Rhône-Alpes

**Rhône-Alpes** (; Arpitan: *Rôno-Arpes*; ) wis a admeenistrative region o Fraunce, locatit on the eastren border o the kintra, towards the sooth. The region wis named efter the Rhône River an the Alps muntain range. Its caipital, Lyon, is the seicont-lairgest metropolitan aurie in Fraunce efter Paris. Rhône-Alpes haes the saxt-lairgest economy o ony European region.

## Geography
Rhône-Alpes is locatit in the east o Fraunce.  Tae the north are the French regions o Bourgogne (Burgundy) an Franche-Comté, tae the wast it borders the region Auvergne, tae the sooth it borders Languedoc-Roussillon an Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The east o the region contains the wastmaist pairt o the Alps an borders Swisserland an Italy.  The heichest peak is Mont Blanc, on the French-Italian border.  The central pairt o the region comprises the river valleys o the Rhône an the Saône. The confluence o these twa rivers is at Lyon. The wastren pairt o the region contains the stairt o the Massif Central muntain range.  The region an aw borders or contains major lakes such as Lake Geneva (*Lac Léman*) an Lake Annecy.  The Ardèche River flows through the soothwast portion o the region, whaur it haes carved the deepest gorge in Europe.

As wi the rest o Fraunce, French is the anerlie offeecial leid o the region. Till the mid-20t century, Arpitan wis widely spaken in the whole region, while mony o the inhabitants o the sooth spoke varieties o Occitan; baith are in steep decline in this region. There are immigrant populations frae Armenie, Italy, North Africae, Poland an Portugal amangst ither places.

Rhône-Alpes is made up o the follaein *[[depairtments o Fraunce|départements]]*:
* Ain (01). Caipital: Bourg-en-Bresse
* Ardèche (07). Caipital: Privas
* Drôme (26). Caipital: Valence
* Isère (38). Caipital: Grenoble
* Loire (42). Caipital: Saint-Étienne
* Rhône (69). Caipital: Lyon
* Savoie (73). Caipital: Chambéry
* Haute-Savoie (74). Caipital: Annecy

## Population

Rhône-Alpes contains 3 major ceeties in Fraunce. It forms the triangle Lyon - Grenoble - Saint-Étienne. This triangle is the economic core o the region. These three urban auries are vera complementary, an hae smawer ceeties aroond, like satellites.

* Lyon aurie : 1,798,395 inhabitants (2008)
* Grenoble aurie : 560,453 inhabitants (2008)
* Saint-Étienne aurie : 321,703 inhabitants (1999)
* Valence aurie : 164,334 inhabitants (2008)

## Prefecturs
This leet is frae biggest agglomeration tae the smawest:
* Lyon (Rhône)
* Grenoble (Isère)
* Saint-Étienne (Loire)
* Valence (Drôme)
* Chambéry (Savoie)
* Annecy (Haute-Savoie)
* Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain)
* Privas (Ardèche)

## Major ceeties

## Sport
### Fitbaa

Rhône-Alpes is the hame o several successful fitbaa teams, includin Olympique Lyonnais an AS Saint-Étienne (ane o the umwhile clubs o Michel Platini). Anither team joined the french top-level in 2008 : Grenoble Foot 38.

### Winter Olympics
Rhône-Alpes region haes hostit the Winter Olympics three times; in 1924 at Chamonix, 1968 at Grenoble, an 1992 at Albertville. Annecy tried tae be 4th ceety, but it failed due tae Pyeongchang.

### Lakes
There are sax main lakes in Rhône-Alpes
* Lac de Paladru
* Lac d'Aiguebelette
* Lac du Bourget
* Lac d'Annecy
* Lac de Nantua
* Lac Léman

## See also
*Transport in Rhône-Alpes

## External links

*'''Rhône-Alpes sur the French Blend :'''  Français d'un Kiwi
*'''Rhône-Alpes Enterprise Europe Network :''' Innovation, technologies transfer and partnership in Europe 
*Rhône-Alpes Official Travel Information 
*'''Espace Innovation des CCI de Rhône-Alpes''': news, agenda, services
* Aerospace Cluster in Rhône-Alpes  - Network of Aerospace SMEs from the Rhône-Alpes Region, supported by the Regional Council
*'''Airport transfers in the Rhône-Alpes''' 

## References