Monaco , officially the
Principality of Monaco
( ; Monégasque:
Principatu de Múnegu; ; ), is a small sovereign city-state located in South Western Europe on the northern central coast
of the Mediterranean
Sea
, having a land border on three sides only with
France, and being about away from Italy. Its size is just
under 2 km² with an estimated population of almost 33,000.
Monaco is the
world's
most densely populated sovereign country, and the world's
smallest
French-speaking country. An
average person takes less than an hour to walk the entire length of
the country. Monaco is the name of the country as well as the name
of its only and capital city. It is often regarded as a
tax haven, and many of its inhabitants are wealthy
and from foreign countries, making up a majority of the population,
at around 84%.
Monaco is a
constitutional
monarchy and
principality, with
Prince Albert II as head
of state. The
House of Grimaldi
has ruled Monaco since 1297, and the state's sovereignty was
officially recognized by the
Franco-Monegasque Treaty of 1861.
Despite being independent, Monaco's defence is the responsibility
of France.
Administrative divisions
Monaco is
the second smallest
country in the world; only Vatican City
is smaller. As such Monaco is also the
world's smallest monarchy (and principality to be more exact). The
state consists of only one
municipality
(
commune). There is no geographical distinction between
the State and City of Monaco, although responsibilities of the
government (State-level) and of the
municipality (city-level) are different.
According to the
constitution of 1911,
the
principality was subdivided into
three municipalities:
The municipalities were merged into one in 1917, after accusations
that the government was acting according to the motto "divide and
conquer", and they had the status of
ward (
quartiers)
thereafter.
- Fontvieille
was added as fourth ward, a newly constructed area
reclaimed from the sea (in the 1970s)
- Moneghetti became the fifth ward,
created from a part of La Condamine
- Larvotto became the sixth ward, created
from a part of Monte Carlo
- La Rousse/Saint Roman
(including Le Ténao) became the
seventh ward, also created from a part of Monte Carlo
Subsequently, three additional wards were created:
An additional ward was planned by new land reclamation, to be
settled from 2014. Prince Albert II announced in his New Year
Speech 2009 that such plans had been put on hold due to the current
economic climate.
Wards
Currently the principality is subdivided into 10 wards (with their
official numbers; Le Portier, the proposed ward, was anticipated as
number 11):
| Nr |
Ward |
Area(m²) |
Population(Censusof 2000) |
Densitykm2 |
CityBlocks(îlots) |
Remarks |
Former
municipality of Monaco |
| 05 |
Monaco-Ville |
184,750 |
1,034 |
5597 |
19 |
Old City with palace |
Former
municipality of Monte
Carlo |
| 01 |
Monte Carlo/Spélugues (Bd. Des Moulins-Av. de la
Madone) |
281,461 |
3,034 |
10779 |
20 |
the casino and resort area |
| 02 |
La Rousse/Saint Roman
(Annonciade-Château Périgord) |
105,215 |
3,223 |
30633 |
15 |
in the northeast, incl. Le
Ténao |
| 03 |
Larvotto/Bas Moulins (Larvotto-Bd
Psse Grace) |
328,479 |
5,443 |
16570 |
15 |
eastern beach area |
| 10 |
Saint Michel (Psse Charlotte-Park Palace) |
142,223 |
3,807 |
26768 |
24 |
central residential area |
Former
municipality of La
Condamine |
| 04 |
La Condamine |
237,283 |
3,847 |
16213 |
27 |
port area in the northwest |
| 07 |
La Colle (Plati-Pasteur-Bd Charles III) |
188,073 |
2,822 |
15005 |
15 |
on
the western border with Cap
d'Ail |
| 08 |
Les Révoires (Hector
Otto-Honoré Labande) |
75,747 |
2,515 |
33203 |
11 |
containing the Jardin Exotique |
| 09 |
Moneghetti/ Bd de Belgique (Bd
Rainier III-Bd de Belgique |
107,056 |
3,003 |
28051 |
18 |
|
| new land
reclaimed from the sea |
| 06 |
Fontvieille |
324,157 |
3,292 |
10156 |
9 |
started 1971 |
| 11 |
Le Portier |
275,0001) |
- |
- |
- |
plans put on hold by Prince Albert II in 2009 |
| |
Monaco |
1,974,444 |
32,020 |
16217 |
173 |
|
| 1) Area not
included in total, as it is only proposed |
Note:
for statistical purposes, the wards of Monaco are further
subdivided into 173 city blocks (îlots),
which are comparable to the census
blocks in the United
States
.
History
Monaco's
name comes from the nearby Phocaean
Greek colony, in the
6th century, which referred to the Ligurians as Monoikos,
from the Greek μόνοικος "single
house", from μόνος "alone, single" + οίκος "house", which bears the
sense of a people either settled in a "single habitation" or of
"living apart" from others. Another related Greek word to
the name of this principality is μόνaκος which means "alone" from
which the word
monastery and
monasticism are derived.
According to an ancient myth,
Hercules
passed through the Monaco area and turned away the previous gods.
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.
Following a land grant from Emperor
Henry VI in 1191, Monaco was
re-founded in 1228 as a colony of
Genoa. Monaco has been ruled by the
House of Grimaldi since 1297, when
Francesco Grimaldi ("
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
he was dressed as a
Franciscan monk — a
Monaco in
Italian, although this is a coincidence as
the area was already known by this name.
In 1793,
French Revolutionary
forces captured Monaco, and it remained under French control until
1814. The principality was re-established that year, only to be
designated a protectorate of the
Kingdom of Sardinia by the
Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Monaco remained in
this position until 1860, when by the Treaty of Turin, Sardinia ceded to France
the surrounding county of Nice
(as well as
Savoy). During this time there was unrest in the
towns of Menton
and Roquebrune
, which declared independence, hoping for annexation
by Sardinia. The unrest continued until the ruling prince
gave up his claim to the two towns (some 95% of the country), and
they were ceded to France in return for four million francs. This
transfer and Monaco's sovereignty was recognised by the
Franco-Monegasque Treaty of
1861.
Until the adoption of the 1911 constitution, the
princes of Monaco were
absolute rulers. In July 1918, a treaty
was signed providing for limited French protection over Monaco. The
treaty, part of the
Treaty of
Versailles, established that Monegasque international policy
would be aligned with French political, military, and economic
interests.
In 1943, the Italian army invaded and occupied Monaco, setting up a
Fascist administration. Shortly thereafter,
following Mussolini's collapse in Italy, the
Nazi German
Wehrmacht
occupied Monaco and began the deportation of the Jewish population.
The
prominent French Jew René
Blum (Paris, 13 March 1878 – Auschwitz
, 30 April 1943), 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
, France
from whence
he was then shipped to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was killed.
Rainier III who ruled
until 2005, acceded to the throne following the death of his
grandfather, Prince
Louis
II, in 1949. On April 19, 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 onto the tiny Principality.
A new constitution, proclaimed in 1962, 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. 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
defence, however, is still the responsibility of France.
On 31 March 2005, Prince Rainier III, too ill to exercise his
duties, relinquished them to his only son and heir, Prince Albert
Alexandre Louis. Prince Rainier died on 6 April 2005, after a reign
of 56 years, and his son succeeded him as
Albert II, Sovereign Prince of
Monaco.
Following
a period of official mourning, Prince Albert II formally assumed
the princely crown on 12 July 2005, 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. Albert II is the son of the late Princess
Grace, known prior to her marriage to Prince Rainer III in 1956 as
Grace Kelly.
Law and government
Monaco has been governed as a constitutional monarchy since 1911,
with the
Sovereign Prince of Monaco
as
head of state. The
executive branch consists of a
Minister of State (the
head of government), who presides
over a four-member
Council of Government. Until
2002, the Minister of State was a French citizen appointed by the
prince from among candidates proposed by the French government;
since the constitution amendment in 2002, the Minister of State can
be French or Monegasque. Under the 1962 constitution, the prince
shares his power with the
unicameral
National Council
(parliament). The twenty-four members of this
legislative body are elected from lists by
universal suffrage for five-year
terms. The principality's local affairs are directed by the
Communal Council, which consists of fifteen elected members and is
presided over by the mayor.
Economy
One of Monaco's main sources of income is
tourism; each year many are attracted to its casino
and pleasant climate. (Monaco's own citizens are not allowed to
gamble in the casino.) In 2001, a major new construction project
extended the pier used by cruise ships in the main harbour. The
principality has successfully sought to diversify into services and
small, high-value-added, non-polluting industries, such as
cosmetics and biothermics.
The state retains
monopolies in numerous
sectors, including
tobacco and the postal
service. The
telephone network (Monaco
Telecom) used to be fully owned by the state; it now owns only 45%,
while the remaining 55% is owned by both
Cable & Wireless (49%) and
Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (6%). It is still, however, a
monopoly. Living standards are high, roughly comparable to those in
prosperous French metropolitan areas.
Monaco is not a member of the
European
Union. However, it is very closely linked via a customs union
with France, and as such, its
currency is
the same as that of France, the
euro. Before
2002, Monaco minted its own coins, the
Monegasque franc. Monaco has acquired the
right to mint
euro coins with
Monegasque designs on its national
side.
Tax haven
Monaco levies no
income tax on
individuals. The absence of a personal income tax
in the principality has attracted to it a considerable number of
wealthy "tax refugee" residents from European countries who derive
the majority of their income from activity outside Monaco;
celebrities such as
Formula
One drivers attract most of the attention, but the vast
majority of them are less well-known business people.
In 2000, a report by the
French parliamentarians,
Arnaud Montebourg and
Vincent Peillon, alleged that Monaco had lax
policies with respect to money laundering, including within its
famed casino, and that the government of Monaco had been placing
political pressure on the judiciary, so that alleged crimes were
not being properly investigated.
In 1998, the
Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued a first
report on the consequences of the
tax
havens' financial systems.
Monaco did not appear in the list of these
territories until 2004, when OECD became indignant regarding the
Monegasque situation and denounced it in its last report, as well
as Andorra
, Liechtenstein
, Liberia
and the Marshall Islands
, underlining its lack of co-operation as regards to
financial information disclosure and availability.
In 2000, the
Financial Action
Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) stated: "The anti-money
laundering system in Monaco is comprehensive. However, difficulties
have been encountered with Monaco by countries in international
investigations on serious crimes that appear to be linked also with
tax matters. In addition, the FIU of Monaco (SICCFIN) suffers a
great lack of adequate resources. The authorities of Monaco have
stated that they will provide additional resources to SICCFIN." The
Principality is no longer blamed in the 2005 FATF report, as well
as all other territories.
However, since 2003, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) has identified Monaco, along with 36 other
territories, as a tax haven.
The
Council of Europe also decided
to issue reports naming tax havens. Twenty-two territories,
including Monaco, were thus evaluated between 1998 and 2000 on a
first round. Monaco is the only territory that refuses to perform
the second round, initially forecast between 2001 and 2003, whereas
the 21 other territories are implementing the third and last round,
planned between 2005 and 2007.
Numismatics
In Monaco, the euro was introduced in 2002. In preparation for this
date, the minting of the new euro coins started as early as 2001.
This is why the first euro coins from Monaco has the year 2001 on
it, instead of 2002, like other countries of the
Eurozone. Three different designs were selected for
the Monegasque coins. In 2006, the design was changed after the
death of ruling Prince Rainier to have the effigy of Prince
Albert.
Monaco also has a rich and valuable collection of collectors'
coins, with face value ranging from 5 to 100 euro. These coins are
a legacy of an old national practice of minting silver and gold
commemorative coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not
legal tender in all the Eurozone. For instance, a €5 Monegasque
commemorative coin cannot be used in any other country. The same
practice concerning commemorative coins is exercised with all
eurozone countries. Commemorative coins are legal tender only in
their country of issue, unlike normal circulation coins, which are
accepted in all euro-zone countries.
Geography of Monaco
Monaco is
completely bordered by France to the
north, west, and south; to the east is the Mediterranean
Sea.
Climate
Sport and entertainment
Formula One
Since 1929, the
Monaco Grand Prix
has been held annually in the streets of Monaco. It is widely
considered to be one of the most prestigious automobile races in
the world.
The erecting of the Circuit de
Monaco
takes six weeks to complete, and the removal
after the race another three weeks. The circuit has many
elevation changes and tight corners, along with a tunnel. This
together with being incredibly narrow and tight makes it perhaps
the most demanding
Formula One track.
Only two drivers have ever crashed into the harbour, the most
famous being
Alberto Ascari in the
1955 Monaco Grand Prix.
(Ascari
lost his life four days later at Monza
). The
other was
Paul Hawkins,
during the
1965 Monaco Grand
Prix.
Monte Carlo Rally
The
Monte Carlo Rally has been
held since 1911, having originally been held at the behest of
Prince
Albert I and is,
like the principality's Grand Prix, organised by the
Automobile
Club de Monaco. It has long been considered to be one of the
toughest and most prestigious events in
rallying and from 1973 to 2008 was the opening
round of the
World Rally
Championship.
Football
AS Monaco FC plays at Stade Louis II
and has been one of the more successful French
sides of recent times. Because of the popular appeal of
living in Monaco and the lack of income tax, many international
stars have played for the club, such as
Jürgen Klinsmann,
Oliver Bierhoff,
George Weah,
John Collins,
Fernando Morientes,
Thierry Henry,
Fabien Barthez,
Rafael Márquez,
Javier Saviola,
David Trezeguet,
Patrice Evra, Valur Guðnason,
Shabani Nonda,
Emmanuel Adebayor,
Eiður Smári
Guðjohnsen,
Jan Koller and
Park Chu-Young. The club reached the
UEFA
Champions League Final in
2004, led by the likes of
Morientes, Evra,
Akis Zikos, and
Ludovic Giuly, losing 3-0 to Portuguese team,
F.C. Porto. The
Stade Louis II also plays host to the annual
UEFA Super Cup, which is played between the
winners of the
UEFA Champions
League and the
UEFA Europa
League.
Rugby
Monaco's national rugby
team, as of June 2009, is 88th in the
International Rugby Board
rankings.
Other sports
The
Monte Carlo
Masters
is currently held annually in neighbouring Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, as a
professional tournament for men as part of tennis' ATP
Masters Series. The tournament has been held since 1897.
Golf's
Monte
Carlo Open was also held at the Monte Carlo Golf Club at Mont
Agel in France between 1984 and 1992. Monaco has also
competed in the
Olympic Games, although, as of 2008, no
athlete from Monaco has ever won an Olympic medal.
In 2009,
the Tour de France, the
world's premier bicycle race, started from Monaco with a 15 km
closed-circuit individual time trial starting and finishing there
on the first day (4 July) and the 182 km second leg starting
there on the following day and ending in Brignoles
, France.
Monaco also stage part of the
Global Champions Tour (International
Show-jumping). Acknowledged as the most glamorous of the series,
Monaco will be hosting the world's most celebrated riders,
including Monaco's own
Charlotte
Casiraghi, in a setting facing out over the world's most
beautiful yachts, and framed by the Port Hercule and Prince's
palace. In 2009, the Monaco stage of the Global Champions tour
takes place between 25 June - 27 June.
The
Monaco Marathon is the only
marathon in the world to trascend three separate countries, those
of Monaco, France and Italy. The 2010 event takes place on March
21.
Runners complete the race by returning to
the Stade Louis
II.Grand Prix is an annual international sports car
race through Monte Carlo's elegant streets.
The Monaco Ironman 70.3 triathlon race is an annual event with over
1000 athletes competing and attracts top professional athletes from
around the world. The race includes a 1.9 km swim, 90 km
bike ride and 21.1 km run. Official event webpage:
http://www.monaco-ironman.com/indeximmc.htm
Education
Primary and secondary schools
Monaco has ten state-operated schools, including: seven nursery and
primary schools; one secondary school,
Collège Charles
III; one
lycée that provides
general and technological training,
Lycée Albert 1er; and
one lycée that provides vocational and hotel training,
Lycée
technique et hôtelier de Monte-Carlo. There are also two
grant-aided denominational private schools, including
Institution François d'Assise Nicolas Barré and
Ecole
des Sœurs Dominicaines, and one international school, the
International School of Monaco.
Colleges and universities
There is one university located in Monaco:
Demographics
Monaco's population is unusual in that the native
Monegasque are a minority in their
own country. The largest proportion of residents are French
nationals (47%), followed by Monegasque (16%), and Italians (16%).
The remaining 21% belong to one of the other 125 nationalities that
make up Monaco's international population. A Monacoian is the term
used to describe a person living in Monaco who is not a resident or
citizen of Monaco.
Religion
Christian
Roman Catholic
The official
religion is
Roman Catholicism, with freedom of
other religions guaranteed by the constitution. There are five
Roman Catholic parish churches in Monaco and one
cathedral, which is the seat of the
archbishop of Monaco. The diocese, which has
existed since the mid-nineteenth century, was raised to an
archbishopric in 1981 as the
Archdiocese of
Monaco.
Anglican
There is one
Anglican church
(
St. Paul's Church), located in the
Avenue de Grande Bretagne in Monte Carlo. In 2007 this had a formal
membership of 135 Anglicans resident in the principality, but was
also serving a considerably larger number of Anglicans temporarily
in the country, mostly as tourists. The church site also
accommodates an English-language library of over 3,000 books. The
church is part of the Anglican
Diocese of Gibraltar in
Europe.
Jewish
The Association Culturelle Israelite de Monaco (founded 1948) is a
converted house containing a
synagogue, a
community Hebrew school, and a
kosher food
shop, located in Monte Carlo. The community (approximately 1,500
strong) mainly consists of retired Jews from Britain (40%) and
North Africa. One third of the Jewish population there is
Ashkenazi, while the other two thirds are
Sephardic.
Security
The wider
defence of the nation is provided by France.
Monaco has no navy or air force, but on both a per-capita and
per-area basis, Monaco has the largest police force (515 police
officers for 32,000 people) and police presence in the world. Its
police includes a specialist unit which operates patrol and
surveillance boats. There is also a small military consisting of a
(mainly ceremonial) bodyguard unit for the Prince and his palace
called the
Compagnie
des Carabiniers du Prince which numbers 112 officers and men
and is equipped with modern weapons such as M-16 rifles and
9 mm pistols, and a militarized (and armed) fire and civil
defence Corps.
The Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince (Prince's Company of
Carabiniers) is the main ceremonial unit of the
military force of Monaco. It was created
by Prince
Honoré IV
in 1817 for the protection of the Principality and the Princely
family. The company numbers exactly 112 officers and men; while the
NCOs and soldiers are
local, the officers have generally served in the
French Army. Together with the local fire
service, the Carabiniers form Monaco's total public forces.
In
addition to their guard duties, the company patrols the
Principality's beaches and coastal waters, as well as duties around
the Palace in Monaco-Ville.
Flag
It is one of the world's oldest national flag designs. The flag of
Monaco is identical to
that of
Indonesia (except for the ratio of height to width).
Transport
Monaco is
served by several train systems and the Monaco - Fontvieille Heliport
. The closest airport is Cote d'Azur
Airport
in Nice, France. Some
airlines marketed Monaco via Nice Airport.
See also
References
- U.S. Department of State Per capita purchasing power
parity GDP (US dept. of State 2006 est.): $30,000
- Strabo, Geography, Gaul, 4.6.3 at LacusCurtious
- Assemblee-Nationale report
- Declaration of April 18th, 2004, by the representative of
the OECD
Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Gabriel Makhlouf regarding
the list of alleged tax
havens non-cooperatives countries comparable
- Stage Report 2004: Project of OECD
on the detrimental tax practices, OECD,
Paris, 2004
- Review to Identify Non-Cooperative Countries or
Territories: Increasing the Worldwide Effectiveness of Anti-Money
Laundering Measures, FATF, Paris,
2005
- Review to Identify Non-Cooperative Countries or
Territories: Increasing the Worldwide Effectiveness of Anti-Money
Laundering Measures, FATF, Paris,
2006
- Financial Centres with Significant Offshore Activities in
Offshore Financial Centres. The Assessment Program. A Progress
Report Supplementary Information, IMF, Washington, 2005
- First Mutual Evaluation Report on the Principality of
Monaco, Moneyval, Strasbourg, 2003
- Collège Charles III
- Lycée
Albert 1er
- See the website of St Paul's Church, Monaco.
- Details at Jewish Virtual Library
- Monaco Flag - World Flags 101 - Monacan
Flags
- " Route Map" in 1993, Trans World
Airlines
External links
- Government
- General information
- Travel
- Other
- The Monaco Times - a regular feature in The Riviera Times is
the English language newspaper for the French - Italian Riviera and
the Principality of Monaco provides monthly local news and
information about business, art and culture, people and lifestyle,
events and also the real estate
market.[http://www.monacotimes.com]
Map and statistical tables for download (PDF)]
in the east and northeast
(=exotic garden of Monaco)
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