To Duval Family Home Page Europe
To Chris Home Page France
To Earth (Geography Home Page) France and its possessions

Lyon

Lyon in the Rhône Department1 of France is centered on a peninsula just north of the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers. As of 2012 it had 1.863 million residents,2 and the commune proper had a population of 445 thousand (1999 census).3 When a Roman colonia it was commonly called Lvgdvnvm; the council of the Three Gauls (Roman provinces) met in the ampitheatre (1st century BCE) on Croix-Rousse Hill.4 The city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, honoring the Roman, medieval, and 16th to 19th century buildings and layout. Another Roman building is the 1st century CE theatre on Fourvière Hill that could seat 10,000.4 In Bellecour Square, below that hill, is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV.

The tallest building is the 42 story Tour Part-Dieu (1977). Another famous building is the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvières.5

The mathematician and architect, Girard Desargues, was born in Lyon.

NameYearPopulationPolitical entity
Lvgdvnvm100 CE50,0006Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs (Roman Empire)
Lvgdvnvm1200 CE22,0007Imperivm Romanvm Sacrvm (the Holy Roman Empire)
Lvgdvnvm1300 CE35,0007Archidioecesis Lvgdvnensis (Archbishopric of Lyon)
Lyon1400 CE35,0007Royaume de France
Lyon1500 CE40,0007Royaume de France
Lyon1600 CE30,0007Royaume de France
Lyon1700 CE97,0006Royaume de France
Lyon1800 CE110,0006République de France
Lyon1900 CE508,0006République de France
Lyon2012 CE1,863,0002République de France

External references

Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvières, Lyon, Rhône Department, Rhône-Alpes Region, France

Historical maps

map showing part of the Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs (Roman Empire), 100 CE

map showing part of the Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs (Roman Empire), 361 CE

map showing part of the Regnum Burgundiae (Kingdom of Burgundy), 500 CE

map showing part of Francia (France), 622 and 800 CE

map showing part of Regnum Provincia (Cisjurane Burgundy), 900 CE

map showing part of Arelat, 1000 CE

map showing part of Regnvm Tevtonicvm (the Holy Roman Empire), 1100 CE

map showing parts of Imperivm Romanvm Sacrvm (the Holy Roman Empire), Regnvm Francorvm (France) and Regnvm Anglorvm (England), 1200 CE

map showing Archidioecesis Lvgdvnensis (Archbishopric of Lyon) and part of the Royaume de France, 1300 CE

map showing part of the Royaume de France, 1400-1500 CE

map showing part of the Royaume de France, 1600 CE

map showing part of the Royaume de France, 1700 CE

map showing part of the République de France, 1800 - 1900 CE

map showing part of the République de France, and part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 2000 CE

Footnotes

1. Rhône-Alpes Region.
2. World-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013.
3. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_France, accessed 2/5/2015.
4. Information about the ampitheatre, the council and the theatre is from UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010). Hill names are French.
5. Emporis.com, accessed 3/3/2015.
6. Tables of the World's Largest Cities, in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987). In 100 CE it was the largest city in what is now France.
7. 'Cities of Europe, [Germany or France], [1200 or 1300 or 1400 or 1500 or 1600],' in Ibid..