TITLE: What manifolds can have a (non-piecewise) linear structure?
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: By the definition I'm using, all manifolds are Hausdorff and second countable. For all non-negative integers $n$, I define $B_n$ to be $\bigl\{ \mathbf{v} \in \mathbf{R}^n : \lVert\mathbf{v}\rVert < 1 \bigr\}$.

For what manifolds does there exist an atlas of charts $c : U \to B_n$ such that the transition maps are all locally affine?

(Replacing "locally affine" with "piecewise affine" would make the answer, by definition, those manifolds for which there exists a piecewise linear structure.)

REPLY [11 votes]: If I am right, such manifolds are called affine manifolds. They are smooth manifolds together with a flat, torsion free connection.
Maybe it is worth recalling Chern's conjecture that the Euler characteristic of an affine manifold should vanish.
Kostant B. and Sullivan D. in: 
"The Euler characteristic of an affine space form is zero, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 81 (1975)", no. 5, 937-938
proved this conjecture in the case of the quotient of the ordinary space ${\mathbb R}^n$ by a discrete group of affine transformations.