History of Monaco

Monaco has been ruled by the Grimaldi family since 1297, which makes it the longest-reigning house in Europe. The Principality survived by choosing protectors carefully, by losing four fifths of its territory in a single year, and by inventing a casino when it had nothing else left to sell.

Before the Grimaldi

  • The Ligurians settled the coast in antiquity, and the Phocaean Greeks of Massalia established a trading post
  • The Greek name Monoikos is generally linked to a cult of Herakles, and gives the modern name
  • Rome absorbed the coast and built the Via Julia Augusta through it. The Trophy of Augustus at La Turbie, above Monaco, was raised in 6 BC to mark the subjugation of the Alpine tribes
  • The Republic of Genoa was granted the site in 1191 and built the fortress on the rock in 1215

1297, the founding act

  • Genoa was split between the Guelph and Ghibelline factions. The Grimaldi were Guelphs, and had been expelled
  • On 8 January 1297, François Grimaldi took the fortress by disguising himself and his men as Franciscan monks to gain entry
  • The episode is why the coat of arms shows two monks holding swords
  • The family lost the rock and retook it several times over the following century. Continuous Grimaldi rule dates from 1419

Choosing protectors, 1400s to 1700s

  • The lords of Monaco bought the sovereignty of the rock outright and held it as an independent seigneury
  • Protection came first from France, then from Spain under a treaty of 1524
  • Honoré II took the title of Prince in 1612, the first to use it
  • In 1641 Honoré II expelled the Spanish garrison and placed Monaco under French protection by the Treaty of Péronne, keeping sovereignty while gaining French estates
  • The arrangement held until the French Revolution

Annexation and restoration, 1793 to 1815

  • Revolutionary France annexed Monaco in 1793 and abolished the principality
  • The Palace was stripped and used as a hospital and a poorhouse
  • The Congress of Vienna restored the Grimaldi in 1814, and placed Monaco under the protection of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815

1861, losing four fifths of the country

  • Monaco then included Menton and Roquebrune, which held most of its population and its lemon and olive production
  • Both towns declared independence in 1848 and refused to return
  • Under the Franco-Monegasque treaty of 2 February 1861, Prince Charles III ceded Menton and Roquebrune to France for four million francs, and France recognised Monaco's independence
  • Monaco fell from roughly 20 square kilometres to roughly two, and lost about 80% of its territory and most of its revenue
  • The towns lost that year are covered in the French Riviera

The casino, and the invention of Monte-Carlo

  • With its farmland gone, the state needed a new revenue source. Gambling had been banned in France and Italy, which left an opening
  • An earlier attempt failed for lack of access, since the site had no road and no harbour worth the name
  • François Blanc, who ran the casino at Bad Homburg, took over the concession in 1863 through the Société des Bains de Mer
  • Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris Opera, designed the casino building and the adjoining opera house
  • The quarter was named Monte-Carlo after Charles III
  • The railway reached Monaco in 1868, and visitor numbers rose immediately
  • Revenue was such that Charles III abolished personal income tax in 1869, a position Monaco still holds. See Monaco taxes

Albert I, the scientist prince

  • Albert I reigned from 1889 to 1922 and worked as an oceanographer
  • He led scientific expeditions and founded the Oceanographic Museum, opened in 1910
  • He granted Monaco its first constitution in 1911, converting an absolute monarchy into a constitutional one
  • He also founded the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris

1918 and 1919, the succession treaty

  • France was concerned that Monaco might pass to a German heir
  • The Franco-Monegasque treaty of 17 July 1918 placed Monaco under limited French protection, required French agreement on the succession, and provided that Monaco would be absorbed by France if the line failed
  • The arrangement was noted in Article 436 of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919
  • France undertook to defend Monaco's independence, and Monaco undertook to exercise its sovereignty in accordance with French interests

The Second World War

  • Monaco declared neutrality
  • Italian forces occupied the Principality in 1942, and German forces replaced them in 1943
  • Jews resident in Monaco were deported during the German occupation
  • Allied forces liberated Monaco in September 1944
  • Prince Albert II issued a formal apology in 2015 for the Principality's role in the deportations

Rainier III, 1949 to 2005

  • Rainier III inherited a state still dependent on the casino and set out to diversify it into banking, light industry and tourism
  • He married the American actress Grace Kelly in 1956, which transformed Monaco's international profile
  • Princess Grace died in a car accident on the Moyenne Corniche in 1982
  • Fontvieille was built on reclaimed land in the 1970s, adding roughly 22 hectares
  • Rainier reigned for 56 years and is known as the builder prince

The crisis of 1962

  • France objected to French citizens and French companies using Monaco to escape French tax
  • Charles de Gaulle imposed a customs blockade on the Principality in October 1962
  • Rainier granted a new constitution in December 1962, reducing princely power and abolishing the death penalty
  • The dispute ended in the agreements of 18 May 1963, which set the tax treatment of French nationals in Monaco and the rules on entry and residence that still apply. See Monaco residency

Albert II, from 2005

  • Albert II succeeded his father in 2005
  • Monaco joined the United Nations in 1993 and the Council of Europe in 2004
  • A revised treaty with France in 2002 removed the clause providing for absorption if the line failed, and widened the rules of succession
  • Albert II married Charlene Wittstock in 2011. Their twins, Jacques and Gabriella, were born in 2014, with Jacques as heir
  • The Mareterra district, six hectares reclaimed from the sea, was completed in 2024

How Monaco is governed

  • A constitutional monarchy under the constitution of 1962, revised in 2002
  • The Prince is head of state and holds substantial executive power
  • A Minister of State heads the government, assisted by councillors
  • The National Council, 24 members elected for five years, holds the legislative role alongside the Prince
  • Monaco is not a member of the European Union but uses the euro and sits inside the Schengen Area through the customs union with France

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