History of Aix

4th Century BC
Three kilometers to the north of the actual emplacement of the city can be found the vestiges of Entremont, the ancient capital of the Salyens Celto-Ligurian confederation.

123 BC
The Roman proconsul Caius Sextius dismantles Entremont and installs himself on a nearby site abundantly blessed with water: Aquae Sextiae Salluviorum.  It is the birth of Aix.

15 BC
This date marks the beginning of the urban and thermal development of Aix.

Around 400 AD
Installation of the archbishopric who's power reaches from Frejus to Gap.

574 AD
The Roman colony is abandoned.  Faced with Saracens raids the city enters a lugubrious period.  All Roman constructions end up being destroyed before the Middle Ages.

8th to 10th Centuries
The Saracens attacks cease.  This allows for a renaissance of the city.

1182 AD
Aix becomes a place of residence for the sovereign counts of Provence.  Outside its ramparts artisans and merchants set up quarters.

1409 AD
Aix becomes a jurido-political captial.  Louis II creates a university in view of coting the city with competent administrators.

1460 AD
King Rene sojourns in Aix several times.  During his reign numerous works are undertaken and executed, several districts are created.

1481 AD
Charles III of Maine, last sovereign count of Provence legates the Provence to the king of France.  During the next century and a half foreign wars and religious ones succeed each other's.

1501 AD
The Parliament of Aix is established.

1660 AD
After the city of Aix's opposition to Richelieu and Mazarin, the visit of king Louis XIV puts an end to the long rebellious tradition of the city.  Aix subsequently becomes a Courtesan city.

1790 - 1800
The French revolution and the loss of privileges engender a deep economical recession.

1800 - 1950
The end of the revolutionary upheavals brings to the city of Aix the restoration and further development of its politico-judicial and academic vocations.  In the 19th century we see the creation of the Faculty of Law (1806), Literature (1846), the Ecole Normale and the national Ecole des Arts et Metiers (industrial arts and crafts).  In 1831 the edification of the palace of the Court of Justice is completed.  The city restorees its patrimony (tombs of the counts of Provence in the church of St. Jean-de-Malte) and edifies new monuments (fountain of the Bon Roi Rene) upon the cours Mirabeau (1823).
That period is characterized by a lack of industrial development, partly because of the local bourgeoisie.  The predominance of Marsaeille is more and more pressing.  We can note as an example that the railroad tracks Avignon-Nice bypass Aix and instead go to Marseille.  It is not until the 20's and the advent of the automobile that Aix regains its major crossroads functions that she had lost due to the railroad tracing.
The Zola Canal (bulit by the author's father from 1838 to 1854) and the canal du Verdon (built between 1837 and 1875) brought a solution to the recurring problem of the city's drinkable water supply.  It is how in 1913 Aix became a Hydro Mineral Spa and how in 1922 she was granted a gaming casino.

1950 to the present day
In 1954 some 54,000 people live in Aix; 59% of this active population belong to the tertiary sector.  In 1961 with the arrival of the repatriate French Algerians the demographic growth augments and it is during that period the Aix acauires it's status as a residential city.
The city then undertakes several major urbanization programs (cite Beisson - 1961, ZUP d'Encagnane - 1965-1971, le Petit Nice - 1965, ZAC du Jas de Bouffan - begun in 1973), equipment (sports and tourism) and of industralization (creation of an 140 Ha industrial park in Les Milles).