Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (UK: /ˌfrɒ̃ʃ kɒ̃ˈteɪ/, US: /- koʊnˈ-/; French: [fʁɑ̃ʃ kɔ̃te] ⓘ; Frainc-Comtou: Fraintche-Comtè; Arpitan: Franche-Comtât; also German: Freigrafschaft; Spanish: Franco Condado; all lit. 'Free County') is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, Jura, Haute-Saône and the Territoire de Belfort. In 2021, its population was 1,179,601.
Franche-Comté
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Coat of arms | |
| Motto(s): Comtois, rends-toi ! Nenni, ma foi ! Comtois, surrender! No, my faith! | |
| Coordinates: 47°00′N 6°00′E | |
| Country | France |
| Dissolved | 1 January 2016 |
| Prefecture | Besançon |
| Departments | 4
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| Area | |
| • Total | 16,202 km2 (6,256 sq mi) |
| Population (1 January 2021) | |
| • Total | 1,179,601 |
| • Density | 73/km2 (190/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Comtois |
| Gross Regional Product | |
| • Total | €32.523 billion |
| • Per capita | €27,700 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| ISO 3166 code | FR-I |
| NUTS Region | FR43 |
| Website | www.franche-comte.fr (Redirects to www.bourgognefranchecomte.fr) |
From 1956 to 2015, the Franche-Comté was a French administrative region. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
The region is named after the Franche Comté de Bourgogne (Free County of Burgundy), definitively separated from the region of Burgundy proper in the fifteenth century. In 2016, these two-halves of the historic Kingdom of Burgundy were reunited, as the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is also the 6th biggest region in France. The name "Franche-Comté" is feminine because the word "comté" in the past was generally feminine, although today it is masculine.
The principal cities are the capital Besançon, Belfort and Montbéliard. Other important cities are Dole (the capital before the region was conquered by Louis XIV in the late seventeenth century), Vesoul (capital of Haute-Saône), Arbois (the "wine capital" of the Jura), and Lons-le-Saunier (the capital of Jura).