Template:Wp-Annecy-le-Vieux-History

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The shores of Lake Annecy have been occupied since at least 4000 BCE. A Gallic tribe, the Allobroges, occupied the area in pre-Roman times: the Allobroges were conquered by the Roman legions in 62 BCE. The area was then colonised by Rome, which founded the town of Boutae (later Annecy) in 50 BCE. The town was at a strategic crossroads of three Roman roads across the Alps (to Italy, to Geneva, and to Vienna), and grew rapidly to a population of several thousand. Roman villas are found in the surrounding countryside.

Annecy was attacked by invaders in the post-Roman period, but regained its importance from CE 1107.

Its population had grown to 470 inhabitants by 1756. Grape vines for producing wine have been cultivated on the surrounding hills since the Middle Ages.

Various artists lived in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Eugène Sue, Adolphe de Custine, John Ruskin and Gabriel Fauré.

Two principal industrial activities arose in the mid-19th century, the Cléchet flour mill and the Paccard Bell Foundry. One of largest bells in the world, "La Savoyarde" which hangs at the Sacré-Cœur in Paris, was cast in Annecy-le-Vieux in 1891. It weighs 18,835 kg, stands 3.06 m tall, has a circumference of 9.60 m, is 22 cm thick at the base, and has a clapper weighing 850 kg.

At the end of the 19th century, attacks of mildew and phylloxera almost completely destroyed the grape vines. Wine cultivation was replaced by dairy production.

Annecy includes a university site, attached to the Université de Savoie, with more than 4,000 students in 2003. The university offers programs in technology, commercial arts and trades, engineering, and particle physics.