France and the Mediterranean are two terms of which, paradoxically, the latter Is easier to define. As Fernand Braudel so aptly stated, "France is diversity." France was never one and the same throughout the ages, from the time of Greek Marseilles and the roman Galliae, through the political, ethnic, linguistic and cultural metamorphoses of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, until the apparent unity of the present-day republic. At the same time this book indicates that "France and the Mediterranean" is a valid subject for a historical study during every period, in spite of the ambiguity of the terms. The link between France and the Mediterranean is discussed in this book form various aspects: historiography, urban and economic life, population movements and colonisation, nations and minorities, ideologies and images, powers and conquests. This wide coverage aims to show that France and the mediterranean, taken together, constitute a valid historical concept.