Located in the department of Rhone, Rhone-Alpes region, the village of Joux is located 5 km from the city of Tarare, head of the canton which is part Joux, 50 km from Lyon and 37 km from Roanne. The neighboring towns of the municipality are Violay, Saint-Marcel-l'Éclairé, Tarare, The Savages, Saint-Cyr-de-Valorga.
It arises as to Joux Turdine River, one of the sub-tributaries of the Saône at the foot of the Col du Pin Bouchain. Among the tributaries of the Turdine on the town, there is the Charveyron.
Turdine supplies water to the dam Joux, bigger book hydrological Tarare Township, and located on the territory of the municipality.
Other rivers in the municipality have included the Boussuivre, which begins below the eponymous mountain, near the tower in the town of Matagrin Violay in the Loire.
The village has many hamlets, the most important are Arcy, the Chadia and Pimpia.
For some, the name Joux come from Jove, or Araar Jovis, which in dialect derived from Latin, meaning "altar of Jupiter." That would mean there was an altar erected in the Gallo-Roman times. Others see a contraction of JURI, "forest" and jugum, "hilltop". The town was later named Jo, Joz and Joux-sur-Tarare.
May be designated as the Jocus in 960 and then qualified as villa, the town is gaining importance in the Middle Ages, where mention is made from the 11th century in a charter of the abbey of Savigny, dated 1088. This act relates qu'Aymon Lay gave to the abbey church Joux and offered him to buy its dependencies, tithes, land and annexes.
In 1243 a William of Joux abandoned his fifth viguerie to Humbert de Beaujeu. Joux Forez then probably fell and did not become Beaujolais that when sharing in 1273, shares that splits again Forez and Beaujolais. While described as castrum, Joux was held in freehold until 1324 when it was subservient Duke of Bourbon.
Barony from the 14th century it was in the hands of Beaujeu, and then turn to those families of Vienna and Villeneuve. It then extended over the parishes of Joux, of Affoux, Saint-Marcel-l'Éclairé, a part of Violay and St. Forgeux and part Indian. The families were descendants Pomey, Cotton, melting, and Ruyneau of St. George.
The municipality, after experiencing a population decline during the 20th century, was repopulated by the end of it.
