Côte d'Azur

The Mediterranean shore east of Provence lies between the sea and the foothills of the Alps. Greek sailors founded Antipolis and Nikaia here, the predecessors of Antibes and Nice. In 1388 Nice and its surrounding country placed themselves under the protection of the House of Savoy, while Provence to the west passed to the French Crown in the late fifteenth century. Different rulers thus held neighbouring stretches of a coast linked by the same sea.