Dauphiné

The Dauphiné (/ˌdoʊfiːˈneɪ/ or /ˈdoʊfɪneɪ/; French pronunciation: [dofine]) or Dauphiné Viennois, formerly Dauphiny in English, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the County of Albon.

In the 12th century, the local ruler Count Guigues IV of Albon (c.1095–1142) bore a dolphin on his coat of arms and was nicknamed "le Dauphin" (French for dolphin). His descendants changed their title from Count of Albon to Dauphin of Viennois. The state took the name of Dauphiné. It became a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.

The Dauphiné is best known for its transfer from the last non-royal Dauphin (who had great debts and no direct heir) to the King of France in 1349. The terms of the transfer stipulated that the heir apparent of France would henceforth be called the "le Dauphin" and included significant autonomy and tax exemption for the Dauphiné region, most of which it retained only until 1457, though it remained an imperial state until the French Revolution.

Dauphin

Dauphin (French: "dolphin", plural dauphins) may refer to:

Royal title

Places

In Manitoba, Canada

Elsewhere

Other

Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin

The Airbus Helicopters AS365 Dauphin (Dolphin), formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2 and the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter currently produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed and manufactured by French firm Aérospatiale, which was merged into the multinational Eurocopter company during the 1990s. Since entering production in 1975, the type has been in continuous production for more than 40 years. The intended successor to the Dauphin is the Airbus Helicopters H160, which is yet to enter operational service as of March 2015.

The Dauphin 2 shares many similarities with the Aérospatiale SA 360, a commercially unsuccessful single-engine helicopter; however the twin-engine Dauphin 2 did meet with customer demands and has been operated by a wide variety of civil and military operators. Since the type's introduction in the 1970s, several major variations and specialised versions of the Dauphin 2 have been developed and entered production, including the military-oriented Eurocopter Panther, the air-sea rescue HH/MH-65 Dolphin, the Chinese-manufactured Harbin Z-9 and the modernised Eurocopter EC155.