{"id":68123,"date":"2022-04-04T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T02:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soulofamerica.com\/?page_id=68123"},"modified":"2022-12-31T22:23:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T06:23:54","slug":"chateau-de-joux","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.soulofamerica.com\/international\/chateau-de-joux\/","title":{"rendered":"Chateau de Joux"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chateau de Joux in eastern France<\/strong>; (c) France Tourism<\/p><\/div>\n

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Chateau de Joux<\/h2>\n
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Photos<\/a>     Map<\/a>     Weather<\/a><\/p>\n

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Final Resting Place of Toussaint Louverture<\/h3>\n
by Calvin Young, Soul Of America<\/div>\n

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Chateau de Joux is a fortress on a hill. It lies about a 45-minute drive or train ride southeast of Besan\u00e7on<\/strong><\/a> and is only a mile south of the next large city in the region, Pontarlier. The hill where the fortress lies looks very much like a mountain. On the other side of the valley, the Dura mountains border Switzerland. <\/p>\n

The fortress, aside from being very impressive to look up to when you are down in the valley, is a great place to put a fortress. It’s a good idea to be sitting on a high hill if someone decides to attack your \u201chouse\u201d. In the Middle Ages, citing a fortress on a high hill made it virtually impossible to attack when defended well from the inside. All you had to do was throw rocks or boiling oil on the heads of those trying to get in. <\/p>\n

After the Chinese canon arrived in Europe via Genghis Khan, fortress castles became obsolete as a defense mechanism.<\/p>\n

Sitting atop the ramparts of the fortress is an invigorating and captivating feeling. The town is spread out before you, with the mountains rising in the background; a picture-perfect setting, that gives one a feeling of impregnability. One can easily imagine just wanting to stay here for a long time. The entire perspective is warm, inviting, and safe. Add to this the wonderful and fresh French food, the inviting and friendly town people, the restored fortress with its vibrant and important history, and the practicality of wonderful side trips, and you have the substance of a great vacation. The fortress was made infamous by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and General Toussaint Louverture. <\/p>\n

France abolished slavery in 1794. Napoleon reintroduced slavery in the Colonial Constitution in 1801. He did it partly to please his Austrian wife and her family, who owned plantations in Haiti and other new world nations. The other reason is, that he needed income from sugar plantations to fund his wars in Europe. <\/p>\n

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