Founded by the Greeks of Massalia (Marseille) around 325 BC., Olbia, the ancestor town of Hyères, was probably already harvesting salt back then. Yet, the existence of Hyères' salt marshes is only really attested from the Middle Ages. The Salins de Saint-Nicolas, today known as Vieux Salins, were indeed mentioned for the first time in writings dated 963. In 1229, a charter granted the Italian city of Genoa a virtual monopoly of their production.