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Lyon ligt aan de samenvloeiing van de rivieren Rhône en Saône. Zijn inwoners worden lyonnais genoemd.
The city is a geographical crossroads in the country located north of the Rhône corridor that extends from Lyon to Marseille. Positioned between the Massif Central to the west and the Alpine massif to the east Lyon occupies a strategic location for north-south transportation in Europe. As the former capital of Gaul during the Roman Empire it is the seat of an archdiocese whose holder carries the title of Primate of Gaul. Lyon werd tijdens de Renaissance een bruisende handelsstad en een belangrijk financieel centrum. Its economic prosperity was driven at that time by silk production and later by the emergence of industries : textiles, chemicaliën, and more recently the image industry.
Historically Lyon has been an industrial city. The downstream Rhône valley is home to numerous petrochemical activities. After the decline and closure of the textile industries Lyon gradually refocused on high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. It is also the second-largest student city in France with four universities and several prestigious schools. Additionally the city has preserved significant architectural heritage spanning from Roman times to the 20th century including the districts of : Vieux Lyon, Fourvière Heuvel, het Presqu’île, en de hellingen van Croix-Rousse, which are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
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Oorsprong van de naam
De oude stad Lugdunum bestaat uit twee Gallische woorden: Lug, een Keltische god geassocieerd met orde en gerechtigheid, en dunos, betekenis “vesting” of “heuvel.” Samen, zij betekenen “het fort van Lug.” Lug is een Keltische god wiens boodschapper een raaf of kraai is. Dus, Lugdunum kan worden vertaald als “de heuvel van de god Lug” of “de heuvel van de kraaien.”
Originally Lugdunum referred to the Fourvière Hill on which the ancient city of Lyon was founded.
Lager naar beneden, in the present-day district of Saint-Vincent stood the Gaulish village of Condate : waarschijnlijk een eenvoudige nederzetting van rivierbewoners of vissers die langs de oevers van de rivier de Saône woonden. Condate is a Gaulish word meaning confluence which gave its name to the Confluence neighborhood.
During Roman times the city was called the capital of Gaul. As a legacy of this prestigious title the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as the Primate of Gaul.
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While the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times the first city of Lugdunum was founded in 43 BC. Under the Roman Empire Lyon became a powerful city and the capital of Roman Gaul. Door de teloorgang van het Romeinse rijk werd Lyon naar een ondergeschikte rol in het Europese landschap gedegradeerd vanwege de afstand tot de machtscentra. Later during the division of the Carolingian Empire Lyon found itself as a frontier city. Until the 14th century political power was concentrated in the hands of the archbishop who fiercely protected the autonomy of the city. It was not until 1312-1320 that the consular institution began to balance the archbishop’s power coinciding with Lyon’s definitive integration into the Kingdom of France.
During the Renaissance Lyon experienced significant development and became a major European trading city. However this second golden age was interrupted by the Wars of Religion. Under absolute monarchy Lyon remained a mid-sized French city with its primary wealth derived from the silk industry. The French Revolution devastated the city which opposed the Convention in 1793. Lyon was militarily captured and severely repressed emerging from the revolutionary turmoil greatly weakened.
Napoleon contributed to Lyon’s recovery by supporting the silk industry coinciding with the development of the Jacquard loom. This marked the beginning of an economic and industrial boom that lasted until World War I. During the 19th century Lyon was known as a city of silk weavers and witnessed violent worker uprisings in 1831 and 1834. The Belle Époque period marked the end of Lyon’s silk dominance and the rise of various other industries such as automobiles and chemicals. The municipal government regained its powers with the Third Republic and embarked on a century of radicalism, which culminated with Édouard Herriot in 1957. During World War II Lyon as one of the major cities in the Free Zone became a center for resistance networks. Notably Jean Moulin unified them under the United Movements of the Resistance.
After the war Lyon quickly recovered and experienced vigorous urban development with the construction of numerous residential neighborhoods. Met sterke industrieën en een bloeiende tertiaire sector,de stad vestigde zich als een grote Franse en Europese metropool.
