Toulon

Toulon is a metropolis in southern France and a huge military harbour on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence Alpes Cote d Azur place, Toulon is the capital of the Var department. The Commune of Toulon has a population of 165,514 humans, making it the 15th largest city in France. It is the centre of urban vicinity with 559,421 populations, the 19th biggest in France. Toulon is the 4th largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille, Nice and Montpellier.

Archaeological excavations, such as the ones at the Cosquer Cave near Marseille, show that the coast of Provence was inhabited since at least the Paleolithic era. Greek colonists got here from Phocaea, Asia Minor, in about the 17th century BC and set up trading depots alongside the coast, including one, called Olbia, at Saint Pierre de l Almanarre south of Hyeres, to the east of Toulon. The Ligurians settled in the place starting in the 4th century BC. In the second century BC, the citizens of Massalia called upon the Romans to help them pacify the region. The Romans defeated the Ligurians and started to start their very own colonies along the coast.