France–Monaco border

The Grimaldis’ rock

The Genoese took the headland in 1191, and the Grimaldi family’s long reign began in 1297. The Grimaldis mostly allied with France, apart from a period under Spanish protection from 1524 to 1641. The French Revolution dispossessed them and annexed Monaco to France in 1793, but they returned after Napoleon’s fall, and the Congress of Vienna put Monaco under the protection of Sardinia.^[1]

Monaco lost its neighbouring towns of Menton and Roquebrune in 1848 and ceded them to France under the Franco-Monegasque treaty of 1861, which restored its independence. A customs union with France followed in 1865, and a treaty of 1918 provided that if the dynasty died out Monaco would become an autonomous state under French protection.^[1]

“The treaty did restore Monaco’s independence, however, and in 1865 a customs union was established between the two countries.”^[1]

A city-state on the Riviera

Monaco’s territory is a cluster of hills and a headland looking south over the Mediterranean, with Nice 15 km to the west and the Italian border 8 km to the east. It joined the United Nations in 1993 and, though not in the European Union, replaced the French franc with the euro by 2002.^[1]