# Timeline of Marseille

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Marseille, France.

## Prior to 17th century

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* 600 BCE - Massalia founded by Phocaean Greeks (approximate date).
* 49 BCE - Siege of Massilia.
* 1st C. CE - Roman Catholic diocese of Marseille established.
* ca.290 - Martyrdom of Victor of Marseilles an Egyptian Christian martyr.
* 415 - Abbey of St. Victor founded (approximate date).
* 470 - Town taken by forces of Visigoth Euric.
* 6th C. - Port in operation.
* 839 - Town "sacked by Saracens."
* 1214
** Town becomes a republic.
** Notre-Dame de la Garde built.
* 1252 - Town "taken by Charles of Anjou."
* 1262 - Revolt against Angevins.
* 1348 - Bubonic plague outbreak.
* 1365 - Abbey of St. Victor building constructed.
* 1409 - Aix-Marseille University founded.
* 1423 - Sack of Marseille [fr; es] by the forces of Aragón, led by Alfonso V.
* 1453 - Fortifications constructed.
* 1481 - Marseille united with Provence.
* 1486 - Marseille becomes part of France.
* 1524 - Town besieged by forces of Francis I.
* 1531 - Château d'If built.
* 1542 - Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins (church) dedicated.
* 1593 - Hotel Dieu (hospital) founded.
* 1599 - Marseille Chamber of Commerce [fr] founded.

## 17th-18th centuries

* 1619 - Église Saint-Cannat (church) dedicated.
* 1640 - Maison du Refuge established.
* 1649 - Plague.
* 1660 - Fort Saint-Jean built.
* 1672 - Café in business.
* 1673 - Hôtel de Ville built.
* 1685 - The Opéra de Marseille is inaugurated.
* 1702 - Marseille Observatory built.
* 1720-21 - Great Plague of Marseille.
* 1726 - Academy of Science established.
* 1749 - Almshouse built.
* 1770 - City directory published.
* 1778
** Chateau Borely built.
** Fossati fountain [fr] erected.
* 1781 - Navette de Marseille [fr] created.
* 1787 - Grand-Théâtre opens.
* 1789 - April: "Revolutionary commotions" occur.
* 1790
** Marseille becomes part of the Bouches-du-Rhône souveraineté.
** Jacobin Club founded.
* 1793 - August: "Marseilles opposes the revolutionary government, and is reduced."
* 1796 - Public library founded.

## 19th century
### 1800s–1840s

* 1800 - Population: 96,413.
* 1801
** Canton of Marseille-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 created.
** Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille founded.
* 1802 - Lycée Thiers [fr] (school) and Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel (garden) established.
* 1803
** Santon Fair [fr] begins.
** Cabinet of Natural History founded.
* 1808 - 26 February: Birth of Honoré Daumier.
* 1810 - Société de médecine de Marseille established.
* 1811 - Obelisk erected in the Place Castellane.
* 1819 - Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille founded.
* 1820 - Population: 101,217.
* 1827
** Le Sémaphore [fr] newspaper begins publication.
** Société de statistique de Marseille established.
* 1836 - Population: 148,597.
* 1837 - Porte d'Aix (arch) inaugurated.
* 1846 - Journal de Marseille newspaper begins publication.
* 1848
** Paris–Marseille railway begins operating.
** Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles opens.
* 1849 - Canal de Marseille opens (97 miles long).

### 1850s-1890s

* 1851
** Messageries Maritimes shipping company in business.
** Population: 195,258.
* 1852 - Prison Chave [fr] built on Boulevard Chave.
* 1853 - La Joliette dock constructed.
* 1854 - Jardin zoologique de Marseille [fr] (zoo) opens.
* 1855 - Phare de Sainte Marie built.
* 1856
** Population: 233,817.
** Cimetière Saint-Pierre established.
* 1857 - Alcazar (Marseille) theatre opens.
* 1858
** Marseille–Ventimiglia railway begins initial operation.
** Palais du Pharo built.
* 1860
** Exchange built.
** Race track in business.
* 1862 - Marseille Courthouse built.
* 1863 - Great Synagogue of Marseille built.
* 1864
** Rue de la République (Marseille) [fr] opens.
** Notre-Dame de la Garde rebuilt.
* 1865 - Société Marseillaise de Crédit (bank) and Priory of St. Madeleine founded.
* 1866 - Population: 300,131.
* 1868 - Le Petit Marseillais newspaper begins publication.
* 1869 - Palais Longchamp completed.
* 1872 - Business school established.
* 1876
** Le Petit Provençal newspaper begins publication.
** Horse-drawn tram begins operating.
* 1877 - Société de géographie de Marseille established.
* 1878 - Saint-Lazare Convent [fr] consecrated.
* 1881
** Italian-French ethnic unrest.
** Population: 360,099.
* 1883 - Marseille coat of arms design adopted.
* 1884 - Marseille cholera epidemic [fr].
* 1885 - Soleil du Midi newspaper begins publication.
* 1891 - École d'ingénieurs de Marseille [fr] (school) founded.
* 1892 - Funicular of the Notre-Dame de la Garde church begins operating.
* 1893
** Marseille Cathedral consecrated.
** Institut Colonial de Marseille founded.
* 1894 - Monument des Mobiles erected.
* 1897 - Excursionnistes Marseillais [fr] (hiking club) formed.
* 1899
** Olympique de Marseille soccer team formed.
** 2500th anniversary of founding of Marseille.

## 20th century
### 1900s-1940s

* 1901
** "Dock strike."
** Population: 491,161.
* 1902 - "Strike of sailors."
* 1903
** July: 1903 Tour de France cycling race passes through Marseille.
** September: Bubonic plague outbreak.
* 1906
** Exposition coloniale de Marseille (1906) [fr] held.
** Population: 517,498.
* 1909
** "Tigeress escapes; terrorises the town."
** Société linnéenne de Provence [fr] founded.
* 1911 - Population: 550,619.
* 1913 - Fountain installed in the Place Castellane.
* 1916 - Musée Cantini founded.
* 1917 - Le Petit Nice [fr] restaurant in business.
* 1919 - 13 November: Grand Théâtre burns down.
* 1922
** Marseille Provence Airport opens.
** Colonial exhibition held.
* 1923 - Monument aux héros et victimes de la mer [fr] erected.
* 1924 - Opera House built.
* 1926 - Musée Grobet-Labadié opens.
* 1927 - Monument aux morts de l'Armée d'Orient et des terres lointaines [fr] erected.
* 1931 - Population: 800,881.
* 1933 - Film Studios Pagnol established.
* 1934 - October 9: King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou assassinated by Bulgarian terrorist Velicko Kerin.
* 1936 - Population: 914,232.
* 1937 - Stade Vélodrome opens.
* 1938
** 21 September: Marseille train robbery [fr].
** 28 October: Marseille fire (1938) [fr].
* 1939 - Baumettes Prison built.
* 1940 - Bombing by German and Italian forces.
* 1941 - Combat (French Resistance) active.
* 1942 - November: German occupation begins.
* 1943 - Old Port area evacuated and demolished.
* 1944
** Bombing by Allied forces.
** August: Battle of Marseille; German occupation ends.
** La Marseillaise newspaper in publication.
** Gaston Defferre becomes mayor.
* 1946
** Arrondissements of Marseille created.
** Jean Cristofol becomes mayor.
* Population: 636,264.
* 1947
** November: Labor unrest.
** Michel Carlini becomes mayor.

### 1950s-1990s

* 1952 - Cité radieuse housing complex built.
* 1953
** Gaston Defferre becomes mayor again (remains in office until 1986).
** La Tourette housing complex built.
* 1955 - Affaire du Combinatie [fr] vendetta killings of the criminal Marseille milieu [fr] occur.
* 1958 - Marseille twinned with Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; Antwerp, Belgium; Copenhagen, Denmark; Genoa, Italy; Haifa, Israel; and Hamburg, Germany.
* 1960s - La Castellane neighborhood built.
* 1961 - Marseille twinned with Kobe, Japan.
* 1962
** A50 autoroute opens.
** Or Thora Synagogue established.
** Population: 778,071.
* 1965 - March: Marseille municipal election, 1965 [fr] held.
* 1967 - Marseille Old Port Tunnel [fr] opens.
* 1968
** A7 autoroute opens.
** Marseille twinned with Dakar, Senegal.
** Population: 889,029.
* 1970 - University of Provence established.
* 1972
** A55 autoroute opens.
** Ballet National de Marseille founded.
** Marseille twinned with Odesa, Ukraine.
* 1973 - 14 December: Algerian consulate bombed.
* 1975
** Er Rahmaniyyà group formed.
** Population: 908,600.
* 1977
** Marseille Metro Line 1 begins operating.
** CMA CGM shipping company established.
* 1979 - Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale footrace begins.
* 1981 - Rodéo (riot).
* 1982
** PLM Law [fr] effected.
** Marseille becomes part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.
* 1983
** SNCF TGV Sud-Est train begins operating.
** Marseille History Museum opens.
* 1984
** Marseille Metro Line 2 [fr] begins operating.
** Marseille twinned with Piraeus, Greece.
* 1986
** March: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election, 1986 [fr] held.
** Robert Vigouroux becomes mayor.
* 1987
** Jardin de la Magalone becomes property of the city.
** Marseille twinned with Shanghai, China.
* 1989 - Marseille Festival of Documentary Film begins.
* 1991 - La Commanderie opens.
* 1993 - Tunnel Prado-Carénage [fr] opens.
* 1995
** June: Marseille municipal election, 1995 [fr] held.
** Jean-Claude Gaudin becomes mayor.
** Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie founded.
** Musée de la Faïence de Marseille opens.
* 1997 - La Provence newspaper in publication.
* 1999 - Population: 795,518.

## 21st century
### 2000s

* 2001
** Parc du 26e Centenaire inaugurated.
** Municipal Archives of Marseille [fr] moves to the former Tobacco factory of Marseille [fr].
* 2004 - Marseille twinned with Marrakech, Morocco.
* 2006
** École centrale de Marseille created.
** Marseille twinned with Glasgow, UK.
* 2007
** Marseille tramway begins operating.
** Labor strike.
** Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor begins in Cadarache, in vicinity of Marseille.
* 2008 - Population: 851,420.
* 2009 - Collège Ibn Khaldoun opens.

### 2010s

* 2010
** March: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election, 2010 [fr] held.
** Garbage strike occurs.
* 2011
** Population: 850,636.
* 2012 - Place des Capucines [fr] pedestrianized.
* 2013
** Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations opens.
** City designated a European Capital of Culture.
* 2014 - March: Marseille municipal election, 2014 [fr] held.
* 2015
** 9 February: Shooting occurs in La Castellane.
** September: Drug ring trial begins.
** December: 2015 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election held.
** Marseille tramway Line 3 [fr] begins operating.
** Cantons 1 [fr], 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 [fr] created per 2014 France cantonal redistricting [fr].
* 2016 - Metropolis of Aix-Marseille-Provence established.
* 2017 - Stabbing occurs in Saint Charles train station.
* 2018 - Two buildings collapse in the center of Marseille eight people are killed.