Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

and

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

. The new region came into existence on 1 January 2016, after the regional elections of December 2015, electing 100 members to the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The region covers an area of and eight

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

; it had a population of 2,811,423 in 2017. Its

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

and largest city is Dijon, although the

regional council Regional Council may refer to: * Regional Council (Hong Kong), disbanded in 1999 ** Regional Council (constituency) Regional council may refer to: * Regional council (Cameroon) * Regional council (France), the elected assembly of a region of Fra ...

sits in Besançon, making Bourgogne-Franche-Comté one of two regions in France (along with Normandy) in which the prefect does not sit in the same city as the regional council.

Toponymy

The text of the territorial reform law gives interim names for most of the merged regions, combining the names of their constituent regions separated by hyphens. Permanent names would be proposed by the new regional councils and confirmed by the Conseil d'État by 1 October 2016. Hence the interim name of the new administrative region is composed of the names of former administrative regions of

() and

. The region chose to retain its interim name as its permanent name, a decision made official by the Conseil d'État on 28 September 2016. The merger represents a historic reunification of the Duchy of Burgundy (Duché de Bourgogne) and the Free County of Burgundy (Franche Comté de Bourgogne) that were created by the partition of the Kingdom of Burgundy in the 843 Treaty of Verdun.

History

Middle Ages

The territory that is now Burgundy and Franche-Comté was already united under the Kingdom of Burgundy (from the 5th to the 8th century). It was divided into two parts: the Duchy of Burgundy (now Burgundy) of France, and the County of Burgundy (now Franche-Comté) of the Holy Roman Empire. The County was reintegrated as a free province within the Kingdom of France in the 17th century, separately from the Duchy which remained a vassal province of the Kingdom of France. These two former provinces were abolished during the French Revolution. Le royaume Burgonde au Ve siècle.png, The Kingdom of Burgundy during the 5th century. Duché et Comté de Bourgogne au XIVe siecle.svg,

Duchy A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

and County of Burgundy during the 14th century.

Modern times

Most of the area making up the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté used to belong to the former provinces of

and

, but it also includes a significant part of the former provinces of Nivernais (now Nièvre), Champagne (now the northern part of Yonne),

Orléanais The Duchy of Orléanais () is a former province of France, which was created during the Renaissance by merging four former counties and towns. However after the French Revolution, the province was dissolved in 1791 and succeeded by five ''départm ...

(now the southwestern part of Yonne), the Territoire de Belfort (the region of Alsace that remained French territory after

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

) and a small portion of Île-de-France (now the northwestern part of Yonne). From 1941 to 1944 the regional

of Vichy reunited

and

, as did the ' of Dijon from 1948 to 1964. During the formation of the regions of France,

and

once again became two separate regions, first as public establishments in 1972, then as territorial collectivities in 1982. On 14 April 2014, François Patriat and

Marie-Guite Dufay Marie-Marguerite Dufay, best known as Marie-Guite Dufay (born 21 May 1949), is a French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who serves as president of the regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Political career Dufay was first elected ...

(the presidents of

and

, respectively) announced in a press conference the desire for the merger of the two regions, further to the declarations of Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who proposed a simplification of the administrative divisions of France. On 2 June 2014 a map presented by President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

showed the two regions as one. These two regions were the only ones to have voluntarily discussed a merger, and their alliance was the only one not needing revision by the National Assembly or the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. ''Acte III de la décentralisation'' officially adopted the merger of the two regions on 17 December 2014. It became effective on 1 January 2016.

Geography

The region borders Grand Est to the north, Île-de-France to the northwest,

Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (, , ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (french: région Centre, link=no, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valley ...

to the west,

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA; ; frp, Ôvèrgne-Rôno-Ârpes; oc, Auvèrnhe Ròse Aups; it, Alvernia-Rodano-Alpi) is a region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Au ...

to the south and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(the cantons of Vaud,

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

and Jura) to the east. The distances from Besançon, where the regional council sits, to other cities, are: Paris, the national capital, ; Bordeaux, ; Toulouse, ; Marseille, ; Lyon, ;

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, ; Nice, .

Departments

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté comprises eight departments:

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Doubs, Jura, Nièvre, Haute-Saône,

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is Bo ...

, Yonne, Territoire de Belfort.

Major communities

The largest communes are (population as of 2017):Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017
INSEE. * Dijon (156,920; headquarters regional prefecture) * Besançon (115,934; headquarters regional council) * Belfort (47,656) *

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; h ...

(45,096) * Auxerre (34,634) * Mâcon (33,638) * Nevers (32,990)

Economy

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was €75.6 billion in 2018, accounting for 3.2% of the total economic output of France. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €24,200 or 80% of the European Union average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 96 % of the EU average.

Gallery

File:Besancon boucle Doubs.jpg, The old city of Besançon in the oxbow of the Doubs River File:Rue Verrerie 005.jpg, Verrerie Street, Dijon File:Belvoir, le château.jpg, Belvoir Castle File:Hôtel du département 1.JPG, Departmental Council building, Belfort File:Nevers-Palais ducal.JPG,

Palais ducal de Nevers The Ducal Palace of Nevers (french: Palais ducal de Nevers) is a residence castle of the 15th and 16th centuries that once belonged to the counts and dukes of Nevers. Located in Nevers, France, it is classified as a French '' monument historiq ...

File:Port fluvial d'Auxerre en 2006.jpg, The Yonne River at Auxerre File:Vignobles de Volnay.jpg, Vineyards in Volnay

References

External links

Merger of the regions - France 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourgogne-Franche-Comte Regions of France 2016 establishments in France States and territories established in 2016