Metropolitan France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges in the south-east (the Alps) and the south-west (the Pyrenees). The highest point in western Europe is situated in the French Alps: Mont Blanc at 4,810 metres (15,781 ft) above sea-level. There are several other elevated regions such as the Massif Central, the Jura, the Vosges, and the Ardennes which are quite rocky and forested. France also has extensive river systems such as the Loire, the Rhône, the Garonne and the Seine.
Due to its overseas departments and territories scattered on all oceans of the planet, France possesses the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 square kilometres (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind the EEZ of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 sq mi), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia (8,232,000 km² / 3,178,000 sq mi).According to a different calculation cited by the Pew Research Center, the EEZ of France would be 10,084,201 square kilometres (3,893,532 sq mi), still behind the United States (12,174,629 km² / 4,700,651 sq mi), and still ahead of Australia (8,980,568 km² / 3,467,416 sq mi) and Russia (7,566,673 km² / 2,921,508 sq mi). The EEZ of France covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world, whereas the land area of the French Republic is only 0.45% of the total land area on Earth.
France is known around the world as a diverse country in its people, architectures and landscapes. About 50% of the French population claim to have foreign background which makes France one of the most diverse countries in the world. Old and more recent immigrants came to France from the five continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas). France is also home of the highest point in Europe (Mont-Blanc 4810m-15780ft]]) and the lowest point of Europe, Delta du Rhone, (-5m/-15ft).
On one hand, France is highly densified with old architecture such as the city of Paris or the Centre of Troyes. The French Familly code is 200 years old and has been written under Napoleon. On the other hand, France is a highly developed country with an extensive highway network (for example: France is slightly bigger than California but its highway network is more than twice as long), 32,000km (20,000 miles) of railways (SNCF), along with modern ski resorts and gigantic malls. France is also the country with the fastest average internet connection speed (DSL), and in 2004, for the 3rd time in a row, the French healthcare system has been ranked number one in the world by the World Health Organisation.
The borders of modern France are roughly the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was conquered by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, and the Gauls eventually adopted Roman speech (Latin, which evolved into the French language) and Roman culture. Christianity took root in the 2nd century and 3rd century AD, and became so firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries that St. Jerome wrote that Gaul was the only region "free from heresy". In the Middle Ages, the French would adopt this as a justification for calling themselves "the Most-Christian Kingdom of France."
In the 4th century AD, Gaul's eastern frontier along the Rhine was overrun by Germanic tribes, principally the Franks, from whom the ancient name of "Francie" was derived. The modern name "France" derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. Existence as a separate entity began with the Treaty of Verdun (843), with the division of Charlemagne's Carolingian empire into East Francia, Middle Francia and Western Francia. Western Francia approximated the area occupied by modern France.
The Carolingians ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of France. His descendants, the Capetian, Valois and Bourbon dynasties progressively unified the country through a series of wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy reached its height during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. At this time France had a tremendous influence over European politics, economy and culture and possessed the largest population in Europe (see Demographics of France).
The monarchy ruled France until 1789, when the French Revolution took place. King Louis XVI and wife, Marie Antoinette, were killed, along with thousands of other French citizens. Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the Republic in 1799, making himself First Consul, and later Emperor of what is now known as the First French Empire (1804-1814). In the course of several wars, his armies conquered most of continental Europe, with members of the Bonaparte family being appointed as monarchs of newly established kingdoms.
France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, its global colonial empire was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. At its peak, between 1919 and 1939, the second French colonial empire extended over 12,347,000 square kilometres (4,767,000 sq. mi) of land. Including metropolitan France, the total area of land under French sovereignty reached 12,898,000 square kilometres (4,980,000 sq. mi) in the 1920s and 1930s, which is 8.6% of the world's land area.
France's ultimate victory in World War I and World War II after initially being invaded and partly occupied by German forces did not prevent the loss of the colonial empire, the comparative economic status, population and status as a dominant nation state. The Fourth Republic was established after World War II, to be replaced in 1958 by the current semi-presidential Fifth Republic established under General Charles de Gaulle.
In 1946, France's attempt at regaining control of its Indochina colony resulted in the First Indochina War, which finally ended with French defeat and withdrawal in 1954. Only months later, France faced a new, and even harsher conflict in its oldest major colony, Algeria. The debate over whether or not to keep control of Algeria, then home to over 1 million European settlers, wracked the country and nearly led to civil war. In 1958, the Fifth French Republic was established, with a greatly strengthened presidency; in this role, Charles de Gaulle managed to keep the country together while taking steps to end the war. The Algerian War of Independence was concluded with peace negotiations in 1962, which led to Algerian independence.
In recent decades, France's reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the political and economic integration of the evolving European Union, including the introduction of the euro in January 1999. France has been at the forefront of European Union member states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary union to create a more unified and capable European Union based political, defence and security apparatus. However the French electorate voted against ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty in May 2005.
Under the constitution, the President of the French Republic is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year (originally 7-year) term. Presidential arbitration assures regular functioning of the public powers and the continuity of the state. The president names the prime minister, presides over the cabinet, commands the armed forces, and concludes treaties.
The French parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) and a Senate. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the cabinet, and thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are chosen by electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms), and one half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years starting in September 2008.
France is divided into 26 administrative régions: 22 are in metropolitan France (21 are on the continental part of metropolitan France; one is the "territorial collectivity" of Corse, on the island of Corsica, commonly referred to as a région in common speech), and four are overseas régions. The régions are further subdivided into 100 départements. The departments are numbered (mainly alphabetically) and this number is used, for instance, in postal codes and vehicle number plates.
The departments are further subdivided into 342 arrondissements, but they have no elected assembly and serve only for the districting of state administrations. The arrondissements are further divided into 4,035 cantons, but again these serve only administrative and electoral purposes. Finally, the arrondissements are divided into 36,682 communes, which are municipalities with an elected assembly (municipal council).
The régions, départements, and communes are known as "territorial collectivities" (collectivités territoriales), meaning they possess local assemblies as well as an executive, while the arrondissements and the cantons are mere administrative divisions. Until 1940, the arrondissements were also territorial collectivities with an elected assembly (arrondissement council), but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and definitely abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946. Historically, the cantons were also territorial collectivities with their elected assemblies.
Four of the départements are overseas départements (coterminous with the four overseas régions) which are an integral part of France (and the EU) and thus enjoy a status similar to metropolitan départments.
Overseas collectivities and territories form part of the French Republic, but do not form part of the EU or its fiscal area. The Pacific territories continue to use the Pacific franc whose value is linked to that of the euro. In contrast, the four overseas régions/départements used the French franc and now use the euro.
The French armed forces are divided into four branches: * Army (Armée de Terre) * Navy (Marine Nationale) * Air Force (Armée de l'Air) * Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie Nationale), a military police force which serves for the most part as a rural and general purpose police force.
Among the larger European Union economies, France and the United Kingdom are the only significant spenders on defence: France with 2.6% of GDP, and the UK at 2.4%, according to 2003 figures from NATO. Those two countries account for 40% of EU defence spending. In most other EU countries, defence spending is less than 1.5% of GDP. About 10% of France's defence budget goes toward its force de frappe, or nuclear weapons.
France's economy combines extensive private enterprise (nearly 2.5 million companies registered) with substantial (though declining) government intervention (see dirigisme). The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, and telecommunication firms. It has been gradually relaxing its control over these sectors since the early 1990s. The government is slowly selling off holdings in France Télécom, Air France, as well as the insurance, banking, and defense industries.
According to the OECD, in 2004 France was the world's fifth-largest exporter of manufactured goods, behind the United States, Germany, Japan, and The People's Republic of China, and ahead of the United Kingdom. It was also the fourth-largest importer of manufactured goods (behind the United States, Germany, and China, but ahead of the United Kingdom and Japan). In 2003 France was the 2nd-largest recipient of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $47 billion, ranking behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially monetary transfers to banks located in that country) but above the United States ($39.9 billion), the United Kingdom ($14.6 billion), Germany ($12.9 billion), or Japan ($6.3 billion). In the same year, French companies invested $57.3 billion outside of France, ranking France as the second most important outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($173.8 billion), and ahead of the United Kingdom ($55.3 billion), Japan ($28.8 billion) and Germany ($2.6 billion).
In the 2005 edition of OECD in Figures, the OECD also noted that France leads the G7 countries in terms of productivity (measured as GDP per hour worked).
Since prehistoric times, France has been a crossroads of trade, migrations, and invasions. Four basic European ethnic stocks - pre-Celtic, Celtic (Gallic and Breton), Latin, and Germanic (Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Vikings) - have blended over the centuries to make up its present population. Besides these "historic" populations, new populations have migrated to France since the 19th century: Belgians, Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Poles, Romanians, Greeks, Jews from Eastern Europe and the Maghreb, Arabs and Berbers from the Maghreb, Black Africans, and Chinese, to list only the most prominent. It is currently estimated that about 40% of the French population descends in varying amounts from these different waves of migrations, making France one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, despite the still popular stereotypes of France as an essentially Gallic country. Nevertheless, the immigrants from other European countries have an easier time blending in, while the non-European groups tend to assimilate at a slower pace, because of greater cultural barriers and social discrimination.
Population
Starting with the 19th century, the historical evolution of the population in France has been extremely atypical in the Western World. Unlike the rest of Europe, France did not experience a strong population growth in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. On the other hand, it experienced a much stronger growth in the second half of the 20th century than the rest of Europe or indeed its own growth in the previous centuries.
After 1974, France's population growth stalled, and reached its nadir in the 1990s with only 0.39% annual growth, being now more in tune with the rest of Europe, which has entered demographic decline. However, first results from the 2004 French census have greatly surprised demographers. The census revealed that population growth rebounded significantly after the 1999 census, something nobody had anticipated. From 1999 to 2003, annual population growth was 0.58%. In 2004, population growth was 0.68%, almost reaching North American levels. 2004 was the year with the highest increase in French population since 1974. France is now well ahead of all other European countries (except for the Republic of Ireland). In 2003, France's natural population growth (excluding immigration) was responsible for almost all the natural growth in European population: the population of the European Union increased by 216,000 inhabitants (without immigration), of which 211,000 was the increase in France's population alone, and 5,000 was the increase in all the other countries of the EU combined. In 2004 the natural increase in France's population reached 256,000, but figures for other European countries are not available yet.
These unexpected results bear great consequences for the future. At the moment, France is the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia and Germany. By 2050, demographers initially thought the population of metropolitan France would be 64 million inhabitants, but they now agree that their estimates were too conservative, being based on the 1990s growth rate of population. Demographers now estimate that by 2050 metropolitan France's population will be 75 million, at which time it will be the most populated country of the European Union, above Germany (71 million), the United Kingdom (59 million), and Italy (43 million).
In 2005, birth and fertility rates continued to increase. The natural increase of births over deaths rose to 270,100. The lifetime fertility rate rose to 1.94 in 2005, from 1.92 in 2004. Net immigration fell slightly in 2005 to 97,500. In France immigration accounts for about on quarter of the total population increase--the average for all of Europe is about 80%.
{{cite web
publisher=L'Internaute | year=2006 | url=http://www.linternaute.com/actualite/savoir/06/demographie/exception-francaise.shtml | title=Natalité : la nouvelle exception française ? | accessdate=2006-04-20 If these estimates become reality, it may fundamentally alter the balance of power in Brussels. It would be the first time since the 1860s that France is the nation with the largest population within Europe (Russia excluded). In mid-2004 the EU had 460 million inhabitants, 13.6% of whom were living in France (including overseas départements). By 2050 it is estimated that the population of the European Union (of the current 25 members) will have declined to 445 million inhabitants, of whom 17.5% will be living in France.
According to the UNHCR, the number of people seeking political asylum in France rose by around 3 % between 2003 and 2004, while in the same period, the number of asylum applications submitted in the United States fell by about 29 %. France thereby replaced the United States as the world's top destination for asylum-seekers in 2004.
A perennial political issue concerns rural depopulation. Over the period 1960-1999 fifteen rural départements experienced a decline in population. In the most extreme case, the population of Creuse fell by 24%.
Languages
The sole official language of France is French, according to Article 2 of the Constitution since 1992. However, several regional languages (including Alsatian, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, West Flemish, Franco-Provençal dialects, Lorraine German dialect, Norman, Occitan (Gascon and Provençal), and some Oïl dialects - e.g., Picard) are also occasionally understood and spoken, mostly by elderly people. Also several creole languages are spoken in overseas departments. However, the French government and state school system discouraged the use of any of those languages until recently. These historical regional languages have been known as patois, though this has been considered depreciative. They are now taught at some schools, though French remains the only official language in use by the government, local or national. Some languages spoken by immigrants are also frequently spoken, especially in large cities: Portuguese, Maghreb Arabic, several Berber languages, several languages of Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkish, several spoken variants of Chinese (most notably Wu, Cantonese, Min Nan, and Mandarin), Vietnamese, and Khmer are the most frequently spoken.
Despite popular stereotypes, many French people can speak at least one foreign language, especially in border regions such as the Pyrennées, Alsace, or the Alps. German, Spanish, Italian and even English are spoken with various degrees of proficiency and many families living near the borders are perfectly bilingual.
Statistics
At the 1999 census, INSEE sampled 380,000 adult people all across Metropolitan France, and asked them questions about their family situation. One of the questions was about the languages that their parents spoke with them before the age of 5. This is the first time serious statistics were computed about the proportion of mother tongues in France. The results were published in Enquête familiale, Insee, 1999.
Here is a list of the nine most prominent mother tongues in France based on Enquête familiale. It is important to read the notes at the Languages of France article in order to correctly interpret the numbers.
Of whom English: 115 (0.25% of total adult population)
Total
45,762
102%
46,680 including those 2% with French and another language as mother tongues were counted twice
If we add up people with mother tongue and people with some exposure to the language before the age of 5, then the five most important languages in metropolitan France are (note that the percentages add up to more than 100, because many people are now counted twice): * French: 42,100,000 (92%) * Oc languages: 1,670,000 (3.65%) * German and German dialects: 1,440,000 (3.15%) * Oïl languages: 1,420,000 (3.10%) * Arabic: 1,170,000 (2.55%)
Marianne is a symbol of the French Republic. She is an allegorical figure of liberty and the Republic and first appeared at the time of the French Revolution. The earliest representations of Marianne are of a woman wearing a Phrygian cap. The origins of the name Marianne are unknown, but Marie-Anne was a very common first name in the 18th century. Anti-revolutionaries of the time derisively called her La Gueuse (the Commoner).
It is believed that revolutionaries from the South of France adopted the Phrygian cap as it symbolised liberty, having been worn by freed slaves in both Greece and Rome. Mediterranean seamen and convicts manning the galleys also wore a similar type of cap.
Under the Third Republic, statues, and especially busts, of Marianne began to proliferate, particularly in town halls. She was represented in several different manners, depending on whether the aim was to emphasise her revolutionary nature or her "wisdom." Over time, the Phrygian cap was felt to be too seditious, and was replaced by a diadem or a crown. In recent times, famous French actresses are given the title of Marianne. Recent ones are Sophie Marceau, and Laetitia Casta. She also features on everyday articles such as postage stamps and coins.
Traditionally a predominantly Roman Catholic country, yet also with anticlerical leanings, France has since the 1970s been a very secular country. Freedom of religion is constitutionally a right, inspired by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The dominant concept of the relationships between the public sphere and religions is that of laïcité, which implies that the government and government institutions (such as schools) should not endorse any particular religion or intervene in religious dogma, and that religions should refrain from intervening in policy-making. Tensions occasionally erupt about alleged discrimination against minorities; see Islam in France.
The government does not maintain statistics as to the religion of its inhabitants. Statistics from an unspecified source and date given in the CIA World Factbook gives the following number: Roman Catholic 83 to 88%, Muslim 5 to 10%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%. However, in a 2003 poll 41% said that the existence of God was "excluded" or "unlikely".
