Rome came to defend and then annexe
them. From the 1st century A.D. Roman civilisations were present in the Alpes
Maritimes: Fréjus (a harbour created by Julius Caesar), Antibes and Cimiez
which later became the capital of the Province of the Alpes Maritimes.
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In 313, Constantine granted Christians the freedom of worship and hence made Christianity the official religion. From then on, Christianity spread first of all along the Riviera coast. The earliest evidence of this is the construction of the Monastery on Saint Honorat Island (opposite Cannes) which took place in the 4th century.
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Then came a long period of troubled times and the country grew weaker after the fall of the Roman Empire. The whole of Provence was under the authority of the Barbarians: the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, then the Francs in 536. After the Barbarians, the region was invaded by the Moors who were repelled thanks to Charles Martel (between 732 and 739). Following this, for more than 200 years the Saracens ravaged the country: plundering, destroying, looting, enslaving... In 974, Count William - known as William the Liberator - expelled them from the country and founded a single county.
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The 11th century was devoted to rebuilding the country under the armed protection of the overlords. The descendant of William the Liberator married Raymond Béranger III and it was under his reign that Nice and Grasse acquired Consulates. In 1215, Nice joined forces with Genoa but a few years later, Raymond Béranger IV succeeded in re-imposing his authority and re-conquered Nice in 1229. In 1246, thanks to the marriage of Raymond Béranger IV's daughter with Charles of Anjou (the brother of King Louis IX), Provence belonged to the House of Anjou which already exercised its authority over Maine, Anjou, Naples and Sicily. The country entered a time of prosperity and peace.
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The County of Provence was in the hands of Queen Jeanne, a descendant of Charles of Anjou. Further to a great number of manipulations and alliances, the Count of Savoy annexed Nice along with part of Eastern Provence. In 1388, Nice fell into the power of Savoy and this lasted until the French Revolution.
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In 1419, Nice was officially granted to the Duke of Savoy in spite of the protests made by René of Provence, who was made Count of Provence in 1394. In 1431, René of Provence's successor died after bequeathing his county to the King of France, Louis XI: Provence then became French. In 1489, the King of France and the Duke of Savoy granted Monaco its independence.
From 1524 to 1544, the war of rivalry between François I (King since 1515) and Charles V created great tension in Provence where there were many battles. The armistice between François I and Charles V was signed in 1538. In 1543, the Turkish fleet joined forces with the King of France to lay siege to Nice, without success...
During the 17th century, Nice became more organised and improved its structure and crossed the century without much mishap, unlike Provence which was the seat of troubles and repression: on October 18th 1590, the Duke of Savoy took Aix, but Provence belonged to Savoy for only three years; the Spanish seized the Lerins Islands in 1635 but did not manage to land on the continent; during the Fronde rebellion, Louis XIV had to crush revolutions in Draguignan and Marseilles.
From the start of the 18th century, war resumed between France and Savoy:
- Louis XIV declared war on the Duke of Savoy in 1690... but the Treaty of Turin returned Nice to Savoy in 1696.
- In May 1705, following an attack, Nice was annexed to France until 1713, which is when the Treaty of Utrecht was ratified. In 1718, the Sardinian kingdom was created and this included the County of Nice.
From 1749 to 1748, the War of Succession in Austria: the battles between the Franco-Spanish and Anglo-Sardinian fleets took place within the territory of Nice. The Treaty of Aachen returned Nice to the House of Savoy in 1748. In 1769, the Treaty of Turin altered the boundary between these two counties: Gattières and the right bank of the Estéron were allocated to France and Sardinia recovered La Penne and
Guillaumes.
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In 1792, the French Army received the order to invade Savoy and the County of Nice. Following this, the inhabitants of Nice asked that the County become French and on January 31st 1793, the department of the Alpes Maritimes was created. At the same time, Monaco asked to be annexed to France and so Monaco, Menton and Roquebrune were united with France. Officially, it was not until May 15th 1796 - with the signature of the Treaty of Paris - that the County of Nice became French.
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During the Restoration, Nice was returned to the King of Sardinia in 1814 and Monaco was once again under the authority of its Prince. One year later, the Crown of Savoy recovered Nice and its County.
It was not until 1860 that Nice and Savoy were attached to France and this was in exchange for the help given by the King of Sardinia in conquering the province of Milan. This exchange was documented in the Treaty of Turin, signed on March 24th 1860 (except for La Brigue and Tende, which only became French after the Second World War). The Prince of Monaco abandoned the towns of Menton and Roquebrune and became an independent sovereign.
The early 20th century was deeply marked by the First World War and the Rural Exodus. From 1939, troops began to gather in the region. On June 24th 1940, Menton was occupied by the Italians and the Alpes Maritimes were demilitarised. In 1942, the French Riviera was occupied by the Italians and the Germans and was under a dictatorship. After Italy's surrender in 1943, the Italian troops fled and left room for the German troops. On August 15th 1944, the Allies landed all along the coast between Hyères and Cannes. On August 28th, the Niçois
expelled the Germans. It was not until April 25th 1945 that the French Riviera
completely recovered its freedom.
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