Marseille has been "at one" with the Mediterranean Basin for 26 centuries now

The human framework took shape around the Old Port , a winding body of water set in a deep rocky inlet where Greek sailors founded the city in 600 BC. Destined for trade from the outset, Massalia expanded its commercial area by setting up trading outposts (Hyères, Antibes , Nice). A Roman emporium in the third century, besieged by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, its spirit of independence has enabled it to keep its prerogatives of a free city.

"The Mediterranean is an ancient crossroads… not just one civilisation, but several civilisations superimposed".

This statement by Fernand Braudel could well apply to Marseille, not only in light of its history, the Phocean city embodies the complexity of the Mediterranean Region, created through intermingling, meetings and exchanges, but also friction between peoples and cultures. The oldest city in France , founded by the Greeks two centuries after Homer, developed through the centuries based on exchanges linked to its activity as a port, it represents a place for departures and arrivals, a gateway where Europe and the Mediterranean meet. In the past as in the future, Marseille's destiny is intimately linked to the issues of the Mediterranean Basin .

The history of this great port is above all that of the waves of immigration that, bringing their civilisations, have moulded Marseille. A cosmopolitan crossroads, home to a wide range of communities from throughout the Mediterranean Basin and beyond, the Phocean city is a traditionally integrating city in terms of both social and cultural aspects.