Antiquity
a variety of games are played, all with a similar object: try to place a boule as close as possible to a target.

19th. century
great increase in the popularity of boules games. In Lyon during the last half of the 19th. century a boules renaissance gave us “La BOULE LYONNAISE•.

1894
first tournament in Lyon with more than a thousand players, a three-day competition.

1906
the first federation is created for “BOULE LYONNAISE•

ca. 1910
In Provence, in the port of La Ciotat, the game of JEU PROVENÇAL gives birth to another game named Pétanque. The story goes that a champion player, wracked by rheumatism, could no longer play his beloved sport which requires a player to take three leaps when shooting. With his friends, he played instead a short game with both feet on the ground (in Provençal “ped tanco•, in French “pieds tanqués•). The game caught on in Marseille and little by little spread to all Provence.

1957
an international tournament is held in Spa,Belgium, with teams from six countries: France, Belgium, Morocco, Monaco, Switzerland and Tunisia. The participants decide to create a world body.

8.3.1958
The F.I.P.J.P. is founded by the six countries plus Spain.