or Basle French Bâle
City (2000: city, 166,558; metro. area, 402,387), northwestern Switzerland.
It straddles the Basel (1431–49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confederation. When Desiderius Erasmus taught at the university (1521–29), the city became a centre of humanism and of the {{link=Reformation">Reformation . Primarily German-speaking and Protestant, it is an important trading and industrial city and river port.