The Chizerots are a historic group of people living in a small locality in

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...

, France, who are somewhat different in appearance and customs to their neighbours. Their origins are uncertain. North of

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M ...

and south of

Tournus Tournus () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Geography Tournus is located on the right bank of the Saône, 20 km. northeast of Mâcon on the Paris-Lyon railway. Popu ...

, on both banks of the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

, there are, on one side, the villages of Boz, Ozan, Arbigny and

Sermoyer Sermoyer () is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ain department The following is a list of the 393 communes of the Ain department of France. The communes cooperate in the follo ...

, whose inhabitants call themselves Burkins, and on the other side, the village of Uchizy, whose inhabitants go by the name of Chizerots, In contradiction to M. Reboud, M. Reinaud seems to doubt their Saracen origin: "In 1862 I went to Uchizy and Arbigny; several persons there told me themselves that they were of Arabian or Saracenic origin. In the midst of numerous individuals, having apparently no very distinct anthropological characters, some very black haired women differed from the inhabitants of the neighbourhood by their tall and slender figure; their elongated faces, without malar prominences, by their uniform and dark complexion, by their large eyes, long eyelashes, black, thick and arched eye- brows, by their physiognomy, melancholy, yet regular and beautiful; for one of these young Chizerotes, when the French empress passed through Macon, had been appointed, as the most beautiful girl of the whole district, to offer a bouquet to her sovereign. That type seems more Arabian than Berberic."Memoirs Read Before the Anthropological Society of London, Anthropological Society of London,Trübner and Co. 1870

References

{{Reflist Burgundy Ain Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Saône-et-Loire Ethnic groups in France