DIJON, a t. of France, in the department of Cote d'Or, formerly capital of the old duchy of Burgundy, in lat. 47° 20' a., and long. 5° 2' e., and about 195 m. s.e. of Paris by railway. D. occupies a most delightful situation in a fertile plain on the right bank of the Ouche, and at the base of the vine-clad hills which produce the famous Bur gundy wines. The environs are exceedingly beautiful. D. is surrounded by old walls, originally having but five gates, and the ramparts being tastefully planted with fine trees, furnish very agreeable promenades. The town is for the most part well and regularly built, and the streets spacious and clean. Among the public buildings, which are numerous and imposing, the chief are the cathedral, a massive Gothic structure, dat ing from the 13th c., with a tall wooden spire, above 300 ft. high; the church of Notre fame, a noble specimen of the purest Gothic architecture; the church of St. Michael, with a splendid renaissance front; the theater, a handsome building, with a fine Corin thian portico; and the palace of the dukes of Burgundy, now used as the town-hall, and much modernized externally, hut possessing interiorly some of its earlier features, and containing a museum very rich in monuments of the middle ages, besides a library of 50,000 volumes, and several hundreds of manuscripts. .0. Is also the seat of a univer
sity academy with three faculties—law, science, and letters—and possesses, in addition, a royal college, a theological seminary, a botanic garden. and an academy of art. The manufactures of D. consist of woolen cloth, blankets, hosiery, leather, vinegar, chemi cal products, etc.; and there are salt refineries, distilleries, and breweries; but the town is mainly dependent on its trade in the wines of Burgundy. Pop. '76, 45.607. D. dates from Roman times, its ancient name being Dibio. It came into the possession of the Bur gundians in the 5th c., and from them passed to the Franks. In the 9th c., it was ruled by counts of its own, tinder the suzerainty of the hisheps of Langres. In time 11th c., it was united to the duchy of Burgundy, of which it became the capital, and the usual residence of the dukes, who rebuilt and greatly enlarged and improved it. In Oct., 1870, after a sharp engagement before the city, D. capitulated to a German force. There was again severe lighting here in Jan., 1871.