Côte-d'Or (IPA: [kot dɔːʁ]; literally, "golden slope") is a department in the eastern part of France.

History

Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy.

Geography

The department is part of the current region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is surrounded by the departments of Yonne, Nièvre, Saône-et-Loire, Jura, Aube, and Haute-Marne.

A chain of hills called the Plateau de Langres runs from north-east to south-west through the department to the north of Dijon and continues south-westwards as the Côte d'Or escarpment, which takes its name from that of the department. It is the south-east facing slope of this escarpment which is the site of the celebrated Burgundy vineyards. To the west of the Plateau de Langres, towards Champagne, lies the densely wooded district of Châtillonais. To the south-east of the plateau and escarpment, the department lies in the broad, flat-bottomed valley of the middle course of the Saône.

Côte d'Or, meaning Golden Coast may refer to:

Côte d'Or is a producer of Belgian chocolate, owned by Mondelēz International. Côte d'Or was founded in 1883 by Charles Neuhaus, a chocolate manufacturer who used the name Côte d'Or (French for Gold Coast) referring to the old name of contemporary Ghana, the source of many of the cacao beans used in chocolate manufacturing.

Côte d'Or was purchased by Jacobs Suchard in 1987; Jacobs Suchard in turn was purchased by Kraft General Foods in 1990.

Belgians consume 600 million Côte d'Or products a year. Every day, the Côte d'Or factory in Halle (near Brussels) used to produce 1.3 million mignonnettes (small chocolate bars) (they are now produced in Poland), and 2 million Chokotoffs (chocolate bonbons).

History

Logo

The emblem of Côte d'Or is an elephant, a symbol which recalls the African origin of the cocoa beans used in the manufacture of Côte d'Or. One source also claims that elephants were used to haul the sacks of cocoa beans. In an earlier versions of the logo three pyramids and a palm tree were also featured. This logo was based on a Ghana post stamp, showing this three icons (elephant, palm tree, pyramids) of exotic Africa.