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Cottian Alps
French: Alpes Cottiennes; Italian: Alpi Cozie
Mont Cenis in the Cottian Alps, seen from the Rocciamelone
Highest point
Peak	Monte Viso
Elevation	3,841 m (12,602 ft)
Coordinates	44°40′18″N 7°15′13″E / 44.67167°N 7.25361°E / 44.67167; 7.25361
Geography
Location
Countries	Italy France
Provinces and regions	Piedmont Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Range coordinates	44°45′N 7°0′E / 44.750°N 7.000°E / 44.750; 7.000
Parent range	Alps
Borders on	Graian Alps Dauphiné Alps Provence Alps and Prealps Maritime Alps Po plain
Geology
Orogeny	Alpine orogeny

The Cottian Alps (/ˈkɒtiən ˈælps/; French: Alpes Cottiennes [alp kɔtjɛn]; Italian: Alpi Cozie [ˈalpi ˈkɔttsje]) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rail Tunnel between Modane and Susa are important transportation arteries between France (Lyon, Grenoble) and Italy (Turin).

Etymology

The name Cottian comes from Marcus Julius Cottius, a king of the tribes inhabiting that mountainous region in the 1st century BC. Under his father Donnus, these tribes had previously opposed but later made peace with Julius Caesar. Cottius was succeeded by his son Gaius Julius Donnus II (reigned 3 BC-4 AD), and his grandson Marcus Julius Cottius II (reigned 5-63 AD), who was granted the title of king by the emperor Claudius. On his death, Nero annexed his kingdom as the province of Alpes Cottiae.

History

For a long part of the Middle Ages the Cottian Alps were divided between the Duchy of Savoy, which controlled their northern part and the easternmost slopes, and the Dauphiné, which at the time was independent from France. The Dauphins also held, in addition to the southwestern slopes of the range (Briançon and Queyras, now on the French side), the upper part of some of the valleys that were tributaries of the Po River (Valle di Susa, Chisone valley, Varaita Valley). The Alpine territory of Dauphiné, known as Escartons, used to have a limited autonomy and elected its own parliament. This semi-autonomous status lasted also after the annexation of the Dauphiné to France (1349), and was only abolished in 1713 due to the Treaty of Utrecht, which assigned to the House of Savoy all the mountainous area on the eastern side of the Cottian Alps.

After the treaty annexing Nice and Savoy to France, signed in Turin in March 1860 (Treaty of Turin), the north-western slopes of the range became part of the French republic.

Two eastern valleys of the Cottian Alps (Pellice and Germanasca) have been for centuries a kind of sanctuary for the Waldensians, a Christian movement that was persecuted as heretical from the 12th century onwards by the catholic church.

Geography

Administratively the range is divided between the Italian province of Cuneo and the Metropolitan City of Turin (the eastern slopes), and the French departments of Savoie, Hautes-Alpes, and Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (the western slopes).

The Cottian Alps are drained by the rivers Durance and Arc and their tributaries on the French side; and by the Dora Riparia and other tributaries of the Po on the Italian side.

Borders

The borders of the Cottian Alps are (clockwise):

• the Maddalena Pass to the south, which connects the Cottian Alps with the Maritime Alps;
• the Ubayette Valley, the Ubaye Valley, the Serre-Ponçon Lake, the high Durance Valley, and the Guisane Valley to the southwest;
• the Col du Galibier to the west, which connects the Cottian Alps with the Dauphiné Alps;
• the Valloirette Valley, the Maurienne Valley, and the Chardoux Creek to the northwest;
• the Mont Cenis Pass to the north, which connects the Cottian Alps with the Graian Alps;
• Mont Cenis Lake, the Cenischia Valley, the Dora Riparia Valley, the Po Plain, and the Varaita Valley to the east.

Peaks

The chief peaks of the Cottian Alps are:

Passes

The chief passes of the Cottian Alps are:

See also

• Alpes Cottiae (the original Roman province)
• Cottii Regnum
• Cottius
• Donnus
• Ambin group

Maps

• Italian official cartography (Istituto Geografico Militare – IGM); on-line version: www.pcn.minambiente.it
• French official cartography (Institut Géographique National – IGN); on-line version: www.geoportail.fr

References

1. Bibliotheca classica or A classical dictionary, John Lemprière, G. and C. Carvill, 1831; pag. 414
2. Escartons, hommes libres, www.escartons.eu (accessed on 2012-04-05)
3. Joseph Visconti (2003). The Waldensian Way to God. Xulon Press.
4. "Traité de Turin, Signé à Turin le 24 mars 1860 entre la France et la Sardaigne". mjp.univ-perp.fr. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
5. Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, pp. 874–876

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alps" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 737–754. Statistics on the Cottian Alps are listed in tables on pages 741 and 742.

v t e Western Alps
Sections (as per SOIUSA)	South-western (1) Ligurian Alps (2) Maritime Alps (3) Provence Alps and Prealps (4) Cottian Alps (5) Dauphiné Alps (6) Dauphiné Prealps North-western (7) Graian Alps (8) Savoy Prealps (9) Pennine Alps (10) Lepontine Alps (11) Lugano Prealps (12) Bernese Alps i.t.w.m. (13) Glarus Alps (14) Swiss Prealps
Other ranges	Aravis Range Castellane Prealps Chablais Alps Digne Prealps Nice Prealps Vaucluse Mountains
Massifs	Aiguilles Rouges Arves Baronnies Bauges Beaufortain Belledonne Bochaine Bornes Cerces Chambeyron Chartreuse Dévoluy Diois Écrins Escreins Giffre Gran Paradiso Grandes Rousses Lauzière Luberon Mercantour-Argentera Mont Blanc Mont Cenis Parpaillon Pelat Queyras Taillefer Trois-Évêchés Vanoise Vercors

v t e Alpine sections according to the SOIUSA
Western Alps	South-western (1) Ligurian Alps (2) Maritime Alps (3) Provence Alps and Prealps (4) Cottian Alps (5) Dauphiné Alps (6) Dauphiné Prealps North-western (7) Graian Alps (8) Savoy Prealps (9) Pennine Alps (10) Lepontine Alps (11) Lugano Prealps (12) Bernese Alps i.t.w.m. (13) Glarus Alps (14) Swiss Prealps
Eastern Alps	Central-eastern (15) Western Rhaetian Alps (16) Eastern Rhaetian Alps (17) Western Tauern Alps (18) Eastern Tauern Alps (19) Carinthian-Styrian Alps (20) Styrian Prealps North-eastern (21) North Tyrol Limestone Alps (22) Bavarian Alps (23) Tyrol Schistose Alps (24) Northern Salzburg Alps (25) Salzkammergut and Upper Austria Alps (26) Northern Styrian Alps (27) Northern Lower Austria Alps South-eastern (28) Southern Rhaetian Alps (29) Bergamasque Alps and Prealps (30) Brescia and Garda Prealps (31) Dolomites (32) Venetian Prealps (33) Carnic and Gailtal Alps (34) Julian Alps and Prealps (35) Carintian-Slovenian Alps (36) Slovenian Prealps

• Mountain ranges of the Alps
• Mountain ranges of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
• Mountain ranges of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
• Mountain ranges of Italy
• Mountain ranges of Piedmont
• Western Alps