Mont-Terrible
Mont-Terrible (French: [mɔ̃ tɛ.ʁibl]) was a department of the First French Republic, with its seat at Porrentruy.
Department of Mont-Terrible | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1793–1800 | |||||||||||
Mont-Terrible and its arrondissements | |||||||||||
| Status | Department of the French First Republic | ||||||||||
| Chef-lieu | Porrentruy 47°25′N 7°5′E | ||||||||||
| Official languages | French | ||||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||||
| Historical era | French Revolutionary Wars | ||||||||||
| 19 December 1792 | |||||||||||
| 23 March 1793 | |||||||||||
| 1 March 1797 | |||||||||||
| 18 October 1797 | |||||||||||
| 17 February 1800 | |||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1797 census | 35,954 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
The Mont Terrible for which the department was named is now known as Mont Terri, a peak of 804 metres (2638') near Courgenay (now in the canton of Jura, Switzerland). The toponym of Mont Terrible was formed by popular etymology from an earlier Frainc-Comtou Mont Tairi, from tari "arid, dry".
The department was created in 1793 with the annexation of the short-lived Rauracian Republic, which had been created in December 1792 from the imperial part of the Prince-Bishopric of Basel.
In 1797, the former Württemberg-owned Principality of Montbéliard, which had previously been given to Haute-Saône, was reattached to Mont-Terrible, together with the remaining Swiss part of the Bishopric of Basel after the French attack to the Elvetic nation.
The department was abolished in 1800. Its territory was annexed to the Haut-Rhin, within which it formed the two arrondissements of Delémont and Porrentruy.
In 1815, the territory that had previously formed Mont-Terrible was partitioned between Doubs (Montbéliard) and the Swiss canton of Bern (now forming the canton of Jura and the Bernese Jura).