ai
was given to a part of this country bordering
on the Rhone, and in the tenth century
it was called Savogia and Savoia ; it
was governed by counts, at the latter period,
and then comprised only the western
provinces of the present duchy of Savoy.*
By subsequent conquests and alliances,
the counts of Savogia brought under their
dominion several adjoining provinces, on
the northern side of the Alps. In the year
1416, the emperor Sigismund erected Savogia
into a duchy, which the dukes held
under the empire. At that time the Pays
de Valid, and the country of Gex, under
the Jura, also belonged to the dukes of
Savoy.
According to its present limits, the
duchy of Savoy is bounded on the north
by the Lake of Geneva and the Rhone. It
is separated, on the east, from the Swiss canton
of the Vallois, by a range of mountains,
extending south from St. Gingoulph, near
the upper end of the Lake of Geneva, to
the Col de Ferret in the central range of the
* Excepting a small section, of about eight miles in
length, and three in breadth, which v/as taken from Savoy
and annexed to the republic of Geneva in 1816.
Alps. This central range, from the Col
de Ferret to Mont Cenis, forms the southern
boundary, separating Savoy from Piedmont.
Savoy is partly separated from
France by the Rhone, which forms the
western boundary, soon after it issues from
the Lake of Geneva, until it reaches St.
Genix, where it leaves the coniines of the
two countries, and enters France. From
Genix the line of demarcation is carried
along the river Guiers, and then on-the
south-western side of the mountains that
bound the vahev of the Maurienne, until it
joins the central range of the Alps near
Mont Cenis. There is no well defined natural
boundary on this side of Savoy. The
duchy extends from near latitude 45° to
46°. 2P. Its greatest length, from north to
south, is about 85 miles ; and its average
breadth, from east to west, from 50 to 60
miles. The central range of the southern
Alps, passing along the southern boundary
of Savoy in a bending line of 100 miles in
length, comprises that portion of the vast
chain of mountains known to the Romans
by the name of the Grecian Alps, together
with a part of the Pennine and Cottian
B 2