Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur engineering and business schools. All these institutions of higher learning help contribute to the human capital needed by the region to meet current technological challenges. The region has a total GDP (2012) of €142.4 billion (US $183.1 bn), the third highest in France. It has a per capita GDP of €28,861 (US $37,121), slightly higher than the French average. According to a recent survey, a person living in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur has an average annual income of about €37,489 (US $45,755). The region is one of the most visited of France, and has therefore many well-known museums, mostly in Marseille: the
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence isolated from main roads. "Nord-de-Provence" was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 under the Act of 22 December 1789. It was renamed "Haute-Provence" then "Basses-Alpes". On 12 August 1793, the department of Vaucluse was created from parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes. Basses-Alpes lost the canton of Sault to Vaucluse at this point. Seventeen years later, in 1810, the canton of Barcillonnette was transferred over to Hautes-Alpes. The department of Basses-Alpes was occupied by fascist Italy from November 1942 to September 1943. On 13 April 1970, the department