Alsace (French: Alsace, pronounce [alzas]; Alsatian and German: Elsass, pre-1996 German: Elsaß) is one of the 26 regions of France, located on the eastern border of France, on the west bank of the Upper Rhine, adjacent to Germany and Switzerland. The name "Alsace" derives from the Germanic Ell-sass, meaning "Seated on the Ill", the Ill is a river in Alsace. Its capital and largest city is Strasbourg. Alsace, previously a part of the Holy Roman Empire, changed hands between France and Germany several times between the 17th and 20th century.