Blanzy

Blanzy (French pronunciation: [blɑ̃zi] ) is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The area covered by Blanzy has been inhabited since prehistory, but remained sparsely populated until the 19th century, when the mining of the resources in the Saône-et-Loire coal basin took on new importance and became industrialized—notably through the founding of the neighboring commune of Montceau-les-Mines in 1856. Deeply linked to the fate of its mines, it saw a significant number of miners join the town to find employment. For a good part of the 19th century, the town was politically, religiously, and economically controlled by the Chagot family, owners of the Blanzy Mining Company who strongly promoted Catholicism, relying notably on the clergy to monitor the miners. It is estimated that between the 1850s and the period of the troubles, about twenty years, more than 400 adult and children miners died in the mine. This situation ended during the Montceau-les-Mines troubles (1878-1885), when the miners of the town and region joined anarchism in large numbers, making the mining basin a center of anarchism in France, particularly through the Black Band, one or more secret anarchist organizations of miners operating in the region and carrying out numerous attacks. Following the closure of the mines throughout the 20th century, the town has diversified economically.