Marseille was originally founded by Greeks from Phocaea around 600 BC. under the name Μασσαλία: Massalia or Massilia. Thanks to this city, trade between the Greeks and the Celts was facilitated in ancient times, especially via the nearby Rhone. Throughout its history it was an important city for trade between the Mediterranean region and Western Europe. Its constitution (politeia) was oligarchic and was considered a well-functioning system in ancient times. The most important commodities were tin, salt, amber, ceramics and wine (the grape was introduced to southern France by the Greeks of Massalia). Soon after its foundation, new colonies were founded from Massalia: Empórion (now in Catalonia), Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo. From these places, Greek culture spread along the rivers and trade routes across southern France, strongly influencing the Celtic tribes of the interior. Expeditions were also organized from Massalia to Western Europe to explore the 'barbarian' countries for trade purposes. A well-known explorer from the 4th century BC. was Pytheas (of Massalia) who bypassed the island of Great Britain (source of tin) and may have sailed as far as Iceland and Jutland (source of amber). At its peak, Massalia controlled all of present-day Provence and the coastal strip of northeastern Spain. Competition with the Etruscans and Carthaginians often led to conflicts. In the 3rd century, 2nd century and 1st century BC, the Massaliots allied themselves with the expanding Roman Empire for defense against the Carthaginians and thus kept their freedom until they took the losing side in the battle between Caesar and Pompey. Caesar took the city after the siege of Massilia and stripped it of most of its territories and political independence. The Romans called the city Massilia. In the 1st century Massilia gained new fame as a center of Greek education and culture and many Roman and Celtic inhabitants of Gaul sent their children to Massilia to be civilized.

The area of ​​Marseille was 240.62 square kilometers on January 1, 2020; the population density was then 3,617 inhabitants per km². The map below shows the location of Marseille with its main infrastructure and neighboring municipalities.

The figure below shows the development of the population of Marseille from 1901. Due to a security issue with the MediaWiki Graph software, it is currently not possible to display this graph. Once the software is updated, the graph will automatically reappear. See source Wikidata query. Source: French statistical office. Population figures according to the definition of population sans doubles comptes (see the definitions used) The municipality had 870,321 inhabitants on January 1, 2020.[1]