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    About the Country


    French maps, French history, French regions, French reference
    Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. Since 1958, it has constructed a hybrid presidential-parliamentary governing system resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier more purely parliamentary administrations. In recent years, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of a common exchange currency, the euro, in January 1999. At present, France is at the forefront of efforts to develop the EU's military capabilities to supplement progress toward an EU foreign policy.

    Map of France
    Map courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps
    used with permission.



    Quick Facts on France


    Location : Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain

    Geographic coordinates : 46 00 N, 2 00 E

    Area - comparative : Slightly less than the size of Texas

    Natural resources : Coal, iron ore, bauxite, zinc, uranium, antimony, arsenic, potash, feldspar, fluorspar, gypsum, timber, fish

    Population : 62,150,775 in metropolitan France (July 2008 est.)

    Ethnic groups : Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Indochinese, Basque minorities

    Religions : Roman Catholic 83%-88%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 5%-10%, unaffiliated 4%

    Languages : French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects and languages (Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)

    Capital : Paris

    Administrative divisions : 26 regions (regions, singular - region); Alsace, Aquitaine, Auvergne, Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy), Bourgogne (Burgundy), Bretagne (Brittany), Centre, Champagne-Ardenne, Corse (Corsica), Franche-Comte, Guadeloupe, Guyane (French Guiana), Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy), Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Lorraine, Martinique, Midi-Pyrenees, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Pays de la Loire, Picardie, Poitou-Charentes, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Reunion, Rhone-Alpes

    Imports - commodities : Machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals

    Exports - commodities : Machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages

    Currency : Euro (EUR)

    Military branches : Army (Armee de Terre; includes Marines, Foreign Legion, Army Light Aviation), Navy (Marine Nationale, includes Naval Air), Air Force (Armee de l'Air, includes Air Defense), National Gendarmerie (2008)
    Source of background and statistical data: The World Factbook
    For more on France, click here

    Brief History of France
    France was one of the earliest countries to progress from feudalism to the nation-state. Its monarchs surrounded themselves with capable ministers, and French armies were among the most innovative, disciplined, and professional of their day. During the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715), France was the dominant power in Europe. But overly ambitious projects and military campaigns of Louis and his successors led to chronic financial problems in the 18th century. Deteriorating economic conditions and popular resentment against the complicated system of privileges granted the nobility and clerics were among the principal causes of the French Revolution (1789-94). Although the revolutionaries advocated republican and egalitarian principles of government, France reverted to forms of absolute rule or constitutional monarchy four times--the Empire of Napoleon, the Restoration of Louis XVIII, the reign of Louis-Philippe, and the Second Empire of Napoleon III. After the Franco-Prussian War (1870), the Third Republic was established and lasted until the military defeat of 1940.

    World War I (1914-18) brought great losses of troops and materiel. In the 1920s, France established an elaborate system of border defenses (the Maginot Line) and alliances to offset resurgent German strength. France was defeated early in World War II, however, and was occupied in June 1940. That July, the country was divided into two: one section being ruled directly by the Germans, and a second controlled by the French ("Vichy" France) and which the Germans did not occupy. German and Italian forces occupied all of France, including the "Vichy" zone, following the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. The "Vichy" government largely acquiesced to German plans, namely in the plunder of French resources and the forceful deportations of tens of thousands of French Jews living in France to concentration camps across Europe, and was even more completely under German control following the German military occupation of November 1942. Economically, a full one-half of France's public sector revenue was appropriated by Germany. After 4 years of occupation and strife in France, Allied forces liberated the country in 1944.

    France emerged from World War II to face a series of new problems. After a short period of provisional government initially led by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, the Fourth Republic was set up by a new constitution and established as a parliamentary form of government controlled by a series of coalitions. French military involvement in both Indochina and Algeria combined with the mixed nature of the coalitions and a consequent lack of agreement caused successive cabinet crises and changes of government.

    Finally, on May 13, 1958, the government structure collapsed as a result of the tremendous opposing pressures generated by four years of war with Algeria. A threatened coup led the Parliament to call on General de Gaulle to head the government and prevent civil war. Marking the beginning of the Fifth Republic, he became prime minister in June 1958 and was elected president in December of that year. The Algerian conflict also spurred decades of increased immigration from the Maghreb states, changing the composition of French society.

    Seven years later, for the first time in the 20th century, the people of France went to the polls to elect a president by direct ballot. De Gaulle won re-election with a 55% share of the vote, defeating Francois Mitterrand. In April 1969, President de Gaulle's government conducted a national referendum on the creation of 21 regions with limited political powers. The government's proposals were defeated, and de Gaulle subsequently resigned. Succeeding him as president of France have been Gaullist Georges Pompidou (1969-74), Independent Republican Valery Giscard d'Estaing (1974-81), Socialist Francois Mitterrand (1981-95), neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac (1995-2007), and center-right Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-present).

    While France continues to revere its rich history and independence, French leaders are increasingly tying the future of France to the continued development of the European Union (EU). France was integral in establishing the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 and was among the EU's six founding states. During his tenure, President Mitterrand stressed the importance of European integration and advocated the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on European economic and political union, which France's electorate narrowly approved in September 1992. The center of domestic attention soon shifted, however, to the economic reform and belt-tightening measures required for France to meet the criteria for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) laid out by the Maastricht Treaty. France continues to play a leading role in the EU, particularly in the development of European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP). Although a 2005 French referendum was actually responsible for the defeat of the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, France has since then backed the Lisbon Treaty--a main priority of Nicolas Sarkozy during France's EU presidency in the latter half of 2008. In July 2008, France was instrumental in launching the Union for the Mediterranean (UM), a continuation of the EU Barcelona Process. France and Egypt hold the first rotating co-presidency, which serves as a forum for political and economic cooperation between the EU and its Mediterranean neighbors.

    Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., France has played a central role in the war on terrorism. French forces participate in Operation Enduring Freedom and in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan. France did not, however, join the coalition that liberated Iraq in 2003. In October and November 2005, three weeks of violent unrest in the largely immigrant suburbs focused French attention further on their minority communities. Also in 2005 French voters disapproved the EU constitution in a national referendum. In the spring of 2006, students protested widely over restrictive employment legislation.

    In May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as France's sixth president under the Fifth Republic, signaling French approval of widespread economic and social reforms, as well as closer cooperation with the United States. President Sarkozy indicated France will fully reintegrate into the NATO command structure, a positive step in transatlantic relations and NATO-ESDP cooperation.

    Source: US Department of State


    Famous French People Profiles
    Irène Joliot-Curie
    Irène Joliot-Curie

    Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1935)

    Irène Joliot-Curie (12 September 1897 – 17 March 1956) was a French scientist, the daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. This made the Curies the family with most Nobel laureates to date. Both children of the Joliot-Curies, Hélène and Pierre, are also esteemed scientists.

    More information on Irène Joliot-Curie

    Joan of Arc by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
    Joan of Arc by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

    (Joan of Arc), commander and Saint

    Joan of Arc also known as "the Maid of Orleans," is a national heroine of France and a Catholic Saint. A peasant girl born in Eastern France, Joan led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of King Charles VII. She was captured by the English, tried by an ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the Holy See reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and later canonized in 1920.

    More information on Joan of Arc

    A WWII photo portrait of General Charles de Gaulle of the Free French Forces and first president of the Fifth Republic serving from 1958 to 1969.
    A WWII photo portrait of General Charles de Gaulle of the Free French Forces and first president of the Fifth Republic serving from 1958 to 1969.


    World War II general, commander of the Free French Forces, heroic French president

    Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969. In France, he is commonly referred to as Général de Gaulle or simply Le Général, or familiarly as "le Grand Charles".
    A veteran of World War I, in the 1920s and 1930s de Gaulle came to the fore as a proponent of armored warfare and advocate of military aviation, which he considered a means to break the stalemate of trench warfare. During World War II, he reached the rank of Brigadier General, leading one of the few successful armored counter-attacks during the 1940 Fall of France and organized the Free French Forces with exiled French officers in England.[2]He gave a famous radio address in 1940, exhorting the French people to resist Nazi Germany. Following the liberation of France in 1944, de Gaulle became prime minister in the French Provisional Government. Although he retired from politics in 1946 due to political conflicts, he was returned to power with military support following the May 1958 crisis. De Gaulle led the writing of a new constitution founding the Fifth Republic, and was elected President of France.

    More information on Charles de Gaulle


    Featured French City
    Toulouse

    Toulouse is a city in southwest France on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With 1,133,000 inhabitants in 2008, the Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in France.

    Reynerie district in Toulouse. Image courtesy of Alno.
    Reynerie district in Toulouse. Image courtesy of Alno.

    Toulouse is one of the centres of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space center in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, Europe's largest satellite manufacturer, and EADS Astrium Satellites, EADS's satellite system subsidiary, also have a significant presence in Toulouse. Its world renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) and, with more than 97,000 students, is the third largest university campus of France after Paris and Lyon.

    Toulouse was the capital of the former province of Languedoc (provinces were abolished during the French Revolution). It is now the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées region, the largest region in metropolitan France. It is also the capital of the Haute-Garonne department.

    More information on Toulouse


    Regional Links
  • Auvergne Regional Council
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  • Bourgogne Regional Council
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  • Conseil régional de Franche-Comté
  • Conseil régional de Guyane
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  • Conseil Régional de La Réunion
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  • Conseil Régional de Lorraine
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  • Conseil Régional de Picardie
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  • Conseil régional Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
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  • Discovering the Alsace Region
  • Government of Champagne-Ardenne region
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  • Le portail citoyen de la Région Rhône-Alpes
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  • Limousin regional council
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  • Pays de la Loire
  • Région Centre
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  • Région Guadeloupe
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  • Région Haute-Normandie
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  • Région-Basse-Normandie
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  • Regional Concil of Aquitaine
  • Regional Council of Bretagne
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  • Regional Council of Île-de-France
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  • Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon
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  • Regional Council of Martinique
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  • Regional Council of Midi-Pyrénées
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  • Regional Council of Nord-Pas de Calais
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  • Regional Council Website of Poitou-Charentes
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    WorldAtlas.com

    WorldAtlas.com


    Maps Links
  • Fact Monster
  • Gheos.com - Map of France
  • Historical Maps of Europe
  • Map Machine National Geographic.com
  • Map of France, Regions, Departments
  • Political Map of France
  • Worldatlas.com - Map of France

  • French National Anthem

    La Marseillaise


    (French)

    Allons enfants de la Patrie,
    Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
    Contre nous de la tyrannie,
    L'étendard sanglant est levé, (bis)
    Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
    Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
    Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
    Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !

    Aux armes, citoyens,
    Formez vos bataillons,
    Marchons, marchons !
    Qu'un sang impur
    Abreuve nos sillons !



    (English)

    Arise, children of the Fatherland,
    The day of glory has arrived!
    Against us the tyranny's
    bloodied banner is raised, (repeat)
    Do you hear in the countryside
    The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
    They come right here into your midst
    To slaughter your sons and wives!

    To arms, citizens,
    Form your battalions,
    Let's march, let's march!
    May a tainted blood
    Drench our furrows!


    Click here for complete lyrics


    Library Spot

    Reference Links
  • Atlapedia Online
  • Britannica.com
  • CountryReports.org
  • National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies
  • The World Factbook
  • World Desk Reference
  • WorldInformation.com


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    History Links
  • Beginnings of France
  • DiscoverFrance.com : History of France
  • France History - Time line of French History
  • French History Timeline
  • H-France
  • History of France
  • History of France - Primary Documents
  • Medieval History of France
  • The Complete Military History of France
  • Today in France History

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