Champagne is a
historic province in northeastern France. The name derives from the
Latin campania, meaning "plain." The county of Champagne was
incorporated into France in 1314. Champagne now comprises the
departments of Ardennes, Marne, Aube, and Haute-Marne and parts of
Aisne, Seine-et-Marne, Yonne, and Meuse. It is a generally arid
plateau that slopes toward Paris. Its strategic location has made it
a battleground whenever France has been invaded from the east. The
Falaise de l'Ile-de-France, a limestone ridge, borders Champagne on
the west, separating it from the Ile-de-France, core of the Paris
Basin. Grapes grown on the lower slopes of the Falaise are made into
the famous sparkling wine in the miles of cellars carved out of the
chalk under REIMS and Epernay. Both cities are route centers where
the AISNE and MARNE rivers breach the Falaise. The kings of France
were crowned in the magnificent Gothic cathedral at Reims. The city
has a flourishing textile industry, initially dependent upon the
sheep-raising of the Champagne Pouilleuse ("dry or beggarly
Champagne"). This infertile chalk plain constitutes most of the
province and is being reforested. To its east are the fertile
cornfields, pastures, and orchards of the clay vale of Champagne
Humide ("wet Champagne"). The principal town is TROYES, the medieval
capital of Champagne. The region's mean annual temperature ranges
from 10 deg to 15 deg C (50 deg to 60 deg F), and rainfall ranges
from 510 to 1,020 mm (20 to 40 in).
