Belfort | ||
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An aerial view of Belfort with the cathedral of Saint-Christophe in the foreground
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Coordinates: 47°38′N 6°51′E / 47.64°N 6.85°ECoordinates: 47°38′N 6°51′E / 47.64°N 6.85°E | ||
Country | France | |
Region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | |
Department | Territoire de Belfort | |
Arrondissement | Belfort | |
Canton | Cantons of Belfort-Centre, Belfort-Est, Belfort-Nord, Belfort-Ouest, and Belfort-Sud | |
Intercommunality | Belfortaine | |
Government | ||
• Mayor (2014–2020) | Damien Meslot | |
Area1 | 17.10 km2 (6.60 sq mi) | |
Population (2011)2 | 50,128 | |
• Density | 2,900/km2 (7,600/sq mi) | |
• Urban (2008) | 112,336 | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
INSEE/Postal code | 90010 / 90000 | |
Dialling codes | 0384 | |
Elevation | 354–650 m (1,161–2,133 ft) (avg. 358 m or 1,175 ft) |
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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. |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Belfort [French pronunciation: [bɛl.fɔʁ]] is a city in northeastern France in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté région, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg. It is the biggest town and the administrative town of the Territoire de Belfort département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. Belfort is 400 km (249 mi) from Paris, 141 km (88 mi) from Strasbourg, 290 km (180 mi) from Lyon and 150 km (93 mi) from Zürich. The residents of the city are called ‘’Belfortains’’. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap (Trouée de Belfort) or Burgundian Gate (Porte de Bourgogne). The city of Belfort has 50,199 inhabitants. Together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Belfort forms the largest agglomeration (metropolitan area) in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region with an urban population of 308,601 inhabitants.
Belfort's strategic location, in a natural gap between the Vosges and the Jura, on a route linking the Rhine and the Rhône, has attracted human settlement and made it a target for armies.
The site of Belfort was inhabited in Gallo-Roman times and was subsequently recorded in the 13th century as a possession of the counts of Montbéliard, who granted it a charter in 1307.