The Principality of Monaco is a sovereign and independent state that has borders on its landward side with several communes of the French Department of the Alpes-Maritimes; from west to east these are Cap d’Ail, la Turbie, Beausoleil and Roquebrune Cap Martin. Seawards, Monaco faces the Mediterranean Sea.
Sports
Its surface area is 485 acres, of which nearly 100 were recovered from the sea during the course of the last twenty years. Monaco lies on a narrow coastal strip, which sometimes rises vertically upwards with its highest point at 206 feet. Its width varies between .65 miles and a mere 382 yards. Its coastline is 2.5 miles long. The Principality has only one commune, Monaco, whose limits are the same as those of the state.
Monaco is divided into five areas:
the Tennis Master Series had their debut in Monte-Carlo, being now one of the most important international Tennis events.
the first speedboat meeting;
the take-off from the Quai Antoine I of a biplane, as fragile as a child’s toy, but at the controls of which Henri Rougier was to realize the exploit of flying over the nearest spurs of the Alpes-Maritimes;
the first “hydro-aeroplane” meeting (ancestor of the seaplane). Similarly, other sports including golf (with the opening in 1910 of the first course on the slopes of Mont Agel), tennis, fencing, shooting, boxing, football and athletics all took wing and on the eve of the 1914-1918 war, the sporting activities of the Principality were already exemplary and
opening of the Monte Carlo Country Club and Monte Carlo Beach with its Olympic-standard swimming-pool;
the first automobile Grand Prize race;
the inauguration, by Prince Louis II, of the stadium which bears his name and which was immediately used to stage the last University World Games before the Second World War.
With the Liberation, sport came into its own again. Its development in all fields was at lightning pace and from then on Monaco possessed a range of sports clubs and federations recognised by international bodies.