Nice

Nice, city in south-east France, capital of the Alpes-Maritimes Department, on the Mediterranean Sea at the foot of the Maritime Alps. Nice has an active commercial port and a variety of manufacturing industries. The chief resort of the French Riviera, Nice is built around a bay, and its old and new districts are separated by a small stream, the Paillon. Embankments and promenades, including the celebrated Promenade des Anglais, line the seafront, and a boulevard extends along the bay shore. The city and bay are sheltered from severe climatic changes by the mountains on the north. Nice is also a cultural centre, with its own university (1965) and several museums, including two devoted to works of the 20th-century artists Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. It is the site of Roman ruins and of the 17th-century monastery of Cimiez.

Probably founded by the Greeks as Nicaea around the 5th century bc, Nice became a well-known trading colony in the ancient world. Taken by the Romans in 154 bc, it subsequently changed rulers several times and suffered damage in many wars. In 1388 it acknowledged the supremacy of the House of Savoy, and in 1796 it was ceded to France by Sardinia, which was at that time ruled by the Duke of Savoy. Nice was returned to Sardinia in 1814, and in 1860 was ceded once again to France after a plebiscite. Population 347,900 (2005 estimate).