Cavaillon

Cavaillon, a town of south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse, 20 m. S.E. of Avignon by rail. Pop. (1906) town, 5760; commune, 9952. Cavaillon lies at the southern base of Mont St Jacques on the right bank of the Durance above its confluence with the Coulon. It has a hôtel de ville of the 18th century, a church of the 12th century, dedicated to St Véran, and the mutilated remains of a triumphal arch of the Roman period. The town is an important railway junction and the commercial centre of a rich and well-irrigated plain, which produces melons and other fruits, early vegetables (artichokes, tomatoes, celery, potatoes), and other products in profusion. Silk-worms are reared, and silk is an important article of trade. The preparation of preserved vegetables, fruits and other provisions, distilling, and the manufacture of straw hats and leather are carried on. Numerous minor relics of the Roman period have been found to the south of the present town, on the site of the ancient Cabellio, a place of some note in the territory of the Cavares. In medieval and modern history the town has for the most part followed the fortunes of the Comtat Venaissin, in which it was included. Till the time of the Revolution it was the see of a bishop, and had a large number of monastic establishments.

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