(Fr. Alsace; Alsatian Elsàss; Ger. Elsaß; Latin Alsatia) is a comparatively small region located on France's eastern border, alongside the west bank of the middle Rhine from a bit past Strasbourg in the north, to Basel and the Swiss frontier in the south, with the Vosges Mountains forming it's western frontier. It has been a border region and an area of contention for a very long time.