Provence Provence Provence (, ; ; "Prouvènço" , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône River to the west to the Italian border to the east, and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It largely corresponds with the modern administrative "région" of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and includes the "départements" of Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and parts of Alpes-Maritimes and Vaucluse. The largest city of the region is Marseille. The Romans made the region the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it "Provincia Romana", which
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence of 39.4% for the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. The National Office of Forests (ONF) manages 86,000 hectares. The main species exploited are Scots pine, black pine, larch, pubescent oak (or white oak), and beech. Fir and spruce are less common. The 2003 heat wave caused the decline of many species of trees, consequently accelerating the return of Mediterranean oaks, alders and linden. Industry is relatively small in terms of business establishments but has several relatively large companies. At the end of 2004 the department had 937 establishments with 17 exceeding fifty employees. This is particularly the case of the historic plant