Burgundy

**Burgundy** () is a former administrative region of France. It is now part of the administrative region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It was also a historic region in eastern France. The French adjective and name of the inhabitants of the region is _Bourguignon_.

With over , it is one of the largest region of France. It covers about 6% of the territory of the country.

The four departments in the region were Côte-d'Or, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire and Yonne. Its capital was Dijon.

## History

Burgundy was named for the Germanic Burgundian tribe who moved there from an island in the Baltic Sea.  They moved when the Roman Empire fell apart to set up a kingdom with its own laws. This included part of what is now Switzerland.

During the Middle Ages, Burgundy was ruled by dukes. In the 15th century it was very powerful. The dukes ruled lands as far north as the Netherlands. After Duke Charles the Bold died when he wanted to conquer the city of Nancy in 1477, France took southern Burgundy. It was a province until 1790. The House of Habsburg got the northern part, which later became the Southern Netherlands.

## Geography

The Burgundy region is one of the largest regions of Metropolitan France. It has an area of . It bordered with five other regions: Champagne-Ardenne to the north, Franche-Comté to the east, Rhône-Alpes to the southeast, Auvergne to the southwest, Centre-Val de Loire to the west and Île-de-France to the north.

Most of the territory of Burgundy is occupied by a plateau of low hills (the Burgundy Hills) surrounded by valleys of the main rivers. The valley of the Yonne river and its tributaries is to the north of the region. To the southeast is the valley of the Saône river.

In the centre of the plateau (and of the region), there is a group of low mountains: the Morvan. The highest point in Burgundy, the Haut-Folin (), is in these mountains, in the Saône-et-Loire department. It is  high.

The main rivers of the region are Yonne, Armançon, Loire, Seine and Saône.

The climate of Burgundy is an oceanic climate with temperate summers, "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate) in the Köppen climate classification.

## Departments

The Burgundy region is formed by four departments:
|Département|Préfecture|ISO 3166-2|Population <small>(2012)</small>|Area <small>(km²)</small>|Density <small>(Inh./km²)</small>|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Côte-d'Or|Dijon|align="center"|FR-21|align="right"|527,403|align="right"|8,763|align="center"||
|Nièvre|Nevers|align="center"|FR-58|align="right"|216,786|align="right"|6,817|align="center"||
|Saône-et-Loire|Mâcon|align="center"|FR-71|align="right"|555,039|align="right"|8,575|align="center"||
|Yonne|Auxerre|align="center"|FR-89|align="right"|341,902|align="right"|7,427|align="center"||

## Demographics

The Burgundy region has a population, in 2012, of 1,641,130, for a population density of  inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>.

The ten main cities in the region are:
|City|Population (2012)|Départment|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Dijon|152,071|Côte-d'Or|
|Chalon-sur-Saône|44,564|Saône-et-Loire|
|Nevers|35,327|Nièvre|
|Auxerre|35,096|Yonne|
|Mâcon|32,917|Saône-et-Loire|
|Sens|25,106|Yonne|
|Le Creusot|22,574|Saône-et-Loire|
|Beaune|21,806|Côte-d'Or|
|Montceau-les-Mines|18,956|Saône-et-Loire|
|Autun|14,124|Saône-et-Loire|

## Economy

The region is known for its wines, both red and white. Many well-known wines, such as Macon and Beaujolais, were first made here. A few wines are also the 'Arbois'-type.  Arbois wines are between red and white and almost yellow in colour.

## Other websites

- Regional Council of Burgundy official website
- Official website of Tourism of Burgundy
- Netbourgogne.com
- About-France.com: BURGUNDY - a short guide

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Burgundy
- **native name**: Bourgogne
- **native name lang**: fr
- **settlement type**: Regions of France, Region of France
- **image flag**: Flag of Bourgogne.svg
- **flag size**: 120px
- **image shield**: Blason fr Bourgogne.svg
- **image map**: Bourgogne in France.svg
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **extinct title**: Dissolved
- **extinct date**: 2016-01-01
- **seat type**: Prefectures in France, Prefecture
- **seat**: Dijon
- **parts type**: Departments of France, Departments
- **parts style**: list
- **parts**: 4
- **p1**: Côte-d'Or
- **p2**: Saône-et-Loire
- **p3**: Yonne
- **p4**: Nièvre
- **leader party**: Socialist Party (France), PS
- **leader title**: President of the Regional Council (France), President
- **leader name**: François Patriat
- **area total km2**: 31582
- **population total**: 1631000
- **population as of**: 2008-01-01
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone1**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset1**: +01:00
- **timezone1 dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +02:00
- **blank name sec1**: Gross domestic product, GDP (2012)
- **blank info sec1**: List of French regions and overseas collectivities by GDP, Ranked 16th
- **blank1 name sec1**: Total
- **blank1 info sec1**: €42.7 billion (US$55.0 bn)
- **blank2 name sec1**: Per capita
- **blank2 info sec1**: €25,996 (US$33,436)
- **blank name sec2**: First level NUTS of the European Union#France, NUTS Region
- **blank info sec2**: FR2
- **website**: [http://www.cr-bourgogne.fr/ cr-bourgogne.fr]
- **iso code**: FR-D