Editing Alpes-Maritimes (section)

== History ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=November 2019}}

The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] military district of [[Alpes Maritimae]] was created by [[Augustus]] in 14 BC. It became a full [[Roman province]] in the middle of the 1st century AD, with its capital first at [[Cemenelum]] (today [[Cimiez]], a suburb north of [[Nice]]) and subsequently at [[Embrun, Hautes-Alpes|Embrun]]. At its greatest extent in AD 297, the province reached north to [[Digne]] and [[Briançon]].

Conquered by the [[French First Republic]] during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], a [[Departments of France|department]] of Alpes-Maritimes was first set up in 1793 with different boundaries from those of the modern department. In 1793, Alpes-Maritimes included [[Monaco]] ([[Port Hercules]]), but not [[Grasse]], which was then part of the department of [[Var (department)|Var]] as an historical part of France. In 1805, [[Sanremo|San Remo]] (San Rème) was included after the disbandment of the [[Ligurian Republic]]. In 1812, the department had three [[Arrondissements of France|arrondissements]] with the following [[canton (administrative division)|cantons]]:<ref name=Gallica>[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k204214z/f364.image Almanach Impérial an bissextil MDCCCXII], p. 368, accessed in [[Gallica]] 24 July 2013 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>
* [[Nice]], cantons: [[Nice]] (2 cantons), [[Aspremont, Alpes-Maritimes|Aspremont]], [[La Brigue]], [[Menton]], [[Monaco]], [[Roquebillière]], [[Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée]], [[Saorge]], [[L'Escarène]], [[Sospel]], [[Utelle]] and [[Villefranche-sur-Mer]].
* [[Sanremo]], cantons: [[Sanremo]], [[Bordighera]], [[Dolceacqua]], [[Pigna, Liguria|Pigna]], [[Taggia]], [[Triora]] and [[Ventimiglia]].
* [[Puget-Théniers]], cantons: [[Puget-Théniers]], [[Beuil]], [[Gilette]], [[Guillaumes]], [[Roquestéron]], [[Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée]] and [[Villars-sur-Var]].
The population of the department in 1812 was 131,266, and its area was {{Convert|3226.74|km2}}, covering both present-day [[Arrondissement of Nice]], [[Principality of Monaco]] and [[Province of Imperia]].<ref name=Gallica />

In 1814, at the close of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the territory was restored to the [[Crown of Savoy]] by the [[Congress of Vienna]].

In 1860 [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]], one of the architects of Italian unity with the [[Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia]], negotiated support for [[Napoleon III]] in exchange for [[Savoy]] and the [[County of Nice]] as set forth in the [[Treaty of Turin (1860)|Treaty of Turin]]. The annexation was confirmed on 15 and 16 April 1860 by 30,712 male electors enrolled in the 89 communes of the County of Nice who, for the first time, had universal male suffrage by [[plebiscite]]. The "Yes" vote for reunification with France was 83.8% of registered voters and 99.2% of votes.<ref>Table of Results pages 319 to 320 in ''La réunion de Nice à la France'' by Paul Gonnet, Les Éditions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 2003, 343 pages, {{ISBN|9782914603102}} {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

The new department of Alpes-Maritimes consisted of the former County of Nice, divided into an [[Arrondissement of Nice]] and an Arrondissement of [[Puget-Théniers]] (both arrondissements existed in the former Department (1793–1814)), and a portion of the [[Var department]], which formed the [[Arrondissement of Grasse]]. However, the County of Nice did not include [[Tende]] and [[La Brigue]], which were still part of Piedmont-Sardinia.

For economic reasons, the Arrondissement of Puget-Théniers was merged into the Arrondissement of Nice in 1926.  Since that time, the department has had two [[Arrondissements of France|arrondissements]].

In 1947, in accordance with the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Treaty of Paris]] and as a referendum result favourable to their attachment to France, the communes of [[Tende]] and [[La Brigue]] (also parts of communes in the high valleys of Vésubie and Tinée: part the commune of [[Isola, Alpes-Maritimes|Isola]]) which had not been ceded to France in 1860, were attached to the department.

=== Heraldry ===
{{Blazon-arms
|img1=Arms of Nice.svg
|legend1=Arms of Alpes-Maritimes and Nice
|text=

'''Blazon:'''<br />
''Argent, an eagle crowned of gules displayed with wings inverted, on a mountain of three hillocks sable issuant from the pointed waves of a sea azure waved in argent.''
}}