Editing Mont Blanc (section)

== History ==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2020}}
[[File:MonteBiancoAug052024 03.jpg|thumb|Mont Blanc as seen from the Chécrouit Lake, Italy]]

The Mont Blanc was the highest mountain of the [[Francia|Frankish Empire]] under [[Charlemagne]] and the highest mountain of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] until 1792.{{efn|Following the secession of the [[Duchy of Savoy]], the [[Ortler]] became the highest mountain of the Holy Roman Empire.}}

In 1760, Swiss naturalist [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure]] began to go to [[Chamonix-Mont-Blanc|Chamonix]] to observe Mont Blanc.<ref>André Fournier, ''Mer de Glace'', La Fontaine de Siloé, Montmélian, 2005, {{ISBN|978-2-8420-6256-9}}.</ref> He tried to summit it with the [[Courmayeur]] mountain guide Jean-Laurent Jordaney, a native of [[Pré-Saint-Didier]], who accompanied De Saussure since 1774 on the Miage Glacier and Mont Crammont.

The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc (at the time neither within Italy nor France) was on 8 August 1786 by [[Jacques Balmat]] and the doctor [[Michel-Gabriel Paccard|Michel Paccard]]. This climb, initiated by [[Horace-Bénédict de Saussure]], who rewarded the successful ascent, traditionally marks the start of modern mountaineering.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/MontBlanc.htm |title=Facts About Mont Blanc – Highest Mountain in Western Europe |last=Green |first=Stewart |work=climbing.about.com |access-date=7 August 2011 |archive-date=27 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827160142/http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/MontBlanc.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first woman to reach the summit was [[Marie Paradis]] in 1808.
[[File:A view of Mont Blanc from the Tour du Mont Blanc, 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Mont Blanc from the [[Tour du Mont Blanc|TMB]]]]

=== Ownership of the summit ===
At the scale of the [[Mont Blanc massif]], the border between Italy and France passes along most of the main Alpine watershed, from the [[Aiguille des Glaciers]] to [[Mont Dolent]], where it reaches the border with Switzerland. However, its precise location near the summits of Mont Blanc and nearby [[Dôme du Goûter]] is disputed.<ref>{{cite news |date=23 July 2019 |title=Monte Bianco, la Francia "invade" il confine italiano: si rischia il caso diplomatico |trans-title=Mont Blanc, France "invades" the Italian border: diplomatic case at risk |url=https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/07/23/news/monte_bianco_la_francia_invade_i_confini_italiani_si_rischia_il_caso_diplomatico-231842103/ |language=Italian |work=[[La Repubblica]] |location= |access-date=25 January 2022 |quote=Un'ordinanza francese 'invade' il territorio del Monte Bianco che l'Italia considera come proprio e il caso rischia di riaprire il contenzioso, mai risolto, sui confini tra i due Paesi ed avere complessi sviluppi giudiziari. |trans-quote=A French order 'invades' the Mont Blanc territory that Italy considers as its own and the case risks reopening the dispute, never resolved, of the borders between the two countries with complex judicial developments. |archive-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130124726/https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/07/23/news/monte_bianco_la_francia_invade_i_confini_italiani_si_rischia_il_caso_diplomatico-231842103/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=21 October 2020 |title=Monte Bianco, cresce la tensione tra Italia e Francia: Macron vuole la vetta |trans-title=Mont Blanc, the tension between Italy and France is growing: Macron wants the summit |url=https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/10/21/news/monte_bianco_cresce_la_tensione_tra_italia_e_francia_macron_vuole_la_vetta-271373634/ |language=Italian |work=[[La Repubblica]] |location= |access-date=25 January 2022 |quote=L'ultimo motivo di attrito: due leggi a favore della biodiversità violano la sovranità italiana sul proprio territorio. Di Maio protesta formalmente: "Forte disappunto" |trans-quote=The last reason for friction: two laws in favor of biodiversity violate Italian sovereignty over its territory. Di Maio formally protests: "Strong disappointment" |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125143918/https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/10/21/news/monte_bianco_cresce_la_tensione_tra_italia_e_francia_macron_vuole_la_vetta-271373634/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=3 March 2021 |title=Parliamentary questions: Answer given by Ms Johansson on behalf of the European Commission |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-006010-ASW_EN.html |institution=European Parliament |quote=The Commission is aware of the ongoing dispute between Italy and France regarding their common border in the Mont Blanc area, particularly in the area of the Torino Hut, and would welcome a swift — and for both parties satisfactory — settlement. |access-date=25 January 2022 |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125183302/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-006010-ASW_EN.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Italian officials claim the border follows the watershed, splitting both summits between Italy and France. In contrast, French officials claim the border avoids the two summits, placing them entirely with France. The size of these two (distinct) disputed areas is approximately {{convert|65|ha}} on Mont Blanc and {{convert|10|ha|spell=in}} on Dôme du Goûter.<ref name="Swisstopo">{{cite web |url=https://s.geo.admin.ch/894dc622d1 |title=Swiss National Map: Courmayeur (1:50,000) |website=map.geo.admin.ch |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124011644/https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen,ch.bfs.gebaeude_wohnungs_register,ch.bafu.wrz-wildruhezonen_portal,ch.swisstopo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege,ch.bav.haltestellen-oev&layers_visibility=false,false,false,true,true&layers_timestamp=20181231,,,,&layers_opacity=1,1,1,0.65,0.7&lang=en&E=2554626.15&N=1076553.19&zoom=7 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1723, the Duke of Savoy, [[Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia|Victor Amadeus II]], acquired the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]]. The resulting state of Sardinia was to become preeminent in the [[Italian unification]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~31537~1150016:A-new-map-of-the-dominions-of-the-K |title=A new map of the dominions of the King of Sardinia. (with) Isle and kingdom of Sardinia. (with) Mont Blanc in Faucigni and the subjacent Alps and glaciers. From the original published at Turin with royal approbation, and dedicated to his Sardinian Majesty. By Francis de Caroly; translated with improvements and additions. London, Published by Laurie & Whittle, 53, Fleet Street, 12th May 1799. Engrav'd by B. Baker, Islington. – David Rumsey Historical Map Collection |website=www.davidrumsey.com |access-date=30 October 2020 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101140505/https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~31537~1150016:A-new-map-of-the-dominions-of-the-K |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:View of Mont Blanc from Aguille Rouge.jpg|thumb|View of the southern side of Mont Blanc (big summit on the left) from [[Aiguille Rouge]]]]

Citing the [[Treaty of Paris (1796)]], France claims that the historical border of Savoy and Piedmont diverged from the watershed line, fully encompassing the summit of Mont Blanc within Savoy and consequently, within French territory.<ref>{{cite web |title=Conférence : Le différend frontalier Franco-Italien au sommet du mont Blanc |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_mQlHAdHhs |access-date=6 July 2024 |archive-date=6 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240706130403/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_mQlHAdHhs |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the Napoleonic Wars, the [[Congress of Vienna]] restored the King of Sardinia in Savoy, Nice, and Piedmont, his traditional territories, overruling the 1796 Treaty of Paris. Forty-five years later, after the [[Second Italian War of Independence]], it was replaced by a new legal act. This [[Treaty of Turin (1860)|act]] was signed in [[Turin]] on 24 March 1860 by [[Napoleon III]] and [[Victor Emmanuel II of Italy|Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy]], and deals with the annexation of [[Savoy]] (following the French neutrality for the plebiscites held in Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna to join the Kingdom of Sardinia, against the Pope's will). A demarcation agreement, signed on 7 March 1861, defined the new border. With the formation of Italy, for the first time, Mont Blanc was located on the border of France and Italy, along the old border between the department of Savoy and that of Piedmont, formerly belonging to the [[Savoyard state]].<ref name="questions.assemblee-nationale.fr">{{cite web |url=http://questions.assemblee-nationale.fr/q13/13-76121QE.htm |title=FICHE QUESTION |website=questions.assemblee-nationale.fr |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=2 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102204702/http://questions.assemblee-nationale.fr/q13/13-76121QE.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 1860 act is still legally valid for both the French and Italian governments.<ref name="questions.assemblee-nationale.fr"/> Italy claims, that the border was moved by France in 1865, when surveys carried out by a cartographer of the French army, Captain JJ Mieulet, incorporated the summit into French territory, making the state border deviate from the watershed line, and giving rise to the differences with the maps published in Italy in the same period.<ref name="Colombo">{{cite web |last1=Colombo |first1=Claudio |title=La disfida del Monte Bianco |url=http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2005/dicembre/27/disfida_del_Monte_Bianco_co_9_051227086.shtml |website=corriere.it |access-date=30 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120801070918/http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2005/dicembre/27/disfida_del_Monte_Bianco_co_9_051227086.shtml |archive-date=1 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Ridateci il "nostro" Monte Bianco! |journal=Lo Scarpone |date=November 2011 |pages=6 |url=http://www.cai.it/uploads/media/LO_SCARPONE_NOVEMBRE_2011.pdf |access-date=30 October 2020 |publisher=Club Alpino Italiano |language=it |issn=1590-7716 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120012425/http://www.cai.it/uploads/media/LO_SCARPONE_NOVEMBRE_2011.pdf |archive-date=20 January 2013}}</ref>

Modern Swiss mapping, published by the [[Swisstopo|Federal Office of Topography]], plots a region of disputed territory (statut de territoire contesté) around the summits of both Mont Blanc and the Dôme du Goûter. One of its interpretations of the French-Italian border places both summits straddling a line running directly along the geographic ridgeline (watershed) between France and Italy, thus sharing their summits equally between both states. However, a second interpretation places both summits, as well as that of [[Mont Blanc de Courmayeur]] (although much less clearly in the latter case), solely within France.<ref name="Swisstopo"/><!--Same as IGN French map-->

[[NATO]] maps take data from the Italian national mapping agency, the [[Istituto Geografico Militare]], which is based upon past treaties in force.<ref>{{cite news |date=4 October 2019 |title=Scontro Italia-Francia sul Monte Bianco |trans-title=Italy-France clash on Mont Blanc |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/ita/scontro-italia-francia-sul-monte-bianco/45276766 |language=Italian |work=[[Swissinfo]] |location= |access-date=25 January 2022 |quote=La cartografia ufficiale italiana, in uso alle Forze Nato e riconosciuta a livello internazionale, si basa sulla Convenzione del 1861... |trans-quote=The official Italian cartography, in use by the NATO forces and internationally recognized, is based on the 1861 Convention... |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125143916/https://www.swissinfo.ch/ita/scontro-italia-francia-sul-monte-bianco/45276766 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{| style="margin:1em auto;"
|-
| [[File:1823 Mont Blanc 1.jpg|thumb|left|1832 Map of the Kingdom of Sardinia showing an administrative border passing through the summit of Mont Blanc. This was the same map annexed to the 1860 treaty to determine the current border between France and Italy.]]
| [[File:Carte Mieulet Mont Blanc+frontispice.jpg|thumb|Captain Mieulet map of 1865 placing the international border south of the watershed<ref name="Colombo"/>]]
| [[File:Mbianco.png|thumb|left|A Sardinian Atlas map of 1869 showing the international border on the watershed<ref>The map is based on measurements taken in 1856 before the convention of 7 March 1861 and is identical to the map attached to the Treaty of Turin. See [[Institut géographique national (France)|IGN]]</ref>]]
| {{CSS image crop |Image=292 Courmayeur.jpg |bSize=2100 |cWidth=300 |cHeight=200 |oTop=500 |oLeft=150 |Description=1:50'000 [[Swiss National Map]], with both disputed areas marked}}
|}

=== Vallot ===
[[File:Vallot.jpg|thumb|The original [[Vallot Hut|Vallot refuge]] (now rebuilt) near Mont Blanc summit, at an altitude of 4,362 m]]

=== Janssen observatory ===
In 1890, [[Pierre Janssen]], an [[astronomer]] and the director of the Meudon astrophysical observatory, considered the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc. [[Gustave Eiffel]] agreed to take on the project, provided he could build on a rock foundation if found at a depth of less than {{convert|12|m|spell=in}} below the ice. In 1891, the Swiss surveyor Imfeld dug two {{convert|23|m|adj=on}} horizontal tunnels {{convert|12|m|spell=in}} below the ice summit but found nothing solid. Consequently, the Eiffel project was abandoned.

Despite this, the observatory was built in 1893. During the cold wave of January 1893, a temperature of {{convert|-43|C}} was recorded on Mont Blanc, being the lowest ever recorded there.

Levers attached to the ice supported the observatory. This worked to some extent until 1906, when the building started leaning heavily. The movement of the levers corrected the lean slightly, but three years later (two years after Janssen's death), a crevasse started opening under the observatory. It was abandoned. Eventually the building fell, and only the tower could be saved [[wikt:in extremis|''in extremis'']].<ref name="Janssen">[http://www.lesia.obspm.fr/perso/jean-marie-malherbe/Montagne/Obs_MtBlanc/Janssen.htm Janssen et l'observatoire du sommet du mont Blanc (1893–1909)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415073446/http://www.lesia.obspm.fr/perso/jean-marie-malherbe/Montagne/Obs_MtBlanc/Janssen.htm |date=15 April 2016 }}, JM. Malherbe, Observatoire de Paris, section de Meudon</ref>

=== Air crashes ===
The mountain was the scene of two fatal air crashes; [[Air India Flight 245]] in 1950<ref>[http://www.montblanc.to/uk/glacier/texte4.html The glacier des Bossons : plane crashes:] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620064252/http://www.montblanc.to/uk/glacier/texte4.html |date=20 June 2009}}</ref> and [[Air India Flight 101]] in 1966. Both planes were approaching [[Geneva Airport]] and the pilots miscalculated their descent; 48 and 117 people, respectively, died.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_4056000/4056551.stm |title=1966: 117 die in Air India tragedy |date=23 October 1966 |access-date=23 October 2017 |via=news.bbc.co.uk |archive-date=23 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023230827/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_4056000/4056551.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The passengers on flight 101 included [[nuclear scientist]] [[Homi J. Bhabha]], known as the "father" of India's nuclear programme.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19645550 |title=Diplomatic bag contents revealed |work=BBC News |date=19 September 2012 |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921000406/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-19645550 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Tunnel ===
{{Main|Mont_Blanc_Tunnel|l1=Mont Blanc Tunnel}}
[[File:Tunel mont blanc.jpg|thumb|Entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel in Italy]]
In 1946, a drilling project was initiated to carve a tunnel through the mountain. The Mont Blanc tunnel would connect [[Chamonix]], France, and [[Courmayeur]], Italy, and become one of the major transalpine transport routes between the two countries. In 1965, the tunnel opened to vehicle traffic with a length of {{convert|11611|m|mi}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atmb.com/atmb/en/tunnel/26/the-mont-blanc-tunnel/the-history-of-the-tunnel.html |title=Timeline of the Mont Blanc Tunnel |website=atmb.com |access-date=23 October 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104022749/http://www.atmb.com/atmb/en/tunnel/26/the-mont-blanc-tunnel/the-history-of-the-tunnel.html |archive-date=4 January 2014}}</ref>

==== 1999 disaster ====
{{main|Mont Blanc tunnel fire}}

In 1999, a transport truck caught fire in the tunnel beneath the mountain. In total, 39 people were killed when the fire raged out of control. The tunnel was renovated in the aftermath to increase driver safety. Renovations include computerised detection equipment, extra security bays, a parallel escape shaft, and a fire station in the middle of the tunnel. The escape shafts also have clean air flowing through them via vents. Any people in the security bays now have live video contact to communicate with the control centre. A remote site for cargo safety inspection was created on each side: Aosta in Italy and Passy-Le Fayet in France. Here all trucks are inspected before entering the tunnel. These remote sites are also used as [[staging area]]s to control commercial traffic during peak hours. The renovated tunnel reopened three years after the disaster.<ref name="tunneltalk">{{cite web |url=http://www.tunneltalk.com/Mont-Blanc-Tunnel-Sep11-An-historic-review-46-years-of-operation.php |title=Mont Blanc Tunnel |website=www.tunneltalk.com |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=24 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024101747/https://www.tunneltalk.com/Mont-Blanc-Tunnel-Sep11-An-historic-review-46-years-of-operation.php |url-status=live }}</ref>