Franche-Comté is a
region of eastern
France comprising the
départements of
Doubs,
Jura and
Haute-Saône as well as the small
Territoire de Belfort. It covers 16,200 sq. km. with 1,120,000 inhabitants. The principal cities are
Besançon (the historic capital of the region) and
Belfort[?].
A territory of
Burgundy from
888, the province became subject to the
Holy Roman Empire in
1034 and was definitively separated from the neighbouring duchy of Burgundy upon the latter's incorporation into France in
1477. Transferred to
Spain in
1556, the Franche-Comté was occupied by the French in
1668 but handed back at the subsequent peace; conquered a second time in
1674, it was ceded to France in
1678.
The region's population fell by a fifth between the censuses of 1851 and 1946, reflecting low French natural growth and migration to more urbanised parts of the country. Most of the decline occurred in Haute-Saône and Jura, which remain among the country's more agriculture-dependent areas.
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