Alsace makasaysayang rehiyon at dating région, Pransya

Alsace, makasaysayang rehiyon at dating région ng Pransya, na isinama mula noong Enero 2016 sa région ng Grand Est. Bilang isang pang-administratibong nilalang, sumasaklaw ito sa mga departamento ng Haut-Rhin ("Upper Rhine") at Bas-Rhin ("Lower Rhine") at nahigpitan ng mga région ng Lorraine sa kanluran at Franche-Comté sa timog-kanluran. Ang Switzerland ay namamalagi sa timog ng Alsace, at hinawakan ito ng Alemanya sa silangan at hilaga.

Pransya: Ang Alsace Plain

Ang East ng Paris Basin ay ang Alsace Plain, na hangganan ng Vosges sa kanluran, ang Saône basin sa timog-kanluran, ang

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Heograpiya

Ang mga likas na hangganan sa Alsace ay kinabibilangan ng mga Vosges Mountains sa kanluran at Rhine River sa silangan. Ang massif ng Vosges ay unti-unting nagbibigay daan patungo sa kapatagan ng Alsace, habang sa timog ang rehiyon ng Sundgau sa southern Haut-Rhin ay tumataas sa Jura Mountains. Ang Alsace ay isa sa mga mas mayabong na rehiyon sa gitnang Europa. Ang mga burol ay karaniwang mayaman na kahoy, higit sa lahat na may fir, beech, at oak. Ang taunang pag-ulan ay medyo mababa, mula 20 hanggang 28 pulgada (500 hanggang 700 mm).

Ang Alsace ay may isang mayaman, lubos na masinsinang agrikultura na nailalarawan sa pamamagitan ng maliliit na bukid. Totoo ito lalo na sa mga ubasan na namumuno sa mga bukol ng Vosges. Ang Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Auxerrois, at Pinot Blanc ay kabilang sa mga kilalang puting alak na ginawa. Ang Colmar ay pangunahing punong sentro ng lumalagong alak, na ang mga ubasan ay umaabot sa isang makitid na guhit sa kahabaan ng mas mababang mga dalisdis ng Vosges kanluran ng lungsod. Ang mga bahagi ng alluvial plain ng Alsace (halimbawa, kanluran ng Strasbourg) ay nakatuon sa mga cereal, ngunit ang mga pang-industriyang pananim ay malawak na nilinang at kasama ang mga sugar beets, hops, at tabako. Ang rehiyon ay kilala rin para sa asparagus at foie gras.

The industrial economy of Alsace is strong and diversified. Textile manufacturing, based in and around Mulhouse, is one of the region’s oldest industries, though now it has little importance. Machinery production, in part related to textiles, and food and beverage industries (milling, brewing, canning) are also long established. More recent industries include automobile assembly and component manufacture, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and telecommunications. Much of the investment in industry originates outside France, notably in Germany, Japan, and the United States. A large number of workers from Alsace commute to factories in Germany and Switzerland. The service sector has grown rapidly in fields such as retailing, business services, higher education, and research. Strasbourg in particular has benefited from this trend.

Outside the Vosges massif, Alsace is densely populated (twice the national average) and has a well-developed urban network dominated by the cities of Strasbourg, Mulhouse, and Colmar. Rural population densities are among the highest in France. A network of motorways traverses Alsace, and a regional airport is located in Strasbourg. There is also an extensive port and industrial zone bordering the Rhine. Apart from its use as a waterway, the Rhine is used to generate hydroelectric power, and a nuclear power station stands on its banks at Fessenheim.

History

The area was conquered by the Roman legions of Julius Caesar in the 1st century bce and had been profoundly Romanized by the time of the invasion of the Alemanni in the 5th century ce. The Alemanni, however, were conquered by the Franks under Clovis in 496, and Alsace became a Frankish duchy. Under Merovingian rule the area was Christianized and colonized.

Alsace was incorporated into Lotharingia in the mid-9th century and was united with the German territories of the Carolingians by the Treaty of Mersen (870). It was attached to what became known as the Holy Roman Empire until the 17th century. During that period its territory was divided into a number of secular and ecclesiastical lordships and municipalities, which remained significant until the French Revolution. The medieval period was also marked by the growing importance of its cities—e.g., Strasbourg, Colmar, and Haguenau, which, with the support of the emperors, gradually freed themselves from their feudal overlords.

Protestantism made important gains in Alsace during the Reformation, and Strasbourg, where the reformer Martin Bucer was especially prominent, became the centre of Alsatian Protestantism. That city’s Protestant influence was countered, however, by the resolute Roman Catholicism of the Habsburgs, who tried to eradicate heresy in upper Alsace.

French influence began to be felt in Alsace late in the 16th century, during the Wars of Religion. This influence grew during the Thirty Years’ War, when the Alsatian cities, caught between the opposing Catholic and Protestant sides and feeling their liberties threatened, appealed to France for help. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) gave France an informal protectorate over Alsace, and full control was established during the reign of Louis XIV, after the French had occupied Strasbourg in 1681.

In the 18th century Alsace enjoyed considerable autonomy under the French crown, and Alsatians took advantage of their status outside the French customs system to develop a flourishing transit trade. The administrative incorporation of Alsace into France was completed by the French Revolution (1789), when the area was administratively divided into the two départements of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, and its existence as a separate province was ended. The people of Alsace continued to speak a German dialect known as Alsatian, but the use of French spread among the upper classes.

From 1815 to 1870 Alsace actively participated in French national life. The introduction of universal suffrage (1848) and the building of railways helped to bind France and its eastern frontier province closely together. These links were shattered at the end of the Franco-German War (1870–71), however, when Alsace was detached from France and annexed to the German Empire. (For the history of Alsace under German rule, see Alsace-Lorraine.)

Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, Alsace was returned to France under the Treaty of Versailles, along with part of the région of Lorraine. During the interwar years, German influence remained strong in the two recovered régions, and in the early 1940s Alsace was once again annexed by Germany, for the duration of World War II. In the postwar years, however, French hegemony reclaimed Alsace, though some cultural ties to Germany remained. In 2016 the région of Alsace was merged with Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne as part of a national plan to increase bureaucratic efficiency. Residents selected the name Grand Est (“Great East”) as the shortened form for the new administrative division, but, in a nod to historical regional identities, the longer name Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine was retained for official correspondence.