Marseille
- Marseilles redirects here. There is also Marseilles, Illinois.
Template:Marseille infobox Marseille (English alternate spelling Marseilles) (pronounced /maʀsɛj/ in standard French, /mɑxˈsɛjɐ/ in local Marseilles accent) (Provençal: Marsiho or Marsilha, both pronounced /maɾˈsijɐ/) is the second largest city in France and the third metropolitan area, with 1,516,340 inhabitants at the 1999 census. Located in the former province of Provence and on the Mediterranean Sea, it is France's largest commercial port and the largest in the Mediterranean.
Marseille is the capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur région, as well as the préfecture (capital) of the Bouches-du-Rhône département.
History
Marseille was founded in 600 BC by Phocaean Greeks as a trading port under the name Μασσαλία (Massalia). It was overrun by Celts and then conquered by the Romans. During the Roman times, it was called Massilia. In 1934 Alexander I of Yugoslavia arrived at the port to meet with the French foreign minister Louis Barthou. He was assassinated there by Vlada Georgieff who hated Alexander's refusal to recognise Croatia as a separate state.
Economy
Marseille has a large and busy harbor.
Administration
Marseille is divided into 16 municipal arrondissements, which are themselves divided into ‘’quartiers’’ (111 in total). The arrondissements are regrouped in pairs into sectors, and 8 sectors have a council and a town hall, like the arrondissements in Paris and in Lyon.
The municipal elections are carried out by sector.. Each sector elects its councillors (303 in total), one third of which are muncipal councillors.
Number of councilors elected by sector:
| Sector | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sector councilors | 22 | 16 | 22 | 30 | 30 | 26 | 32 | 24 | 202 |
| Municipal councilors | 11 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 101 |
| Total number of elected officials | 33 | 24 | 33 | 45 | 45 | 39 | 48 | 36 | 303 |
The last mayors of Marseille :
- 1953-1986 : Gaston Defferre (already mayor between 1944 and 1946, relected in 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983)
- 1986-1995 : Robert Vigouroux PS (reelected in 1989)
- 1995- : Jean-Claude Gaudin UMP (relected in 2001)
The Sector Mayors :
- 1st sector (1st and 7th arrondissements) : Jean Roatta (Representative) UMP
- 2nd sector (2nd and 3re arrondissements) : Lisette Narducci (General Councilor) PS
- 3rd sector (4th and 5th arrondissements) : Bruno Gilles (representative) UMP
- 4th sector (6th and 8th arrondissements) : Dominique Tian (representative) UMP
- 5th sector (9th and 10th arrondissements) : Guy Teissier (representative) UMP
- 6th sector (11th and 12th arrondissements) : Roland Blum (representative) UMP
- 7th sector (13th and 14th arrondissements) : Garo Hovsepian PS
- 8th sector (15th and 16th arrondissements) : Frédéric Dutoit (representative) PCF
The cantons of Marseille :
Marseille holds 25 of the 58 seats at the general council of the Bouches-du-Rhône. Since the last election, these 25 cantons are held by the following councilors:
- Marseille-La Belle-de-Mai (25 878 habitants) ; General Councilor : Lisette Narducci PS (Maire du 2ème sector de Marseille)
- Marseille-Belsunce (27 992 habitants) ; General Councilor : Fortuné Sportiello PS
- Marseille-La Blancarde (30 168 habitants) ; General Councilor Maurice Di Nocera UDF
- Marseille-Le Camas (27 506 habitants) ; General Councilor : Antoine Rouzaud PS (Conseiller Municipal de Marseille)
- Marseille-La Capelette (34 292 habitants) ; General Councilor : Janine Ecochard PS
- Marseille-Les Cinq-Avenues (29 846 habitants) ; General Councilor : Marie-Arlette Carlotti PS (Representativee européenne)
- Marseille-Les Grands-Carmes (29 060 habitants) ; General Councilor : Jean-Noël Guerini PS (Sénateur, Président du Conseil Général, Conseiller Municipal de marseille)
- Marseille-Mazargues (35 890 habitants) ; General Councilor : Didier Réault UMP
- Marseille-Montolivet (33 644 habitants) ; General Councilor : Maurice Rey UMP
- Marseille-Notre-Dame-du-Mont (31 102 habitants) ; General Councilor : Jocelyn Zeitoun PS
- Marseille-Notre-Dame-Limite (33 472 habitants) ; General Councilor : Joël Dutto PCF
- Marseille-Les Olives (27 052 habitants) ; General Councilor : Marius Masse PS
- Marseille-La Pointe-Rouge (31 116 habitants); General Councilor : Richard Miron UMP
- Marseille-La Pomme (38 701 habitants) ; General Councilor : René Olmeta PS (Conseiller Municipal de Marseille)
- Marseille-La Rose (33 206 habitants) ; General Councilor : Félix Weygand PS
- Marseille-Saint-Barthélemy (37 629 habitants) ; General Councilor : Denis Rossi PS (Conseiller Municipal de Marseille)
- Marseille-Sainte-Marguerite (36 868 habitants) ; General Councilor : Didier Garnier UMP
- Marseille-Saint-Giniez (34 607 habitants) ; General Councilor : Martine Vassal UMP (Adjointe au Maire de Marseille)
- Marseille-Saint-Just (32 749 habitants) ; General Councilor : Michel Pezet PS (Conseiller Municipal de Marseille)
- Marseille-Saint-Lambert (26 218 habitants) ; General Councilor : Robert Assante UMP (Adjoint au Maire de Marseille)
- Marseille-Saint-Marcel (29 981 habitants) ; General Councilor : Jean Bonat PS (Conseiller Municipal de Marseille)
- Marseille-Saint-Mauront (40 392 habitants) ; General Councilor : Jeanine Porte PCF
- Marseille-Les Trois Lucs (25 324 habitants) ; General Councilor : Christophe Masse PS (Representative)
- Marseille-Vauban (29 668 habitants) ; General Councilor : André Malrait UMP
- Marseille-Verduron (35 752 habitants). General Councilor : Henri Jibrayel PS
Culture
The French national anthem "La Marseillaise" is named for the Revolutionary troops from Marseille.
The most widely circulated tarot deck comes from Marseille; it is called the Tarot de Marseille, and was used to play the local variant of tarocchi before it came to the notice of people who used it in cartomancy.
Music:
- The French rap band IAM is from Marseille
- Massilia Sound System
Demographics
Marseille is known for its very large North African, particularly Algerian, Muslim/Arab population.
Sights
- The old harbor
- Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde
- Château d'If, an ancient prison island, where The Count of Monte Cristo was jailed, in Alexandre Dumas' novel
- Unité d'Habitation de Marseille, by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier
- The Calanques
Transportation
The metro is rubber-tired.
Marseille is served by the Aéroport de Marseille Provence, located in Marignane.
Miscellaneous
The city's main football club is Olympique de Marseille, UEFA Champions League winner in 1993 but tainted by the 1990s match fixing scandal by then-owner Bernard Tapie.
Births
Marseille was the birthplace of:
- Antonin Artaud (1897-1948), author
- Maurice Béjart (born 1927), ballet choreographer
- Jean-Henry Gourgaud, aka. "Dugazon" (1746-1809), actor
- Désirée Clary (1777-1860), wife of King Carl XIV Johann of Sweden, and therefore Queen Desirée or Queen Desideria of Sweden
- Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877), first president of the Third Republic
- Etienne Joseph Louis Garnier-Pages (1801-1841), politician
- Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), caricaturist and painter
- Joseph Autran (1813-1877), poet
- Olivier Émile Ollivier (1825-1913), statesman
- Joseph Pujol, aka. "Le Pétomane" (1857-1945), entertainer
- Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), poet and dramatist
- Vincent Scotto (1876-1952), guitarist, songwriter
- Fernandel (1903-1971), actor
- Eliane Browne-Bartroli (1917-1944), French Resistance, Croix de Guerre
- Louis Jourdan (born 1919), actor
- Jean Pierre Rampal (1922-2000), flutist
- Jean-Claude Izzo (1945-2000), author
- Zinedine Zidane (born 1972), soccer player
- Clara Morgane (born 1981), porn star
- French poet Arthur Rimbaud died in Marseille in November 10, 1891.
Movies set in Marseille
- 37°2 le matin (1986)
- À bout de souffle (1960)
- Baise-moi (2000)
- Comme un aimant (2000)
- The French Connection (1971) and its sequel (1975)
- Gomez & Tavarès (2003)
- La Lune dans le caniveau (1983)
- Marius (1931)
- Marius et Jeannette (1997)
- Pépé le Moko (1937)
- Roselyne et les lions (1989)
- Taxi (1998)
- Taxi 2 (2000)
- Taxi 3 (2003)
- Trois places pour le 26 (1988)
- Un, deux, trois, soleil (1993)
