Alsace

Alsace (Alsatian and Alemannic German: Elsàss, pre-1996 German: Elsaß) is an administrative region of France. In 2021, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin, in France's Grand Est  administrative region, were combined to form the current European Collectivity of Alsace. The new entity is a territorial collectivity with all of the powers of a standard department, plus some of the powers of a French region. Alsace is on the eastern border of France, on the west bank of the Upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. 

Before the region merged with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine in 2014, data from INSEE stated that about 1.8 million people lived there as of 2013. Its capital was Strasbourg, the largest city. It changed hands between France and Germany many times. Language, cuisine, music, dress and customs were Germanic, and very close to the Swabian ones across the Rhine. The overall culture was generally more German than French, being somewhere between German and French.  

Alsace was part of the Holy Roman Empire and was still inhabited by people speaking a dialect of Upper German.  In the 17th century, all of Alsace was annexed (in steps) under King Louis XIV of France. He made it one of the provinces of France. 

The Treaty of Verdun had divided the empire of Charlemagne in the 9th century, eventually causing Alsace to be frequently mentioned in conjunction with Lorraine, because the possession of these two régions (as Alsace-Lorraine) was often contested in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

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