Prehistory years) to the foundation of the ancient city of
Ventimiglia in Liguria. This constitutes the longest human occupation in the world of a geographical site. Evidence of human presence in Liguria dates back to prehistoric times. Near the port of Nice, in Terra Amata, traces of the oldest huts built by nomadic hunters, around
300,000 years ago, have been found. The stratigraphy showed different settlement periods, with the remains of oval huts with a central hearth, chipped pebbles, scrapers and captured animals such as wild boar, turtles, Merk's rhinoceros, southern elephants, aurochs and various birds. Traces of Neanderthal Man have been found near Loano. In the caves of Toirano, signs of frequentation dating back to the end of the Upper Palaeolithic are visible. Remains reminiscent of Cro-Magnon Man have appeared in the Balzi Rossi cave in Ventimiglia. At the Arene Candide there is evidence of Neolithic and epigravettian strata dating between 20,000 and 18,700 years ago, while in the caves along the Pennavaira stream, in the valley of the same name in the Ingauno area, human remains have been found dating back as far as 7,000 BC. ". About fifteen years old, he lay on his back on a layer of red ocher seven meters from the surface facing south, he wore a headgear decorated with shell beads and pierced deer teeth and squirrel tails on the thorax (Liguria region). Copper begins to be mined from the middle of the
4th millennium BC in Liguria with the Libiola and Monte Loreto mines dated to
3700 BC. These are the oldest copper mines in the western Mediterranean basin. From the 2nd millennium B.C. (
Neolithic), there are records of the presence of Ligurians over a vast territory, corresponding to most of northern Italy. It is commonly thought that the ancient Ligurians settled on the Mediterranean coastline, divided in several tribes, from the
Rhone to the
Arno (so we are told by
Polybius), pushing their presence as far as the Spanish Mediterranean coast to the west and the Tiber to the south-east, colonizing the coasts of major islands such as
Corsica,
Sardinia and
Sicily. Numerous ceramic artefacts remain of them.
The foundation of Genoa bronze tablet, evidence of Genoa's Roman and pre-Roman past The Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was inhabited by
Ligures (ancient people after whom Liguria is named). According to excavations carried out in the city between 1898 and 1910, the Ligure population that lived in Genoa maintained trade relations with the
Etruscans and the
Greeks, since several objects from these populations were found. In the 5th century BC the first town, or
oppidum, was founded at the top of the hill today called Castello (Castle), which is now inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia (Σταλìα), referred to in this way by
Artemidorus Ephesius and
Pomponius Mela; this toponym is possibly preserved in the name of Staglieno, some from the coast. Stalia had an alliance with
Rome through a
foedus aequum (equal pact) in the course of the
Second Punic War (218-201 BC). The
Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the
Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC, it received municipal rights. The original
castrum then expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trade goods included skins, timber, and honey. Goods were moved to and from Genoa's hinterland, including major cities like
Tortona and
Piacenza. An amphitheater was also found there among other archaeological remains from the Roman period.
Roman times , between the River
Var and
Magra (1st century AD) During the first
Punic War, the ancient Ligurians were divided, some of them siding with
Carthage, others, including the inhabitants of Stalia (later
Genoa), with Rome. Under
Augustus, Liguria was designated a
region of Italy (
Regio IX Liguria) stretching from the coast to the banks of the
Po River. The great Roman roads (Aurelia and Julia Augusta on the coast, Postumia and Aemilia Scauri towards the inland) helped strengthen territorial unity and increase communication and trade. Important towns developed on the coast, of which evidence is left in the ruins of
Albenga, Ventimiglia and
Luni. In 180 BC, the Romans, in order to dispose of Ligurian rebels in their seeking of the
conquest of Gaul, they deported 47,000 Liguri
Apuani, confining them to the Samnite area between
Avellino and
Benevento.
Middle Ages and
Magra.
Cannes was annexed by France in the
Middle Ages. (shown in purple) Between the 4th and the 10th centuries, Liguria was dominated by the
Byzantines, the
Lombards of King
Rothari (about 641) and the
Franks (about 774). It was also invaded by
Saracen and
Norman raiders. In the 10th century, once the danger of pirates decreased, the Ligurian territory was divided into three marches: Obertenga (east), Arduinica (west) and Aleramica (centre). In the 11th and 12th centuries, the marches were split into fees, and then with the strengthening of the bishops' power, the feudal structure began to partially weaken. The main Ligurian towns, especially on the coast, became city-states, over which
Genoa soon extended its rule. Inland, however, fiefs belonging to noble families survived for a very long time. Between the 11th century (when the Genoese ships played a major role in the first crusade, carrying knights and troops to the Middle-East for a fee) and the 15th century, the
Republic of Genoa experienced an extraordinary political and commercial success (mainly spice trades with the Orient). It was one of the most powerful maritime republics in the
Mediterranean from the 12th to the 14th century: after the decisive victory in the
Battle of Meloria (1284), it acquired control over the
Tyrrhenian Sea and was present in the nerve centres of power during the last phase of the Byzantine empire,
having colonies up to
Black Sea and
Crimean. After the introduction of the title of doge for life (1339) and the election of
Simone Boccanegra, Genoa resumed its struggles against the
Marquisate of Finale and the Counts of
Laigueglia and it conquered again the territories of
Finale,
Oneglia and
Porto Maurizio. In spite of its military and commercial successes, Genoa fell prey to the internal factions which put pressure on its political structure. Due to the vulnerable situation, the rule of the republic went to the hands of the
Visconti family of
Milan. After their expulsion by the popular forces under Boccanegra's lead, the republic remained in Genoese hands until 1396, when the internal instability led the doge
Antoniotto Adorno to surrender the title of Seignior of Genoa to the king of France. The French were driven away in 1409 and Liguria went back under Milanese control in 1421, thus remaining until 1435.
Early modern leads an expedition to the New World, 1492.
His voyages are celebrated as the discovery of the Americas from a European perspective, and they opened a
new era in the history of humankind and sustained contact between the two worlds. The alternation of French and Milanese dominions over Liguria went on until the first half of the 16th century. The French influence ceased in 1528, when
Andrea Doria allied with the powerful king of Spain and imposed an aristocratic government, which gave the republic relative stability for about 250 years. Genoese explorer
Christopher Columbus's speculative proposal to reach the
East Indies by sailing westward received the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it an opportunity to gain the upper hand over rival powers in the contest for the lucrative
spice trade with
Asia. During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the
Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named
San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, Columbus visited the
Greater and
Lesser Antilles, as well as the
Caribbean coast of
Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the
Spanish Empire. in
Genoa, Italy, an 18th-century reconstruction of the house in which Columbus grew up. The original was likely destroyed during the 1684
bombardment of Genoa. The value of trade routes through Genoa to the Near East declined during the
Age of Discovery, when Portuguese explorers discovered routes to Asia around the
Cape of Good Hope. The international crises of the seventeenth century, which ended for Genoa with the 1684
bombardment by
Louis XIV's fleet, restored French influence over the republic. Consequently, the Ligurian territory was crossed by the
Piedmontese and
Austrian armies when these two states came into conflict with France. Austria occupied Genoa in 1746, but the
Habsburg troops were driven away by a popular insurrection. Napoleon's first Italian campaign marked the end of the oligarchic Genoese state, which was transformed into the
Ligurian Republic, modelled on the
French Republic. After the union of Oneglia and Loano (1801), Liguria was annexed to the
French Empire (1805) and divided by
Napoleon into three departments:
Montenotte (capital
Savona),
Gênes (capital
Genoa) and
Apennins (capital
Chiavari).
Late modern and contemporary western part of Liguria showing the area of the
Italian kingdom of Sardinia annexed in 1860 to France (light brown). The area in red had already become part of France before 1860. After a short period of independence in 1814, the
Congress of Vienna (1815) decided that Liguria should be annexed to the
Kingdom of Sardinia. The Genoese uprising against the House of Savoy in 1821, which was put down with great bloodshed, aroused the population's national sentiments. Some of the most prestigious figures of
Risorgimento were born in Liguria (
Giuseppe Mazzini,
Mameli,
Nino Bixio). Italian patriot and general
Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was born in the neighbouring
Nice (then part of the
Sardinian state), started his
Expedition of the Thousand on the evening of 5 May 1860 from a rock in Quarto, a quarter of Genoa. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the region's economic growth was remarkable: steel mills and ship yards flourished along the coast from
Imperia to
La Spezia, while the port of Genoa became the main commercial hub of industrializing Northern Italy. During the
Second World War, Liguria experienced heavy bombings, hunger and two years of occupation by the
German troops, against whom a liberation struggle was led—among the most effective in Italy. When Allied troops eventually entered Genoa, they were welcomed by Italian partisans who, in a successful insurrection, had freed the city and accepted the surrender of the local German command. For this feat, the city was awarded the gold medal for military valour. ==Demographics==