Saint-Chamas
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Roman Pont Flavien
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 Saint-Chamas
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Location within Provence-A.-C.d'A. region
Saint-Chamas
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| Coordinates: 43°33′02″N 5°02′05″E / 43.5506°N 5.0347°ECoordinates: 43°33′02″N 5°02′05″E / 43.5506°N 5.0347°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | |
| Department | Bouches-du-Rhône | |
| Arrondissement | Istres | |
| Canton | Berre-l'Étang | |
| Intercommunality | Agglopole Provence | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | René Gimet | |
| Area1 | 26.71 km2 (10.31 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 7,790 | |
| • Density | 290/km2 (760/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 13092 /13250 | |
| Elevation | 0–121 m (0–397 ft) | |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Saint-Chamas (in Provençal Occitan: Sanch Amàs in classical orthography, Sant Chamas according to Mistralian orthography) is a commune in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France.
Saint-Chamas is situated on the shore of the Étang de Berre, 15 km south of Salon-de-Provence and 50 km north-west of Marseille, in a part of the region that has not been industrialised. The highest point of the town is Le Verdon at an altitude of 121 metres.
Inhabitants are called Saint-Chamasséens.
Archaeological investigation of rock shelters has proved that the site of Saint-Chamas was already occupied in the Paleolithic era. During the Iron Age, the site was used by the Ligures, who constructed an oppidum (a fortified village), and then by the Celts. The Romans built the Pont Flavien in the 1st century BC, a triumphal bridge which crosses the River Touloubre.
Saint-Chamas owes its name to Sanctus Amantius (Saint Amans, by tradition the first bishop of Rodez), in whose honour a chapel was built in the 7th century. The settlement was initially constructed on the Baou, a chalk hill which overlooks the Étang de Berre, a site that was easy to defend and from which the surrounding region could be surveyed. In 1564, the castle was sufficiently comfortable to accommodate the king Charles IX and the regent Catherine de' Medici.
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