Coligny, Ain

Coligny
Town hall
Coat of arms
Coligny
Location within Rhône-Alpes region Coligny
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ain
Arrondissement	Bourg-en-Bresse
Canton	Coligny
Intercommunality	Coligny
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Jean Bernadac
Area1	16.87 km2 (6.51 sq mi)
Population (2008)2	1,150
• Density	68/km2 (180/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	01108 / 01270
Elevation	199–575 m (653–1,886 ft) (avg. 293 m or 961 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coligny is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.

Geography

The commune lies near Bourg-en-Bresse; the Solnan forms its southwestern border.

The god of Coligny.

Celtic background

Coligny is famed for its Celtic lunisolar calendar, the "Coligny calendar". The calendar, which dates from the turn of the 1st century, has been key in the understanding of the knowledge of astronomy among the Gauls, and also supplied interesting information about their language (e.g., their names for months and the words for "lucky" and "unlucky"). It was an engraved bronze tablet originally discovered as fragments in 1897. It is written in the Latin alphabet and it represents a five-year cycle composed of three years having twelve lunar months and two years (the first and third) having thirteen lunar months.

At the end of the 19th century a bronze statue was discovered in the town and has been christened the Dieu de Coligny (God of Coligny).

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	1,672	—
1800	1,658	−0.8%
1806	1,660	+0.1%
1821	1,755	+5.7%
1831	1,764	+0.5%
1836	1,686	−4.4%
1841	1,697	+0.7%
1846	1,739	+2.5%
1851	1,737	−0.1%
1856	1,646	−5.2%
1861	1,655	+0.5%
1866	1,668	+0.8%
1872	1,650	−1.1%
1876	1,707	+3.5%
1881	1,754	+2.8%
1886	1,680	−4.2%
1891	1,698	+1.1%
1896	1,716	+1.1%
1901	1,662	−3.1%
1906	1,674	+0.7%
1911	1,644	−1.8%
1921	1,403	−14.7%
1926	1,331	−5.1%
1931	1,239	−6.9%
1936	1,202	−3.0%
1946	1,173	−2.4%
1954	1,131	−3.6%
1962	1,083	−4.2%
1968	1,111	+2.6%
1975	1,077	−3.1%
1982	1,132	+5.1%
1990	1,117	−1.3%
1999	1,091	−2.3%
2008	1,150	+5.4%

Personalities

Coligny was the birthplace of Joseph Darnand (1897–1945), a French pro-Nazi traitor and leader of the Vichy French Milice.

See also

• Communes of the Ain department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Official site
• The almanac of Coligny