Jura ( , ) is a department in the

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 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 and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in Eastern France. Named after the Jura Mountains, its prefecture is Lons-le-Saunier. Its subprefectures are

Dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...

and Saint-Claude. In 2019, Jura had a population of 259,199.Populations légales 2019: 39 Jura
INSEE Its INSEE code is 39. It has a short portion of the border of Switzerland.

History

Historically, Jura belonged to the

Free County of Burgundy The Free County of Burgundy or Franche-Comté (french: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; german: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, predecessor to the modern region of Franche-Comté. The name ' ...

, known in French as the Franche-Comté.

was the capital until the region was conquered by

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

and the capital was moved to

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

. Dole is now a ''sous-préfecture'', or sub-prefecture, of Jura. As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the southern two-thirds of Jura spoke a dialect of Arpitan language. It continued to be spoken in rural areas into the 20th century. Jura is one of the original 83 departments of France, it being created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

on 4 March 1790. It was established from part of the former province of Franche-Comté. The prefecture is Lons-le-Saunier.

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Principal towns

The most populous commune is

; the prefecture Lons-le-Saunier is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:

Geography

Jura is one of eight departments of the

region and is surrounded by the French departments of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, and

Ain Ain (, ; frp, En) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where ...

, as well as the Swiss canton of

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

on the east. The Jura mountains are wooded and rolling, not craggy and rocky like the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. Many lakes can be found throughout the Jura, the largest natural lake being Lac de Chalain, measuring 3 km long and 1 km wide. Lac de Vouglans was formed after the building of a hydro-electric dam. It is one of the largest man-made lakes in France.

Politics

Departmental politics

The

President of the Departmental Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council ( French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depa ...

has been Clément Pernot (

miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against their party's candi ...

) since 2015.

Members of the National Assembly

In the 2017 legislative election, Jura elected the following representatives to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

Climate

The climate of the Jura varies greatly by elevation. The lower

valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

are temperate and pleasant, but the high mountain valleys have bitterly cold winters.

Economy

Jura is a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

-growing region. The

Jura wine Jura may refer to: Places * Jura, Scotland, island of the Inner Hebrides off Great Britain *Jūra, river in Lithuania Mountain ranges * Jura Mountains, on the French–Swiss–German border *Franconian Jura, south-central Germany *Swabian Jura, ...

s are very distinctive and unusual wines, such as

vin jaune ''Vin jaune'' ( French for "yellow wine") is a special and characteristic type of white wine made in the Jura region in eastern France. It is similar to dry fino Sherry and gets its character from being matured in a barrel under a film of y ...

, which is made by a similar process to

sherry Sherry ( es, jerez ) is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versi ...

, developing under a flor of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

. This is made from the local

Savagnin Savagnin or Savagnin blanc (not to be confused with Sauvignon blanc) is a variety of white wine grape with green-skinned berries. It is mostly grown in the Jura region of France, where it is made into Savagnin wine or the famous vin jaune and vi ...

grape variety. Other grape varieties include

Poulsard Poulsard (also Ploussard) is a red French wine grape variety from the Jura wine region. The name Ploussard is used mainly around the town of Pupillin but can appear on wine labels throughout Jura as an authorized synonyms. While technically a ...

Trousseau Trousseau may refer to: *A dowry *The wardrobe of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing *A hope chest, glory box or its contents *Trousseau (grape), a wine grape also known as Bastardo ** Trousseau Gris, a white mutation of the ...

, and Chardonnay. The department contains no industrial cities: the few towns function as administrative and commercial centres serving Jura's

rural economy Rural economics is the study of rural economies. Rural economies include both agricultural and non-agricultural industries, so rural economics has broader concerns than agricultural economics which focus more on food systems. Rural developmen ...

. In the absence of large-scale industrial enterprises, small artisanal businesses play an important role. The Jura CFA ''(Centre for apprenticeship and training)'' recently recorded 752 current apprenticeships in trades such as building, baking, butchery, hair dressing, car repairing, sales and other non-factory based occupations.

Tourism

The Jura mountains provide ample opportunities for hiking, skiing, as well as other winter sports. File:Dole quartier des tanneurs.jpg,

File:L'abbaye de Baume-les-Messieurs.jpg,

Baume Abbey Baume Abbey, in its village of Baume-les-Messieurs, Jura, France, was founded as a Benedictine abbey not far from the still-travelled Roman road linking Besançon and Lyon. It stands near the source of the Dard. Around it the village of Bau ...

File:Poligny - Jura - France.JPG, Poligny File:Château-Chalon - site.JPG, Château-Chalon File:Lac de Vouglans(2).JPG, Lac de Vouglans File:Domaine des cascades.jpg,

Baume-les-Messieurs Baume-les-Messieurs () is a commune in the Jura department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The village lies within the most extensive of the steephead valleys of the Jura escarpment, the ''Reculée de Baume''. ...