ALSAZIA. – Natural and historical region on the middle Rhine along the Franco-German ethnic boundary. It consists of a plain (elevated almost everywhere above 100 m.) averaging about 40 km in width
and extending for approximately 200 km from N. to S.; it is enclosed between the Vosges, which dominate it from the west with their steep, wooded face, and the bed in which the river flows, obstructed by marshes and covered with lake vegetation. The foothills are fringed by rows of hills whose dry, sun-facing slopes are excellently suited to the cultivation of vines and fruit trees. Farther east the true plain broadens out, interrupted here and there by the damp valley bottoms of the Rhine’s tributaries (Bäche) and by patches of woodland preserved on the higher terraces. The richest part of the country is the Ried, or the zone of contact between hills and plain, where the larger inhabited centres are also situated. To the south A. is closed off by the Sundgan, which is its poorest part, consisting as it does of relatively infertile fluvioglacial soils. The climate too, through its relative dryness, helps to give the country its distinctive character in comparison with the nearby western (Vosges) and southern (Jura) regions. A. has varied (cereals, potatoes, hops, tobacco) and abundant agricultural production (vineyards), together with considerable industrial development (especially textiles), favoured by good mineral resources (potash, petroleum, coal).
Remaining essentially Celtic even after the Roman occupation, A. was, after the 5th century, profoundly Germanized, a process that continued throughout the Middle Ages. France succeeded in conquering it between 1552 and 1648, but lost it in 1870, with the exception of Belfort, which thereafter remained administratively separate from it, together with its territory (the smallest of the French departments after the one in which Paris is located). The First Republic divided its unity into Lower and Upper Alsace, corresponding to the present two departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin, with their capitals at Strasbourg and Colmar. On 28 June 1919 A. was once again assigned to France: at that time, the German element represented 96% of its population in Lower Alsace and 93% in Upper A. The Germans reoccupied the country during the Second World War and reannexed it to the Reich on 8 August 1940; the Allies conquered it in March 1945 in order to assign it once again to France.
Here are the statistical data relating to the two departments:
| Departments | Area in sq. km | population and censuses | population density | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 1946 | |||
| Bas-Rhin | 4786 | 711,830 | 673,281 | 140 |
| Haut-Rhin | 3508 | 507,551 | 471,705 | 134 |
| Total A. | 8294 | 1,219,381 | 1,144,986 | 133 |
Of the inhabited centres, the largest is Strasbourg, the only one with more than 100,000 inhabitants (175,000 in 1946; 249,000 in 1936). Also notable are Mülhausen (French Moulhouse), with 97,000, and Colmar, with 46,000 inhabitants.
A. constitutes a single diocese, that of Strasbourg, immediately subject.
For religious history, V. STRASBURGO, diocese.