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Ain

Department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

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Through Switzerland and Neolithic

Ain is composed of four geographically different areas - (Bresse, Dombes, Bugey and Pays de Gex) - each of which contributes to the diverse and dynamic economic development of the department. In Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk and cheese production as well as poultry farming. In Dombes pisciculture assumes greater importance, as does winemaking in Bugey.

Ain's prefecture is Bourg-en-Bresse. It is bordered by Jura to the north, Saône-et-Loire to the northwest, Rhône and the Lyon Metropolis to the southwest, Isère to the south and Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Switzerland to the east.

In the alphabetical ordering of French departments, used for postal and demographic purposes among others, Ain comes first and is thus assigned the number 01 as its department number.

History

The first inhabitants settled in the territory of today's Ain about 15000 BC. The menhir of Pierrefiche in Simandre-sur-Suran dates from the mid-Neolithic era, in the fourth or third millennium BC. The late-second century BC Calendar of Coligny bears the oldest surviving Gaulish inscription.

In 58 BC Julius Caesar's military action against the Helvetians, advancing through Gaul over the territory of today's Ain, marked the beginning of the Gallic Wars.

Under the Merovingians the four historic regions of the modern department belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy. At the start of the 6th century AD the diocese of Belley (Bellicum) was created as the first bishopric in the region. Abbeys of the order of Saint Benedict were established in the valleys.

In 843 the Treaty of Verdun assigned the territories that comprised Ain to the kingdom of Lothar I (Lotharingia). The first big fiefdoms (seigneuries) emerged between 895 and 900 in Bâgé-le-Châtel, which formed the nucleus of the pays of Bresse, and in Coligny. Numerous castles were erected in a low rolling terrain that was not otherwise easily defended. In the 12th century Romanesque architecture flourished.

In the 11th century the Counts of Savoy and Valromey settled in the region of Belley. In 1272, when Sibylle de Bâgé, sole heir, married Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, they added Bresse to their domains and – by the Treaties of Paris in 1355 – the territories of Dauphiné and Gex on the right bank of the Rhône.

At the start of the 15th century almost the whole region of Ain was united under the house of Savoy. New monasteries were founded in the cities and churches were constructed or reshaped in the Gothic style of architecture.

At the start of the 16th century the Duchy of Savoy was at the peak of its power and Ain was inherited by Margaret of Habsburg, the widow of Philibert II, Duke of Savoy. In Brou she erected a church and a monastery in late-Gothic style. Bourg-en-Bresse became a bishop's see. After Margaret's death, Francis I of France, a nephew of the Dukes of Savoy, claimed the Duchy for himself and conquered it in 1536. Following a treaty concluded in 1559 in Savoy the territory of Ain was restored to the Duke of Savoy, who immediately started fortifying it. During the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601, Henri IV of France reconquered the region, although the citadel of Bourg remained impregnable. The Treaty of Lyon of 17 January 1601 finally ended the conflict. Ain now belonged to Burgundy.

In the 17th century sculpture, painting and literature prospered. During the 18th century streets and small industries emerged. On 28 March 1762 the Count of Eu, son of the Duke of Maine, ceded the region of Dombes to Louis XV.

In 1790, during the French Revolution, the departments of Ain and Léman were created. Ain was subdivided into nine districts, 49 cantons (now 23 cantons) and 501 communes. The Revolution did not claim many victims in the department but it destroyed numerous valuable historical monuments. During the first French Consulate (1802) the districts were abolished. The Congress of Vienna dissolved the department of Léman and assigned the arrondissement of Gex to the department of Ain. However seven communes of Gex were given to Geneva to link Canton of Geneva with rest of Switzerland after the second Treaty of Paris was signed on 20 November 1815: Bellevue, Collex-Bossy, Meyrin, Pregny, Grand-Saconnex, Vernier and finally Versoix.

During the French Revolution and the First Empire a large number of churches were destroyed, but in 1823 the diocese of Belley was refounded. The Curé of Ars became famous. During the Second French Empire numerous churches were rebuilt, agriculture changed profoundly and the railways expanded.

Owing to its distance from the front line the department was spared the destruction of World War I (1914–1918). However the majority of the vineyards could no longer be cultivated and disappeared. Industrialization of the department began in Oyonnax and Bellegarde. Construction of the Barrage de Génissiat started in 1937.

World War II (1939–1945) struck the department of Ain hard and took its toll as 600 people were deported, half whom did not return. Commemorating this tragic era are the monument of the Maquis in Cerdon, the memorial of the children of Izieu and the museum of the resistance and deportation in Nantua.

In the second half of the 20th century industrialisation of the department proceeded, favoured by an expansive road and railway network.

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