Principality of Monaco Principauté de Monaco (French) Principatu de Múnegu (Monegasque) Principato di Monaco (Italian) Principat de Mónegue (Occitan)
Motto: "Deo Juvante"  (Latin) "With God's Help"
Anthem: Hymne Monégasque
Location of  Monaco  (green) in Europe  (dark grey)  —  [Legend]
Capital		Monaco[a] 43°43′N 7°25′E / 43.717°N 7.417°E / 43.717; 7.417
Official language(s)		French[1]
Common languages		list Monegasque Italian Occitan English
Ethnic groups		list French Monegasque Italian English
Demonym		list[c] Monegasque Monacans
Government		Unitary principality and Constitutional monarchy
-	Prince	Albert II
-	Minister of State	Michel Roger
-	President of the National Council	Jean-François Robillon
Legislature		National Council
Independence
-	House of Grimaldi	1297
-	Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861	1861
-	Constitution	1911
-	Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 2002	2002
Area
-	Total	1.98 km2 (235th) 0.76 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.0[2]
Population
-	2011 estimate	35,986[3] (218th)
-	2008 census	35,352[2]
-	Density	15,142/km2 (1st) 39,217/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011[b] estimate
-	Total	$6.888 billion[4][5] (n/a)
-	Per capita	$186,175[4][5] (n/a)
GDP (nominal)		2011[b] estimate
-	Total	$6.581 billion[4][5] (136th)
-	Per capita	$172,676[4][5] (1st)
HDI (2010)		0.946 (1st) (very high)
Currency		Euro (€) (EUR)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		Right[6]
Internet TLD		.mc
Calling code		+377
^ a. Monaco is a city-state. ^ b. GDP per capita calculations include non-resident workers from France and Italy. ^ c.Citizens of Monaco are called Monacans, while Monegasque is the proper term for describing someone who was born in Monaco.

Monaco ⁱ/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/, officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city state, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea, its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) north east of Nice, France.^[7] It has an area of 1.98 km² (0.76 sq mi), and a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world.^[8] Monaco has a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 metres (382 yards).^[9][10] The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level.^[11] Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins.^[12] After a recent expansion of Port Hercules,^[13] Monaco's total area is 2.05 km² (0.79 sq mi),^[12] with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Monaco is a principality governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with Prince Albert II as head of state.^[18] However, even though Prince Albert II is a constitutional monarch, he still has immense political power.^[19] The House of Grimaldi have ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, since 1297.^[20] The official language is French, but Monégasque, Italian, and English are widely spoken and understood.^{[note 1]} The state's sovereignty was officially recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861, with Monaco becoming a full UN voting member in 1993, after much political debate.^[8] Despite Monaco's independence and separate foreign policy, its defence is the responsibility of France.^[21] However, Monaco does maintain two small military units, totaling 255 officers and men, the Corps des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Monaco, and the Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince.^[22][23]

Economic development was spurred in the late 19th century with a railroad line to France, and the opening of the first casino, Monte Carlo Casino.^[24] Since then, the principality's mild climate, splendid scenery, and gambling facilities have made Monaco world-famous as a tourist and recreation center for the rich and famous.^[10][25] However, in more recent years Monaco has become a major banking center holding over €100 billion worth of funds,^[26] and has successfully sought to diversify its economy into the services and small, high-value-added, nonpolluting industries.^[27] The state has no income tax and low business taxes, and is well known for being a tax haven.^[28] Monaco boasts the world's highest GDP nominal per capita at $172,676 and GDP PPP per capita at $186,175.^[29][30] Monaco also has the world's highest life expectancy at almost 90 years,^[31] and the lowest unemployment rate at 0%,^[32] with over 48,000 workers who commute from France and Italy each day.^[12][33] For the third year in a row, Monaco in 2011 had the world's most expensive real estate market, at $56,300 per square metre.^[34][35] According to the CIA World Factbook, Monaco has the world's lowest poverty rate,^[27] and the highest number of millionaires and billionaires per capita in the world.^[36][37]

History[link]

Early history[link]

The Palace and a tower

The Cathedral of Monaco

The Place d'Armes with modern buildings

Statue of François Grimaldi, "il Malizia" ("the Cunning"), disguised as a monk with a sword under the cloak of his habit in front of the Prince's Palace of Monaco.

Monaco's name comes from the 6th century BC nearby Phocaean Greek colony. Referred to the Ligurians as Monoikos, from the Greek "μόνοικος", "single house", from "μόνος" (monos) "alone, single"^[38] + "οἶκος" (oikos) "house",^[39] which bears the sense of a people either settled in a "single habitation" or of "living apart" from others. According to an ancient myth, Hercules passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods.^[40] As a result, a temple was constructed there, the temple of Hercules Monoikos. Because the only temple of this area was the "House" of Hercules, the city was called Monoikos.^[41][42]

Following a land grant from Emperor Henry VI in 1191, Monaco was refounded in 1215 as a colony of Genoa.^[43][44] Monaco was first ruled by a member of the House of Grimaldi in 1297, when Francesco Grimaldi, known as "Il Malizia" (translated from Italian either as "The Malicious One" or "The Cunning One"), and his men captured the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco while dressed as a Franciscan monk – a Monaco in Italian, although this is a coincidence as the area was already known by this name.^[45] Francesco, however, was evicted only a few years afterwards by the Genovese forces, and the struggle over "the Rock" continued for another century.^[46][47]

In 1419, the Grimaldis purchased Monaco from the crown of Aragon and became the official and undisputed rulers of "the Rock of Monaco", and in 1612 Honore II began to style himself "Prince" of Monaco.^[48] In the 1630s, Honore II sought French protection against the Spanish forces and was eventually, in 1642, received at the court of Louis XIII as "Duc et Pair Etranger".^[49] The princes of Monaco thus became vassals of the French kings while at the same time remaining sovereign princes.^[50] As successive princes and their families spent most of their lives in Paris, and through marriages with French nobilities, the House of Grimaldi, though Italian in origin, became thoroughly French in character.^[51] The principality continued its existence as a protectorate of France until the French Revolution.^[52]

In 1793, Revolutionary forces captured Monaco and it remained under direct French control until 1814, when the Grimaldis returned to the throne.^[49] The principality was reestablished that year, only to be designated a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.^[53] Monaco remained in this position until 1860 when, by the Treaty of Turin, the Sardinian forces pulled out of the principality and the surrounding county of Nice (as well as Savoy) was ceded to France.^[54] Monaco became a French protectorate once again. Prior to this time there was unrest in Menton and Roquebrune where the townspeople had become weary of heavy taxation by the Grimaldis. They declared their independence, hoping for annexation by Sardinia, France protested. The unrest continued until Charles III gave up his claim to the two mainland towns, (some 95% of the principality at the time) which had been ruled by the Grimaldis for over 500 years.^[55] These were ceded to France in return for 4,100,000 francs.^[56] The transfer and Monaco's sovereignty was recognized by the Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861. In 1869, the principality stopped collecting income tax from its residents—an indulgence the Grimaldis could afford to entertain thanks solely to the extraordinary success of the casino.^[57] This made Monaco not only a playground for the rich, but a favored place for them to live.^[58]

20th century[link]

Albert II, the Prince of Monaco

Until the Monegasque Revolution of 1910 forced the adoption of the 1911 constitution, the princes of Monaco were absolute rulers.^[59] The new constitution, however, barely reduced the autocratic rule of the Grimaldis and in any case Albert I soon suspended it. In July 1918, the Franco-Monegasque Treaty was signed, providing for limited French protection over Monaco. The treaty, endorsed in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles, established that Monegasque international policy would be aligned with French political, military, and economic interests, and resolved the Monaco Succession Crisis.^[60]

In 1943, the Italian army invaded and occupied Monaco, setting up a Fascist administration.^[51] Shortly thereafter, following the collapse of Mussolini, the German Wehrmacht occupied Monaco and the Nazi deportation of the Jewish population began. René Blum (Paris, 13 March 1878 – Auschwitz, 30 April 1943), the prominent French Jew who founded the Ballet de l'Opera in Monte Carlo, was arrested in his Paris home and held in the Drancy deportation camp outside Paris, hence he was then transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was killed.^[61] Blum's colleague Raoul Gunsbourg, the director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, helped by the French Resistance, escaped arrest and fled to Switzerland.^[62]

Rainier III, who ruled until 2005, succeeded to the throne following the death of his grandfather, Prince Louis II, in 1949. On 19 April 1956, Prince Rainier married the American actress Grace Kelly; the event was widely televised and covered in the popular press, focusing the world's attention on the tiny principality.^[63]

A 1962 amendment to the constitution abolished capital punishment, provided for women's suffrage, and established a Supreme Court of Monaco to guarantee fundamental liberties. In 1993, the Principality of Monaco became a member of the United Nations, with full voting rights.^[54] In 2002, a new treaty between France and Monaco specified that, should there be no heirs to carry on the Grimaldi dynasty, the principality would still remain an independent nation rather than revert to France. Monaco's military defense, however, is still the responsibility of France.^[64]

On 31 March 2005, Prince Rainier III, too ill to exercise his duties, relinquished them to his only son and heir, Prince Albert II.^[65] Prince Rainier died on 6 April 2005, after a reign of 56 years, his son Prince Albert II succeeded him, and was thereafter titled Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco.^[66]

Following a period of official mourning, Prince Albert II formally assumed the princely crown on 12 July 2005,^[67] in a celebration that began with a solemn Mass at Saint Nicholas Cathedral, where his father had been buried three months earlier. His accession to the Monegasque throne was a two-step event, with a further ceremony, drawing heads of state for an elaborate levée, held on 19 November 2005 at the historic Prince's Palace in Monaco-Ville.^[68]

Geography[link]

Astronaut View of Monaco, with the Monegasque-French border shown in yellow

Monaco is a sovereign city state, with 5 Quartiers, 10 Wards,^[69] located on the French Riviera in Western Europe.^[70] Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea; its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) south east of Nice, France.^[8] Its area is 1.98 km² (0.76 sq mi) or 198 ha (490 acres), with a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world.^[71] Having a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), a maritime claim that extends 22.2 kilometres (13.8 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 meters (382 yards), Monaco is unique.^[9][10]

The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, it is 161 meters (528 feet) above sea level.^[11] While the lowest point in the country is the Mediterranean Sea, at 0 m (0 ft) below sea leval.^[72][73] Saint-Jean is the longest flowing body of water, around 0.19 km (0.12 miles) in length, and Fontvieille is the largest lake, approximately 0.5 ha (1.24 acres) in size.^[74] Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins.^[12] After a recent expansion of Port Hercules,^[13] Monaco's total area is 2.05 km² (0.79 sq mi) or 205 ha (506 acres),^[12] with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.^[14][15] There are two ports in Monaco, Hercules and Fontvieille, as well the neighboring French port of Cap d'Ail.^[75] Monaco's only natural resource is fishing,^[76] with almost the entirely country being an urban area, Monaco lacks any sort of commercial agriculture industry.^[77]

Climate[link]

Monaco has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), which is influenced by the oceanic climate and the humid subtropical climate. As a result, it has warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters.^[78] Cool and rainy interludes can interrupt the dry summer season, the average length of which is also shorter. Summer afternoons are infrequently hot (indeed, temperatures > 30 °C / 86 °F are rare) as the atmosphere is temperate because of constant sea breezes. On the other hand, the nights are very mild, this being due to the fairly high temperature of the sea in summer. Generally, temperatures do not drop below 20 °C (68 °F) in this season. In the winter, frosts and snowfalls are extremely rare and generally occur once or twice every ten years.

Governance[link]

Monaco has been governed under a constitutional monarchy since 1911, with the Sovereign Prince of Monaco as monarch. The executive branch consists of a Minister of State (the head of government), who presides over a five-member Council of Government.^[80] Until 2002, the Minister of State was a French citizen appointed by the prince from among candidates proposed by the French government; since a constitutional amendment in 2002, the Minister of State can be French or Monegasque.^[43] However, Prince Albert II appointed, on March 3, 2010, the Frenchman Michel Roger as Minister of State.^[81]