Provence is a former Roman province and is now a region of southeastern France, located on the Mediterranean Sea adjacent to France's border with Italy. It is now part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The traditional region of Provence encompasses the départements of Var, Vaucluse, and Bouches-du-Rhône in addition to parts of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes.
History：
Provence has been inhabited since prehistoric times. It was known in ancient times as part of Narbonensis, inhabited by Ligurians and later Celts. The coastal strip was settled by Greeks and Phoenicians from around 600 BC onwards, with Marseille becoming one of the great trading cities of the Mediterranean. It was progressively settled by the Romans from the 2nd century BC, eventually becoming a province of the Roman Empire. This gave it its name, from the Latin provincia, as Provence was one of the first and most Romanized provinces of the Roman Empire.Christianity arrived in Provence very early and the region was already extensively Christianised by the 3rd century AD, with numerous monasteries and churches being constructed. Provence fared badly in the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire, suffering repeated invasions: Visigoths in the 5th century, Franks in the 6th century and Arabs in the 8th century, as well as repeated raids by Berber pirates and slavers.
From 1032 to 1246 the county was part of the Holy Roman Empire. It became a fief of the French Crown from 1246, under the rule of the Angevin dynasty. Upon the death of Charles du Maine in 1481, Provence was inherited by Louis XI. It was definitively incorporated into the French royal domain in 1486. Significant enclaves existed within Provence for many years afterwards: Orange remained under the control of the House of Orange-Nassau until 1672; the Comtat Venaissin, centred on Avignon, was under Papal rule until 1791; and Nice and Menton were not added to Provence until as late as 1860.
The now-extinct title of Count of Provence belonged to local families of Frankish origin, to the House of Barcelona, to the House of Anjou and to a cadet branch of the House of Valois.
The lavenders Lavandula are a genus of about 25-30 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, native from the Mediterranean region south to tropical Africa and east to India. The genus includes annuals, herbaceous plants, subshrubs, and small shrubs. The native range extends across the Canary Islands, North and East Africa, south Europe and the Mediterranean, Arabia, and India. Because the cultivated forms are planted in gardens world-wide, they are occasionally found growing wild, as garden escapees, well beyond their natural range.
