Vesontio
| Besançon | |||
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| Motto: Plût A Dieu ("If God wills") or Utinam | |||
 Besançon
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Location within Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region
Besançon
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| Coordinates: 47°14′35″N 6°01′19″E / 47.2431°N 6.0219°ECoordinates: 47°14′35″N 6°01′19″E / 47.2431°N 6.0219°E | |||
| Country | France | ||
| Region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | ||
| Department | Doubs | ||
| Intercommunality | Grand Besançon | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Jean-Louis Fousseret (PS) | ||
| Area1 | 65.05 km2 (25.12 sq mi) | ||
| • Urban (1999) | 122 km2 (47 sq mi) | ||
| • Metro (1999) | 1,652 km2 (638 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2012)2 | 116,353 | ||
| • Rank | 29th in France | ||
| • Density | 1,800/km2 (4,600/sq mi) | ||
| • Urban (1999) | 134,376 | ||
| • Urban density | 1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi) | ||
| • Metro (1999) | 222,381 | ||
| • Metro density | 130/km2 (350/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| INSEE/Postal code | 25056 / | ||
| Website | http://www.besancon.fr/ | ||
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Besançon (French and Arpitan: French pronunciation: [bəzɑ̃sɔ̃]; archaic German: Bisanz, Latin: Vesontio) is the capital of the department of Doubs and the former capital of Franche-Comté, a region in eastern France close to the border with Switzerland, which has since been merged with the neighbouring region of Burgundy to become Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the capital of which is Dijon. In 2013, it had a population of 116,952.
Once proclaimed the first green city of France, it has been labeled a "Town of Art and History" since 1986. Since 2008, the Citadel of Besançon has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The city is first recorded in 58 BC as Vesontio in the Book I of Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The etymology of Vesontio is uncertain. The most common explanation is that the name is of Celtic origin, derived from wes, meaning 'mountain'. During the 4th century, the letter B took the place of the V, and the city name changed to Besontio or Bisontion and then underwent several transformations to become Besançon in 1243.
The city sits within an oxbow of the Doubs River (a tributary of the Saône River); a mountain closes the fourth side. During the Bronze Age, c.1500 BCE, tribes of Gauls settled the oxbow.
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