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| 0957 Dombes |
Posted on 10.01.2014, 29.04.2016
The
Dombes is an area in South-Eastern France, bounded by the rivers
Saône,
Rhône, and
Ain, which forms an undulating plateau with a slight slope towards the north-west. Due to the fact that is characterized by an impervious surface consisting of boulder clay and other relics of glacial action, it has a large number of rain-water pools, artificially created by proprietors who saw a surer source of revenue in fish-breeding than in agriculture. The resulted diseases and depopulation forced the Legislative Assembly to decide to reduce (at the end of the 18th century) the area of the pools. Large numbers of fish, principally carp, pike, and tench are still reared profitably. The pools are periodically dried up so the ground can be cultivated.
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2502 Dombes: 1. A pond at sunset;
2. A common kingfisher; 3. Ducks on the pond;
4. The church in Ars-sur-Formans;
5. Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne. |
The Dombes once formed part of the
Kingdom of Arles. From 1032, when this kingdom passed to the
Holy Roman emperor Conrad II, effective authority in the region was exercised by local lords. After 1378 it was under the nominal authority of the kings of France but was actually ruled as an independent principality by the
Bourbon family.
Francis I of France seized it from the Bourbons in 1523, and, although Dombes was later restored to the
House of Bourbon-Montpensier (1561), it ultimately returned to the French crown in 1762.
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