Bernese Jura

Geschichte

Bernese Jura is the name for the French-speaking area of the Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten administrative divisions of the canton.Comprising the three French-speaking districts in the northern part of the canton, it contains 40 municipalities with an area of 541.71km2 and a population of. More than 90% of the population of the three districts speak French.The Bernese Jura of today comprises only three out of a total of seven districts which were known as the Bernese Jura during the period of 1815 - 1979. Of the remaining four, three seceded as the canton of Jura in 1979, while the fourth, the Laufen district, joined the canton of Basel-Landschaft in 1994.HistoryMost of the territory of the Bernese Jura was passed from the County of Burgundy to the Bishopric of Basel in AD 999.It was annexed by France during the Napoleonic period, 1798-1814. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna accorded it to the canton of Bern to compensate for the loss of the new canton of Vaud.From 1815 to 1979, the term Bernese Jura also included the territory now forming the canton of Jura, which seceded following a national popular vote on 24 September 1978.