A historical region and former province of southeast France bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. It was settled c. 600 B.C. by Greeks and later by Phoenician merchants and was colonized by Rome in the second century B.C. Provence became part of the kingdom of Arles in 933 A.D. and later passed to the Angevin dynasty (1246) and to France (1486).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
