Alsace is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,919,745. Alsatian culture is characterized by a blend of German and French influences.
Bas-Rhin is a département in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin department. Both belong to the European Upper Rhine region. It is, with the Haut-Rhin, one of the two departments of the traditional Alsace region which until 1871, also included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort. The more populous and densely populated of the pair, it had 1,152,662 inhabitants in 2021. The prefecture is based in Strasbourg. The INSEE and Post Code is 67.
Haut-Rhin is a département in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departments of the former administrative Alsace region, the other being the Bas-Rhin. Especially after the 1871 cession of the southern territory known since 1922 as Territoire de Belfort, although it is still rather densely populated compared to the rest of metropolitan France. It had a population of 767,083 in 2021.
Alsace–Lorraine, officially the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine, was a territory of the German Empire, located in modern-day France. It was established in 1871 by the German Empire after it had occupied the region during the Franco-Prussian War. The region was officially ceded to the German Empire in the Treaty of Frankfurt. French resentment about the loss of the territory was one of the contributing factors to World War I. Alsace–Lorraine was formally ceded back to France in 1920 as part of the Treaty of Versailles following Germany's defeat in the war, but already annexed in practice at the war's end in 1918.
Colmar is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace, it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department and of the subprefecture of the Colmar-Ribeauvillé arrondissement.
The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, sometimes also Haut-Kœnigsbourg, is a medieval castle located in the commune of Orschwiller in the Bas-Rhin département of Alsace, France. Located in the Vosges mountains just west of Sélestat, situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The November 1918 insurgency in Alsace–Lorraine is a series of events which occurred when the region of Alsace–Lorraine passed from German to French sovereignty at the end of World War I. During this month, international events were linked to domestic troubles, particularly the German Revolution.
Saint-Hippolyte is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Metzeral is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. The commune is located in the historical and cultural region of Alsace.
Grandfontaine is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. In the German dialect of the region it is called Grosbrun.
The history of the Jews in Alsace is one of the oldest in Europe. It was first attested to in 1165 by Benjamin of Tudela, who wrote about a "large number of learned men" in "Astransbourg"; and it is assumed that it dates back to around the year 1000. Although Jewish life in Alsace was often disrupted by outbreaks of pogroms, at least during the Middle Ages, and reined in by harsh restrictions on business and movement, it has had a continuous existence ever since it was first recorded. At its peak, in 1870, the Jewish community of Alsace numbered 35,000 people.
Grand Est is an administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine, as a result of territorial reform which had been passed by the French Parliament in 2014.
The coat of arms of the French region of Alsace is a combination of the historic coats of arms of Départements Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin.
The Alsace independence movement is a cultural, ideological and political regionalist movement for greater autonomy or outright independence of Alsace.
The European Collectivity of Alsace is a territorial collectivity in the Alsace region of France. On 1 January 2021, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin merged to form a territorial collectivity, but remained part of the Grand Est region. The creation of this new entity was approved by the French Parliament on 25 July 2019 and Law 2019-816, which delimits its powers, was promulgated on 2 August 2019.
The Province of Alsace was an administrative region of the Kingdom of France and one of the many provinces formed in the late 1600s. In 1648, the Landgraviate of Upper-Alsace was absorbed into the Kingdom of France and subsequently became the Province of Alsace, which it remain an integral part of for almost 150 years. In 1790, as a result of the decree dividing France into departments, the province was disestablished and split into three departments: Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and part of Moselle.
The Departmental Council of Bas-Rhin was the deliberative assembly of the French department of Bas-Rhin. Its headquarters were in Place du Quartier Blanc in Strasbourg.
The Assembly of Alsace is the deliberative assembly which has administered the European Collectivity of Alsace (CEA) since 1 January 2021.
Frédéric Bierry is a French politician who was a member of the UMP, then of the Republicans.
The Departmental Council of Haut-Rhin was the deliberative assembly of the French department of Haut-Rhin. It included 34 departmental councillors from the 17 cantons of Haut-Rhin. Its headquarters were in Colmar.
