Les Contamines-Montjoie
commune in Haute-Savoie, France
Les Contamines-Montjoie (French pronunciation: [le kɔ̃tamin mɔ̃ʒwa]; Savoyard: Lé Kontamnè-Monzhoué) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.
Etymology
The original name of the village, Les Contamines, is from the word contamines, which in the ancient local dialect meant ploughable land on the estate of the squire.
History
In 1760, the parish became independent of the parish of Saint-Nicolas de Véroce.
The creation of the local Mountain Guides Company which was established in 1850, marked the first corporation in the village dedicated to tourism. Further development surged after 1900, in the form of hotels, restaurants, and, in 1911, a local ski club. The first ski lift began operation in 1937.
After World War II, in 1949, the name was changed to Les Contamines-Montjoie. The first chair lift opened three years later, in 1952, along with a summer attraction at l'Etape.
Location
Les Contamines-Montjoie is located in the French Alps. It is approximately 11⁄4 hours from the airport of Geneva and 15 minutes from the Saint-Gervais-les-Bains-Le Fayet train station and from the A40 Highway (exit 21).
The public source identifies “Les Contamines-Montjoie” as commune in Haute-Savoie, France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Contamines-Montjoie, commune and Haute-Savoie.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q477987. VIAF identifies the subject as 158518748. The Library of Congress control number is n2010069325. Authority coordinates are 45.822, 6.729. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1760, 1850, 1900 and 1911.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les Contamines-Montjoie” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.