Region of E France; area 16,200 sq km/6,253
sq mi; population (1987) 1,086,000. Its
capital is Besancon, and it includes the
departements of Doubs, Jura, Haute Saone, and
Territoire de Belfort. In the mountainous
Jura, there is farming and forestry, and
elsewhere there are engineering and plastics
industries. Once independent and ruled by its
own count, it was disputed by France,
Burgundy, Austria, and Spain from the 9th
century until it became a French province
under the Treaty of Nijmegen 1678.