BESANÇON, a city of France, capital of the department of Doubs, 45 miles east of Dijon, on the river Doubs, which flows round it on three sides. It is well protected by strong fortifications and a citadel on an almost impregnable rock. The town is in general well built; but the houses are old, and the streets narrow and gloomy. The principal buildings are, a Gothic cathedral, court-house, town-hall, royal college, arsenal, hospital with 500 beds, barracks, theatre, library of 50,000 volumes, museum, and several handsome fountains. It contains many Roman antiquities, including a triumphal arch, and the remains of an aqueduct and an amphitheatre. Besançon is the see of an archbishop, has tribunals of primary jurisdiction and commerce, and is the head court for the departments of Doubs, Jura, and Haute Saône. It possesses also a university-academy, a diocesan seminary, a royal academy of science and belle-lettres, a lyceum, an antiquarian museum, a society of agriculture and arts, and schools of medicine, artillery, and design, besides two deaf and dumb institutions. The chief branch of industry is the manufacture of watches and jewellery. There are also some considerable breweries, and manufactories of carpets, porcelain, hardware, Seltzer-water, &c. Besançon enjoys a central position for the commerce between France and Switzerland. Pop. (1851) 33,788. Long. 5.56.26. E. Lat. 47.14.12. N.
Besançon is a place of great antiquity. Under the name of Vesentio, it was held by the Romans as a fortified place in the time of Caesar. It was destroyed by Attila, and since that period has suffered many vicissitudes. Area of the arrondissement of this name, 539 square miles; pop. 109,136.