Bourbonnais

Bourbonnais, an ancient province of France, once the duchy of Bourbon, belonging to the departments of the Allier, Puy-de-Dome, the Creuse, and the Cher, and lying to the north of Auvergne. The Loire bounds it on the east, and the Cher on the west, and the Allier cuts it into two unequal parts, called respectively Upper and Lower Bourbonnais. Its capital is Moulins, and among its great towns are Gannat, Montbichon, and Vichy. Bourbonnais produces wine, grains, hemp, and fruit; and has iron and copper mines, and coal pits, and also marble quarries. Its mineral waters are abundant and renowned.