Blog Masonry
Services
<!–^~^66|right|^~^–>SERVICE SECTOR Financial services Market capitalization of shares listed on the Paris stock exchange totals 2,400 billion francs ($480 billion), 31.5% of French GDP, ranking Paris fifth in the world. Four French banks are among the world’s top 25: CrÈdit Agricole (8th), Compagnie FinanciËre Paribas (20th), […]
Research & Development
<!–^~^70|right|^~^–>National R & D expenditure amounts to 190 billion francs ($38 billion) i.e. 2.5% of GDP. The public sector finances 51% of it and is responsible for operating (building maintenance, salaries, laboratory equipment) the major national research centres, which include the CNRS (all fields), INSERM (medicine), […]
Foreign Trade
France is the world’s second largest exporter of services and farm products and fourth largest exporter of goods…
Transportation
<!–^~^67|right|^~^–> Road network Densest in the world, longest in the EU with a total of 964,356 km of local, secondary and main roads and motorways, including 7,396 km of motorways (second in Europe). Rail network On 1 January 1996, the SNCF (National Railroad Company) was responsible […]
Agriculture
<!–^~^68|right|^~^–>Farms: 730,000Farmers/farm workers: 910,000Utilized agricultural area: 30,139,000 hectares Principal agricultural products in France: Sugar beet: 1st in the EU, 2nd in the world (29 million tonnes) Wine: 2nd in the world, 2nd in the EU (5.3 million tonnes) Milk: 2nd in the EU, 5th in the […]
20th Century
The First World War erupted in 1914 in northeast France and after two years of German victories, fell into the horrors of trench warfare. The United States entered the war in 1917 and helped France to victory…
19th Century
The industrial expansion was not slowed by the war and continued at a fast pace. To commemorate the centenial of the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower was constructed during the Universal Exhibition of 1889…
Renaissance Era
The Renaissance style refers to the style of the historic period primarily marked by King Francois I…
Death of Top Chef Shocks France
Loiseau’s apparent suicide Monday shocked France, plunged the gastronomic world into mourning and raised a storm of condemnation from fellow culinary masters, who blamed all-powerful food critics for pushing the celebrated chef toward despair….