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
Roman Empire">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.
