The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook American Heritage Coll. The region is almost, but not fully, coextensive with the former provinces of Champagne and Brie. Abutting in the west on the Paris basin, Champagne is a generally arid, chalky plateau, cut by the Aisne, Marne, Seine, Aube, and Yonne rivers. Agriculture, except in the Ardennes dept., is mostly confined to the valleys.
Crests divide the plateau from northwest to southeast into several areas.
A narrow strip along the westernmost crest of Champagne is extremely fertile, and the small area around Reims and Epernay furnishes virtually all of the champagne wine exported by France. Reims and Troyes are the center of the area's textile industry. The St. Dizier area is a metallurgy center. Yet the same geographic position gave the towns of Champagne a commercial prosperity in direct contrast to the bleakness of the countryside. Merchants from all over western Europe met six times each year.