Escarton, from the French écarter, means to share and more specifically to divide taxes into quarters, since there were originally four territories here. On 29 May 1343, in Beavoir en Royans, the Dauphin Humbert II, together with 18 representatives of the Alpine valleys, signed the Charter of Liberty. With this act the Dauphin recognised the right of the mountain communities to self governement, according them all the title of «franc bourgeois». As time went by, this territory was popularly known as the Republic of the Escarton. The French and the Italians inhabitants of the valleys developed their own customs, and love for enterprise and adventure joined hands with a desire for knowledge. Education was compulsory and managed entirely in the Escarton by the consuls. Today, people in the former republic still speak a Provencal dialect.