<!–^~^302|center|Map of France^~^–> Area: total: 547,030 sq km land: 545,630 sq km water: 1,400 sq km note: includes only metropolitan France, but excludes the overseas administrative divisions Area – comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Colorado Land boundaries: total: 2,889 km border countries: […]
0 Read MoreGaul Settled mainly by the Gauls and related Celtic peoples (apart from a shrinking area of Basque population in the south-west), the area of modern France comprised the bulk of the region of Gaul (Latin Gallia) under Roman rule from the 1st century BC to the […]
0 Read MoreThe ConstitutionA popular referendum approved the constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1958, greatly strengthening the authority of the presidency and the executive in relation to Parliament. The executive branchFrance has an original system with an executive headed by two officials: the President and the Prime […]
0 Read MoreCatharism was a Gnostic heretical movement that originated around the middle of the 12th century AD. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its home was in Languedoc, in southern France. The name Cathars probably originated from catharos, the pure ones, maybe also from cattus […]
0 Read More[img]737|left|Louis XVI|[/img]Louis XVI of France (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793) succeeded his grandfather (Louis XV of France) as King of France on May 10, 1774; he was crowned on June 11, 1775. His father, the dauphin, had died in 1765. On May 16, 1770 […]
0 Read MoreRegions oFrance has 26 rÈgions, which are further subdivided into dÈpartements. Alsace 67 Bas-Rhin 68 Haut-Rhin Aquitaine 24 Dordogne 33 Gironde 40 Landes 47 Lot-et-Garonne 64 PyrÈnÈes-Atlantiques Auvergne 03 Allier 15 Cantal 43 Haute-Loire 63 Puy-de-DÙme Basse-Normandie 14 Calvados 50 Manche 61 Orne Bourgogne (Burgundy) 21 […]
0 Read MoreThe Celts are an indigenous people of central Europe with large numbers in the United Kingdom, in France, and in Ireland where they are in the majority. The first literary reference to the Celtic people as keltoi or hidden people, is by the Greek Hecataeus in […]
0 Read MoreThe historical nucleus of Paris is the Ile de la CitÈ, a small island largely occupied by the huge Palais de Justice and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. It is connected with the smaller Ile Saint-Louis, occupied by elegant houses built in the 17th and […]
0 Read More<!–^~^236|left|Ciboure, Pays Basque^~^–>The Basques are an indigenous people who inhabit parts of both Spain and France. They are found predominantly in four provinces in Spain and three in France. This area is to be found around the western edge of the Pyrenees on the coast of […]
0 Read MoreThe religious wars began with overt hostilities in 1562 and lasted until the Edict of Nantes in 1598. It was warfare that devastated a generation, although conducted in rather desultory, inconclusive way. Although religion was certainly the basis for the conflict, it was much more than […]
0 Read More