Timeline of Marseille

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

Prior to 17th century

 * 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 - 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 - 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 - 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.
 * erected.
 * 1781 - 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.

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 - (school) and Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel (garden) established.
 * 1803
 * 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
 *  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 - built on Boulevard Chave.
 * 1853 - La Joliette dock constructed.
 * 1854 - (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
 * 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 - consecrated.
 * 1881
 * Italian-French ethnic unrest.
 * Population: 360,099.
 * 1883 - Marseille coat of arms design adopted.
 * 1884 -.
 * 1885 - Soleil du Midi newspaper begins publication.
 * 1891 - (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.(fr)
 * 1897 - (hiking club) formed.
 * 1899
 * Olympique de Marseille soccer team formed.
 * 2500th anniversary of founding of Marseille.

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
 * held.
 * Population: 517,498.
 * 1909
 * "Tigeress escapes; terrorises the town."
 * founded.
 * 1911 - Population: 550,619.
 * 1913 - Fountain installed in the Place Castellane.
 * 1916 - Musée Cantini founded.
 * 1917 - restaurant in business.
 * 1919 - 13 November: Grand Théâtre burns down.(fr)
 * 1922
 * Marseille Provence Airport opens.
 * Colonial exhibition held.
 * 1923 - erected.
 * 1924 - Opera House built.
 * 1926 - Musée Grobet-Labadié opens.
 * 1927 - 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:.
 * 28 October:.
 * 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 - vendetta killings of the criminal  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: held.
 * 1967 - 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
 * 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
 * begins operating.
 * Marseille twinned with Piraeus, Greece.
 * 1986
 * March: 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 - opens.
 * 1995
 * June: 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.

2000s

 * 2001
 * Parc du 26e Centenaire inaugurated.
 * moves to the former.
 * 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: held.
 * Garbage strike occurs.
 * 2011
 * Population: 850,636.
 * 2012 - pedestrianized.
 * 2013
 * Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations opens.
 * City designated a European Capital of Culture.
 * 2014 - March: held.
 * 2015
 * 9 February: Shooting occurs in La Castellane.
 * September: Drug ring trial begins.
 * December: 2015 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election held.
 * begins operating.
 * Cantons, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and created per.
 * 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.

in English

 * Published in the 19th century


 * Published in the 20th century


 * Published in the 21st century

in French

 * 1853-1980
 * 1891 ed.
 * 1864-1869
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1978
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Toulouse, 1990
 * 1990–1991. 4 vols.
 * (map)
 * 1891 ed.
 * 1864-1869
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1978
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Toulouse, 1990
 * 1990–1991. 4 vols.
 * (map)
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1978
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Toulouse, 1990
 * 1990–1991. 4 vols.
 * (map)
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Paris, Robert Laffont, 1978
 * . Histoire de Marseille. Toulouse, 1990
 * 1990–1991. 4 vols.
 * (map)
 * 1990–1991. 4 vols.
 * (map)