Jura

Island of the Inner Hebrides, Argyll and Bute; area 380 sq km/147 sq mi; population (2001) 188. It is separated from the Scottish mainland by the Sound of Jura. The whirlpool Corryvreckan (Gaelic ‘Brecan's cauldron’) is off the north coast. It has a range of mountains known as the ‘Paps of Jura’, the highest of which is Beinn an Oir at 784 m/2,572 ft.

Jura is the only major Scottish island without a direct link to the mainland.

Jura

Département in the Franche-Comté region of France; area 5,007 sq km/1,933 sq mi; population (1999 est) 250,900. It is bordered in the east by Switzerland. The greater part of the département is occupied by the Jura Mountains, but there is a plain in the west. The chief rivers are the Doubs and the Ain. Some cereals and sugar beet are grown, sheep and horses are raised, and wine is produced. There are metallurgical, paper, furniture, food, and watchmaking industries and hydroelectric schemes. The administrative centre is Lons-le-Saunier. Other towns include Dole and St-Claude.

Jura was formed from part of the former province of Franche-Comté.

Jura

Canton in northwest Switzerland, at the northern fold of the Jura Mountains, extending north to the Jura Plateau, bordered by France to the northwest, Bern to the south, Solothurn to the east, and Basel-Landschaft to the north; area 836 sq km/323 sq mi; population (1999 est) 69,000. Its capital is Delémont, and it includes the districts of Franches-Montagnes (popular for cross-country skiing and cycling) and the Ajoie. It is drained by the River Birs. Agriculture and animal husbandry are primary to the region's economic health, and industries include watch making, tobacco, and textile production.

Up until the French Revolution, Jura was a bishopric and sovereign state of the Holy Roman Empire. The region became part of Bern canton in 1815, but separatist movements resulted in it being made an independent canton in 1979.