Jura ( , ) is a department in the

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in Eastern France. Named after the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Fre ...

, its prefecture is

Lons-le-Saunier Lons-le-Saunier () is a commune and capital of the Jura Department, eastern France. Geography The town is in the heart of the Revermont region, at the foot of the first plateau of the Jura massif. The Jura escarpment extends to the east and ...

. Its subprefectures are Dole and Saint-Claude. In 2019, Jura had a population of 259,199.Populations légales 2019: 39 Jura
INSEE Its INSEE code is 39. It has a short portion of the border of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Historically, Jura belonged to the

Free County of Burgundy The Free County of Burgundy or Franche-Comté (french: Franche Comté de Bourgogne; german: Freigrafschaft Burgund) was a medieval county (from 982 to 1678) of the Holy Roman Empire, predecessor to the modern region of Franche-Comté. The name ...

, known in French as the

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

. Dole was the capital until the region was conquered by

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

and the capital was moved to Besançon. Dole is now a ''sous-préfecture'', or sub-prefecture, of Jura. As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the southern two-thirds of Jura spoke a dialect of Arpitan language. It continued to be spoken in rural areas into the 20th century. Jura is one of the original 83 departments of France, it being created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

on 4 March 1790. It was established from part of the former province of

. The prefecture is

Demographics

Population development since 1801:

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Dole; the prefecture

is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:

Geography

Jura is one of eight departments of the

region and is surrounded by the French departments of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Haute-Saône,

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Saône-et-Loire, and Ain, as well as the Swiss canton of Vaud on the east. The Jura mountains are wooded and rolling, not craggy and rocky like the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. Many lakes can be found throughout the Jura, the largest natural lake being Lac de Chalain, measuring 3 km long and 1 km wide. Lac de Vouglans was formed after the building of a hydro-electric dam. It is one of the largest man-made lakes in France.

Politics

Departmental politics

The

President of the Departmental Council In France, the President of the Departmental Council ( French: ''Président du Conseil départemental'') is the locally elected head of the departmental council, the assembly governing a department in France. The position is elected by the depar ...

has been Clément Pernot (

miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against their party's can ...

) since 2015.

Members of the National Assembly

In the 2017 legislative election, Jura elected the following representatives to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

Climate

The climate of the Jura varies greatly by elevation. The lower

valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ...

are temperate and pleasant, but the high mountain valleys have bitterly cold winters.

Economy

Jura is a

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

-growing region. The Jura wines are very distinctive and unusual wines, such as vin jaune, which is made by a similar process to sherry, developing under a flor of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

. This is made from the local Savagnin grape variety. Other grape varieties include Poulsard, Trousseau, and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

. The department contains no industrial cities: the few towns function as administrative and commercial centres serving Jura's rural economy. In the absence of large-scale industrial enterprises, small artisanal businesses play an important role. The Jura CFA ''(Centre for apprenticeship and training)'' recently recorded 752 current apprenticeships in trades such as building, baking, butchery, hair dressing, car repairing, sales and other non-factory based occupations.

Tourism

The Jura mountains provide ample opportunities for hiking, skiing, as well as other winter sports. File:Dole quartier des tanneurs.jpg, Dole File:L'abbaye de Baume-les-Messieurs.jpg,

Baume Abbey Baume Abbey, in its village of Baume-les-Messieurs, Jura, France, was founded as a Benedictine abbey not far from the still-travelled Roman road linking Besançon and Lyon. It stands near the source of the Dard. Around it the village of Baum ...

File:Poligny - Jura - France.JPG,

Poligny Poligny is the name of several communes in France: * Poligny, Aube * Poligny, Hautes-Alpes * Poligny, Jura Poligny () is a commune in the Jura department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The town stands at the foot of the firs ...

File:Château-Chalon - site.JPG,

Château-Chalon Château-Chalon () is a commune in the Jura department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The commune is perched on a cliff in the first fold of the Jura mountains. It is reached from the west by a road with numerous hairpin curves. I ...

File:Lac de Vouglans(2).JPG, Lac de Vouglans File:Domaine des cascades.jpg,

Baume-les-Messieurs Baume-les-Messieurs () is a commune in the Jura department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The village lies within the most extensive of the steephead valleys of the Jura escarpment, the ''Reculée de Baume''. ...