BASLE, the capital of the Swiss half-canton of Basel Stadt or Bale Ville. It is now the second most populous town (ranking after Zurich) in the Swiss confederation, while it is reputed to be the richest. Pop. (1930) 148,063 ; (with suburbs) 184,762. Both facts are largely due to the opening (1882) of the St. Gotthard railway, as merchandise collected from every part of north and central Europe is stored in Basle previous to being redistributed by that line.
The town had its origin in an oppidum of the Rauraci. Its name appears for the first time when the emperor Valentinian built a castellum, Basilia, i.e., the city by the water in the neigh bourhood. Later the name was interpreted as Basilea, i.e., the royal (city). At the beginning of the 7th century the bishop of Augusta Rauracorum (now called Kaiser Augst), 72m. E., moved his see thither. The power of the bishops grew for a long time, but their secular influence was supplanted in the 14th century by that of the burghers. After long swaying between the neighbour ing Rhine cities and the Swiss confederation, it was admitted into the latter in 1501. It later became one of the chief centres of the Reformation movement in Switzerland, so that the bishop retired in 1528 to Porrentruy, where he resided till 1792. On the reor ganization of the bishopric, a new bishop was established at Soleure in 1828. The 1920 census showed 86,424 Protestants, Catholics and 2,513 Jews. As in other Swiss towns the trade guilds got all political power into their hands by the i8th cen tury. They naturally favoured the city at the expense of the rural districts, so that in 1832 the latter proclaimed their independence, and in 1833 were organized into the half-canton of Basel Land schaft, the city forming that of Basel Stadt. The city is divided by the Rhine into Gross Basel (south) and Klein Basel (north). There are several bridges, the old wooden bridge having been replaced in 1905 by one built of stone. The central or main railway station is in Gross Basel, while the German station is in Klein Basel. The most prominent building in the city is the cathedral or monster, built of deep red sandstone, on a terrace high above the Rhine. Consecrated in 1019, it was mainly rebuilt after the disastrous earthquake of 1356 that nearly ruined the city. The public meet ings of the great oecumenical council (1431-49) were held in the choir, while the committees sat in the chapter-house. Erasmus lived in Basle 1521-29, and on his death there (1536) was buried in the cathedral. The Rathaus or town hall (restored) dates from the i6th century. In the museum is a fine collection of works of art by Holbein (who lived in Basle from 1515 to 1531), while the historical museum (in the old Franciscan church) contains, among many treasures, the fragments of the famous Dance of Death, wrongly attributed to Holbein. The university (founded by Pius II. in 146o) is the oldest in Switzerland; detached buildings in clude the new schools of physics and chemistry. The university library is very rich, and contains the original mss. of the acts of the great oecumenical council. Basle is the seat of the chief mis sionary society in Switzerland, the training school for missionaries being at St. Chrischona, 6m. out of the city. It is a great railway, banking and distributing centre, and has chemical and ribbon works. Shipping on the Rhine has developed greatly since 1923; 738,840 metric tons of merchandise were transported in 1927. The chief commercial fair of Switzerland is held in Basle every April.
See Basler Biographien (3 vols., 19oo-o5) ; Basler Chroniken (original chronicles) (7 vols., Leipzig, 1872-9o) ; and Geschichte d. Kant. Basel; A. Burckhardt, Bilder aus d. Geschichte von Basel (3 vols., 1869-82) ; Festschrift z. 400ten Jahrestage d. ewig. Bundes zwisch. B. and den Eidgenossen (19oi) ; Burgerhaus d. Schweiz, vol. xvii.; A. Heusler, Verfassungsgeschichte d. Stadt Basel im Mittel alter (186o) , Rechtsquellen von Basel (2 vols., 1856-65) F. Stahelin, Die Schweiz in rom Zeit, 1927 ; L. Stouff, Pouvoir temporel des eveques de Bale (2 vols., Paris, 1891) ; R. Thommen, Gesch. d. Universitxt B., 1S32-1632 (1889) ; Urkundenbuch d. 1883, 3 vols., and ditto for the city (1890-1910, II vols.) ; W. Vischer, Gesch. d. Universitdt B., 1460-1529 (186o) ; R. Wackecnagel, Gesch. d. Stadt Basel (3 vols., 1906 sqq.) ; K. Weber, Die Revolution im Kanton Basel, 183o-1831 (1907) ; G. Gautherot, La Republique rauracienne (1908) .