Lyon is the third-largest city in France, located in the historic Rhone-Alpes region. The Romans founded the city as Lugdunum in 43 BC; its name meaning "Lugus' hillfort", in reference to the Gallic god Lugus. Lugdunum became the capital of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis, and the Roman emperors Claudius and Caracalla, and it also came to be home to a sizable Christian community which was persecuted by the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus. In 437, Burgundii fleeing the invasion of the Huns were resettled at Lugdunum, and the Burgundii were given an independent kingdom in 443. In 843, Lyon was ceded to the Holy Roman Empire under the Treaty of Verdun, and it later became part of the Kingdom of Arles before being ceded to the Kingdom of France in 1378. During the Renaissance, the city became a flourishing center of the silk trade. In 1572, Lyon was the site of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, and the city was also the site of a Girondin insurrection against the National Convention in August-October 1793 during the French Revolution. 2,000 Lyonnais people were executed and much of the city demolished to punish its defiance, but Napoleon later had much of the city rebuilt. In 1862, Lyon became a railway hub, and it became a major French Resistance stronghold during World War II; it was liberated on 3 September 1944. In 2017, Lyon had a population of 516,092 people, and its metro area had 2,323,221 people.
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