The city of Marseille from space

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features the city of Marseille, which is the second largest city in France and has been the site of a major trading port since 400 BC. The city of Marseille from space

In this image, captured from the International Space Station (ISS), the city is characterized by its red roofs covered in clay terra cotta tiles, which have influenced the architecture of Australia and Switzerland since the 1800s.

Marseille (mar-SAY, also spelled in English as Marseilles; French: [maʁsɛj] (listen), locally [maʁˈsɛjə] (listen); Occitan: Marselha [maʀˈsejɔ, -ˈsijɔ]) is the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. It is located on the Mediterranean coast near the mouth of the Rhône. The city covers an area of 241 km2 (93 sq mi) and had a population of 870,018 in 2016.[1] Its metropolitan area, which extends over 3,173 km2 (1,225 sq mi) is the third-largest in France after those of Paris and Lyon, with a population of 1,831,500 as of 2010.The city of Marseille from space
Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia (Greek: Μασσαλία, romanized: Massalía),Marseille was an important European trading centre and remains the main commercial port of the French Republic. Marseille is now France’s largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture in 2013 and European Capital of Sport in 2017; it hosted matches at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2016. It is home to Aix-Marseille University.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory