فرنسا

إحداثيات : 47 ° شمالاً 2 ° شرقاً / 47°N 2°E / 47; 2

الجمهورية الفرنسية République française  ( الفرنسية ) [1]
علم شعار
الشعار:  " Liberté، égalité، fraternité " "الحرية المساواة الإخاء"
نشيد وطني:  " La Marseillaise "
الختم العظيم :
Show globe Show map of Europe Show map of French overseas territories موقع  فرنسا  (أخضر غامق) - في أوروبا  (أخضر ورمادي غامق) - في الاتحاد الأوروبي  (أخضر)
عاصمة وأكبر مدينة	باريس 48 ° 51'N 2 ° 21'E  / 48.850°N 2.350°E / 48.850; 2.350
اللغة الرسمية واللغة الوطنية	الفرنسية [I]
الجنسية (2018)	93.0٪ مواطنون فرنسيون 7.0٪ رعايا أجانب [2]
دين (2019 [3] )	51٪ المسيحية 40٪ لا دين 5٪ الإسلام 3٪ أخرى 1٪ غير معلن
demonym (s)	الفرنسية
حكومة	جمهورية دستورية شبه رئاسية موحدة
•  الرئيس	إيمانويل ماكرون
•  رئيس الوزراء	جان كاستكس
•  رئيس مجلس الشيوخ	جيرار لاريشر
•  رئيس مجلس الأمة	ريتشارد فيران
السلطة التشريعية	البرلمان
•  البيت العلوي	مجلس الشيوخ
•  البيت السفلي	الجمعية الوطنية
مؤسسة
• عهد كلوفيس الأول كما ملك الفرنجة	500
•  معاهدة فردان [II]	أغسطس 843
•  تأسيس الجمهورية	22 سبتمبر 1792
•  تأسست في EEC [III]	1 يناير 1958
•  الدستور الحالي [IV]	4 أكتوبر 1958
منطقة
• مجموع	640679 كم 2 (247368 ميل مربع) [4] ( 42 )
• ماء (٪)	0.86 (اعتبارًا من 2015) [5]
•  متروبوليتان فرنسا ( IGN )	551695 كم 2 (213011 ميل مربع) [V] ( 50 )
• متروبوليتان فرنسا ( السجل العقاري )	543،940.9 كم 2 (210،016.8 ميل مربع) [VI] [6] ( 50 )
تعداد السكان
• تقدير أبريل 2021	67406000 [7] ( 20 )
• كثافة	104.7001 / كم 2 ( 106 )
• متروبوليتان فرنسا ، التقدير اعتبارًا من أبريل 2021[update]	65،233،000 [8] ( 23 )
• كثافة	116 / كم 2 (300.4 / sq mi) ( 89 )
الناتج المحلي الإجمالي  ( تعادل القوة الشرائية )	تقدير عام 2020
• مجموع	2.954 تريليون دولار [9] ( العاشر )
• للفرد	45454 دولارًا أمريكيًا [9] ( المرتبة 26 )
الناتج المحلي الإجمالي  (الاسمي)	تقدير عام 2020
• مجموع	2.551 تريليون دولار [9] ( السابع )
• للفرد	39257 دولارًا أمريكيًا [9] ( 20 )
جيني  (2018)	28.5 [10] منخفض
HDI  (2019)	0.901 [11] مرتفع جدا  ·  26
عملة	اليورو ( € ) ( EUR ) [السابع] CFP الفرنك (XPF) [الثامن]
وحدة زمنية	UTC +1 ( توقيت وسط أوروبا )
• الصيف ( DST )	UTC +2 ( توقيت وسط أوروبا الصيفي [X] )
	ملحوظة: يتم ملاحظة مناطق زمنية أخرى مختلفة في فرنسا في الخارج. [IX] على الرغم من أن فرنسا تقع في منطقة غرب أوروبا / التوقيت العالمي المنسق (Z) ، منذ 25 فبراير 1940 ، عند الاحتلال الألماني للحرب العالمية الثانية ، تم فرض توقيت وسط أوروبا / UTC + 01: 00 كتوقيت قياسي ، [1] مع +0: إزاحة 50:39 (و +1: 50: 39 أثناء DST ) من Paris LMT (UTC + 0: 09: 21).
صيغة التاريخ	يوم / شهر / سنة ( ميلادي )
التيار الكهربائي	230 فولت - 50 هرتز
جانب القيادة	حق
رمز الاتصال	+33 [الحادي عشر]
كود ISO 3166	FR
الإنترنت TLD	.fr [XII]
مصدر يعطي مساحة فرنسا الأم كما 551500 كم 2 (212900 ميل مربع) وقوائم المناطق في الخارج بشكل منفصل، الذي مبلغ المناطق إلى 89179 كم 2 (34432 ميل مربع). إضافة هذه تعطي المجموع الموضح هنا للجمهورية الفرنسية بأكملها. تقارير وكالة المخابرات المركزية يبلغ المجموع 643801 كم 2 (248،573 ميل مربع).

فرنسا ( الفرنسية:  [fʁɑs] )، رسميا الجمهورية الفرنسية (بالفرنسية: الفرنسية ريبابليك )، ^[1] هي دولة تقع في المقام الأول في أوروبا الغربية ، وتتكون من العاصمة فرنسا و عدة مناطق وأقاليم ما وراء البحار . ^[XIII] منطقة العاصمة من فرنسا تمتد من نهر الراين إلى المحيط الأطلسي ومن البحر الأبيض المتوسط إلى القناة الإنجليزية و بحر الشمال . تشمل أقاليم ما وراء البحار غيانا الفرنسية في أمريكا الجنوبيةوالعديد من الجزر في المحيط الأطلسي ، المحيط الهادي و الهندي المحيطات. فرنسا على الحدود مع بلجيكا ، لوكسمبورغ و ألمانيا إلى الشمال الشرقي، سويسرا ، موناكو و إيطاليا إلى الشرق، أندورا ، و إسبانيا إلى الجنوب، وكذلك هولندا ، سورينام و البرازيل في الأمريكتين. تمتد مناطق البلاد الثمانية عشر المتكاملة (خمسة منها تقع في الخارج) على مساحة مجمعة تبلغ 643801 كيلومتر ^مربع(248،573 ميل مربع) ويبلغ إجمالي عدد السكان 67.4 مليون (اعتبارًا من أبريل 2021 ^[update]). ^[12] فرنسا هو وحدوية نصف رئاسية الجمهورية عاصمتها باريس ، أكبر مدينة في البلاد والمركز الثقافي والتجاري الرئيسي. الرئيسية الأخرى المناطق الحضرية تشمل ليون ، مرسيليا ، تولوز ، بوردو ، ليل و نيس . تمتلك فرنسا ، بما في ذلك أقاليم ما وراء البحار ، أكثر المناطق الزمنية في أي بلد ، بإجمالي 12 منطقة.

خلال العصر الحديدي ، كان يسكن الغال ما يعرف الآن بفرنسا . كانت المنطقة التي ضمتها روما في 51 قبل الميلاد، ووضع متميزة ثقافة جالو-الرومانية التي وضعت الأساس للغة الفرنسية. و الجرمانية فرانكس وصل الى 476 وشكلت المملكة من فرنسا ، والتي أصبحت معقل الإمبراطورية الكارولنجية . و معاهدة فردان تقسيم من 843 الإمبراطورية، مع مملكة الفرنجة الغربيين تصبح المملكة من فرنسا في 987.

في أواخر العصور الوسطى ، كانت فرنسا مملكة إقطاعية شديدة اللامركزية حيث بالكاد شعرت بسلطة الملك. الملك فيليب أوغسطس حققت نجاحا ملحوظا في تعزيز السلطة الحاكمة وتوسيع مملكته، ومضاعفة في حجم و هزيمة منافسيه . بحلول نهاية عهده ، برزت فرنسا كأقوى دولة في أوروبا. في منتصف القرن الرابع عشر ، تورط الملوك الفرنسيون في سلسلة من الصراعات الأسرية مع نظرائهم الإنجليز ، والتي عُرفت مجتمعة باسم حرب المائة عام ، والتي خرجوا منها في النهاية منتصرين. النزاعات معإسبانيا و الإمبراطورية الرومانية المقدسة وسرعان ما تبعه خلال عصر النهضة . في غضون ذلك ، ازدهرت الثقافة الفرنسية وتأسست إمبراطورية استعمارية عالمية ، والتي أصبحت بحلول القرن العشرين ثاني أكبر إمبراطورية في العالم. ^[13] سيطر النصف الثاني من القرن 16 من قبل الحروب الأهلية الدينية بين الكاثوليك و البروتستانت ( المسيحيون الفرنسيون )، والتي أضعفت بشدة البلاد. لكن فرنسا برزت مرة أخرى كقوة ثقافية وسياسية وعسكرية مهيمنة في أوروبا في القرن السابع عشر تحت حكم لويس الرابع عشر بعد حرب الثلاثين عامًا . ^[14]على الرغم من ثروة الأمة ، فإن النموذج المالي غير الملائم ونظام الضرائب غير المنصف إلى جانب الحروب التي لا نهاية لها والمكلفة تعني أن المملكة قد تركت في وضع اقتصادي غير مستقر بحلول نهاية القرن الثامن عشر. كان مكلفا خصوصا السبع سنوات الحرب و حرب الاستقلال الأمريكية . شهدت الثورة الفرنسية في عام 1789 سقوط النظام الملكي المطلق الذي ميز نظام Ancien Régime ومن رماده ، نشأت إحدى الجمهوريات الأولى في التاريخ الحديث ، والتي صاغت إعلان حقوق الإنسان والمواطن . الإعلان يعبر عن المثل العليا للأمة حتى يومنا هذا.

بعد الثورة ، بلغت فرنسا ذروتها السياسية والعسكرية في أوائل القرن التاسع عشر تحت حكم نابليون بونابرت ، وأخضعت الكثير من قارة أوروبا وأسس الإمبراطورية الفرنسية الأولى . و الثورة الفرنسية و الحروب النابليونية على شكل مجرى الأوروبي وتاريخ العالم. بعد انهيار الإمبراطورية والانحدار النسبي ، عانت فرنسا من خلافة مضطربة للحكومات بلغت ذروتها في إنشاء الجمهورية الفرنسية الثالثة في عام 1870 في خضم الحرب الفرنسية البروسية . كانت فرنسا من أبرز المشاركين في الحرب العالمية الأولى التي انطلقت منهاخرجت منتصرة ، وكانت إحدى قوى الحلفاء في الحرب العالمية الثانية ، لكنها تعرضت للاحتلال من قبل المحور في عام 1940. بعد التحرير في عام 1944 ، تم إنشاء جمهورية رابعة ثم حلها لاحقًا في سياق الحرب الجزائرية . في الجمهورية الخامسة ، بقيادة شارل ديغول ، وتشكلت في عام 1958، ولا يزال حتى يومنا هذا. أصبحت الجزائر وجميع المستعمرات الفرنسية الأخرى تقريبًا مستقلة في الستينيات ، مع احتفاظ معظمها بعلاقات اقتصادية وعسكرية وثيقة مع فرنسا .

فرنسا تحتفظ الوضع قرون طويلة كمركز عالمي لل فنون ، علوم ، و الفلسفة . تستضيف خامس أكبر عدد من مواقع التراث العالمي لليونسكو في العالم وهي الوجهة السياحية الرائدة ، حيث استقبلت أكثر من 89 مليون زائر أجنبي في عام 2018. ^[15] فرنسا هي دولة متقدمة مع سابع أكبر اقتصاد في العالم من حيث الناتج المحلي الإجمالي الاسمي ، و تاسع أكبر حسب تعادل القوة الشرائية . من حيث إجمالي ثروة الأسرة ، فهي تحتل المرتبة الرابعة في العالم. ^[16] تقدم فرنسا أداءً جيدًا في التصنيف الدولي لـالتعليم ، الرعاية الصحية ، العمر المتوقع ، و التنمية البشرية . ^{[17] [18]} لا تزال قوة عظمى في الشؤون العالمية ، ^[19] كونها واحدة من الأعضاء الخمسة الدائمين في مجلس الأمن التابع للأمم المتحدة ودولة رسمية حائزة للأسلحة النووية . فرنسا عضو مؤسس ورائد في الاتحاد الأوروبي ومنطقة اليورو ، ^[20] وعضو في مجموعة السبعة ، منظمة حلف شمال الأطلسي (الناتو) ، منظمة التعاون الاقتصادي والتنمية.(OECD) ، ومنظمة التجارة العالمية (WTO) ، والفرانكوفونية .

علم أصل الكلمة والنطق

تم تطبيق اسم فرنسا في الأصل على إمبراطورية الفرنجة بأكملها ، ويأتي اسم فرنسا من اللاتينية Francia ، أو "عالم الفرنجة ". ^[21] لا تزال فرنسا الحديثة تُسمى اليوم فرانسيا بالإيطالية والإسبانية ، في حين أن فرانكريتش بالألمانية وفرانكريك بالهولندية وفرانكريك بالسويدية كلها تعني "أرض / مملكة الفرنجة".

يرتبط اسم الفرانكس بالكلمة الإنجليزية frank ("free"): هذا الأخير مشتق من الفرنك الفرنسي القديم ("free، Noble ،" الصادق ") ، وفي النهاية من الكلمة اللاتينية في القرون الوسطى francus (" free، excited from service؛ freeeman ، فرانك ") ، وهو تعميم للاسم القبلي ظهر كاقتراض لاتيني متأخر للاسم المحلي الفرنكي المعاد بناؤه * فرانك . ^{[22] [23]} لقد تم اقتراح أنه تم اعتماد معنى "حر" لأنه بعد غزو بلاد الغال ، فقط فرانكس كانوا معفيين من الضرائب ، ^[24] أو بشكل عام لأنهم كانوا يتمتعون بوضع أحرار على عكس الخدم أو العبيد. ^[23]

أصل اسم * فرانك غير مؤكد. وهي مشتقة تقليديًا من الكلمة الجرمانية البدائية * frankōn ، والتي تُترجم إلى "رمح" أو "لانس" (فأس رمي الفرنجة كان يُعرف باسم فرانشيسكا ) ، ^[25] على الرغم من أن هذه الأسلحة ربما سميت بسبب تستخدم من قبل الفرنجة ، وليس العكس. ^[23]

في اللغة الإنجليزية، 'فرنسا' هو وضوحا / و ص æ ن ق / FRANSS في اللغة الإنجليزية الأمريكية و / و ص ɑː ن ق / FRAHNSS أو / و ص æ ن ق / FRANSS في الإنجليزية البريطانية. يقتصر النطق باستخدام / ɑː / في الغالب على اللهجات مع تقسيم trap-bath مثل Received النطق ، على الرغم من أنه يمكن سماعها أيضًا في بعض اللهجات الأخرى مثل Cardiff English ، حيث / fr ɑː n s /في الاختلاف الحر مع/ f r æ n s /. ^[26][27]

تاريخ

عصور ما قبل التاريخ (قبل القرن السادس قبل الميلاد)

تعود أقدم آثار الحياة البشرية في ما يعرف الآن بفرنسا إلى ما يقرب من 1.8 مليون سنة. ^[29] على مدى آلاف السنين التالية ، واجه البشر مناخًا قاسيًا ومتغيرًا تميزت به عدة فترات جليدية . قاد البشر الأوائل حياة بدوية تعتمد على الصيد وجمع الثمار . ^[29] يوجد في فرنسا عدد كبير من الكهوف المزخرفة من العصر الحجري القديم الأعلى ، بما في ذلك واحدة من أشهر الكهوف وأفضلها محفوظة ، لاسكو ^[29] (حوالي 18000 قبل الميلاد). في نهاية العصر الجليدي الأخير (10000 قبل الميلاد) ، أصبح المناخ أكثر اعتدالًا. ^[29]منذ حوالي 7000 قبل الميلاد ، دخل هذا الجزء من أوروبا الغربية العصر الحجري الحديث وأصبح سكانه مستقرين .

بعد التطور الديموغرافي والزراعي القوي بين الألفية الرابعة والثالثة ، ظهرت علم المعادن في نهاية الألفية الثالثة ، في البداية كانت الذهب والنحاس والبرونز ، وكذلك الحديد في وقت لاحق. ^[30] يوجد في فرنسا العديد من المواقع الصخرية من العصر الحجري الحديث ، بما في ذلك موقع أحجار كارناك الكثيفة بشكل استثنائي (حوالي 3300 قبل الميلاد).

العصور القديمة (القرن السادس قبل الميلاد - القرن الخامس الميلادي)

في عام 600 قبل الميلاد، الأيوني اليونانيين من Phocaea أسس مستعمرة مسليا (في الوقت الحاضر مرسيليا )، على شواطئ البحر الأبيض المتوسط . هذا يجعلها أقدم مدينة في فرنسا. ^{[31] [32]} في الوقت نفسه ، توغلت بعض القبائل الغالية السلتية في أجزاء من شرق وشمال فرنسا ، وانتشرت تدريجيًا في بقية البلاد بين القرنين الخامس والثالث قبل الميلاد. ^[33] ظهر مفهوم بلاد الغال خلال هذه الفترة ، بما يتوافق مع أراضي مستوطنة سلتيك التي تتراوح بين نهر الراين والمحيط الأطلسي وجبال البرانسوالبحر الأبيض المتوسط. تتوافق حدود فرنسا الحديثة تقريبًا مع بلاد الغال القديمة ، التي كانت تسكنها سلتيك الغال . كانت بلاد الغال آنذاك دولة مزدهرة ، كان الجزء الجنوبي منها يخضع بشدة للتأثيرات الثقافية والاقتصادية اليونانية والرومانية.

حوالي عام 390 قبل الميلاد ، شق الزعيم الغالي برينوس وقواته طريقهم إلى إيطاليا عبر جبال الألب ، وهزموا الرومان في معركة ألييا ، وحاصروا روما وفديتهم . ^[34] أدى الغزو الغالي إلى إضعاف روما ، واستمر الغال في مضايقة المنطقة حتى عام 345 قبل الميلاد عندما دخلوا في معاهدة سلام رسمية مع روما. ^[35] لكن الرومان والإغريق سيظلون أعداء للقرون التالية ، وسيظل الإغريق يمثلون تهديدًا في إيطاليا . ^[36]

حوالي 125 قبل الميلاد ، غزا الرومان جنوب بلاد الغال ، الذين أطلقوا على هذه المنطقة Provincia Nostra ("مقاطعتنا") ، والتي تطورت بمرور الوقت إلى اسم بروفانس بالفرنسية. ^[37] غزا يوليوس قيصر ما تبقى من بلاد الغال وتغلب على ثورة قام بها زعيم الغال فرسن جتريكس في 52 قبل الميلاد. ^[38] وفقًا لبلوتارخ وكتابات الباحث بريندان وودز ، أسفرت حروب الغال عن 800 مدينة محتلة ، و 300 قبيلة مهزومة ، وبيع مليون رجل للعبودية ، وثلاثة ملايين آخرين قتلى في المعركة. ^{[ بحاجة لمصدر ]}

تم تقسيم بلاد الغال بواسطة أغسطس إلى مقاطعات رومانية. ^{[39] تم إنشاء} العديد من المدن خلال فترة غالو الرومانية ، بما في ذلك Lugdunum ( ليون حاليًا ) ، والتي تعتبر عاصمة الغال. ^[39] وقد تم بناء هذه المدن في الطراز الروماني التقليدي، مع المنتدى ، و المسرح ، و السيرك ، و المدرج و الحمامات الحرارية . اختلط الإغريق بالمستوطنين الرومان واعتمدوا في النهاية الثقافة الرومانية والكلام الروماني ( اللاتينية ، التي تطورت منها اللغة الفرنسية). و الشرك الرومانياندمجت مع الوثنية الغالية في نفس التوفيق بين المعتقدات .

من 250 إلى 280 م ، عانى الرومان من أزمة خطيرة حيث تعرضت حدودها المحصنة للهجوم في عدة مناسبات من قبل البرابرة . ^[40] ومع ذلك ، تحسن الوضع في النصف الأول من القرن الرابع ، والتي كانت فترة إحياء وازدهار الرومان الغال. ^[41] في عام 312 ، اعتنق الإمبراطور قسطنطين الأول المسيحية. في وقت لاحق ، ازداد عدد المسيحيين ، الذين كانوا مضطهدين حتى ذلك الحين ، بسرعة في جميع أنحاء الإمبراطورية الرومانية. ^[42] ولكن منذ بداية القرن الخامس ، استؤنفت الغزوات البربرية . ^[43] غزت القبائل التيوتونية المنطقة من ألمانيا الحالية ، القوط الغربييناستقر في الجنوب الغربي ، البورغنديون على طول وادي نهر الراين ، والفرنجة (الذين أخذ الفرنسيون اسمهم) في الشمال. ^[44]

أوائل العصور الوسطى (القرنين الخامس والعاشر)

في نهاية العصور القديمة الفترة، تم تقسيم بلاد الغال القديمة إلى عدة ممالك الجرمانية والأراضي جالو-الرومانية المتبقية، والمعروفة باسم مملكة سياغريوس . في الوقت نفسه ، استقر البريطانيون السلتيون ، الذين فروا من مستوطنة الأنجلو ساكسونية في بريطانيا ، في الجزء الغربي من أرموريكا . نتيجة لذلك ، تم تغيير اسم شبه جزيرة Armorican إلى بريتاني ، وتم إحياء الثقافة السلتية وظهرت ممالك صغيرة مستقلة في هذه المنطقة.

كان كلوفيس الأول هو أول زعيم جعل نفسه ملكًا على جميع الفرانكس ، الذي بدأ حكمه عام 481 ، وهزم آخر قوات حكام المقاطعة الرومان في عام 486. وادعى كلوفيس أنه سيعتمد مسيحيًا في حالة حكمه. الانتصار على القوط الغربيين ، والذي قيل أنه ضمّن المعركة. استعاد كلوفيس الجنوب الغربي من القوط الغربيين ، وتم تعميده عام 508 ، وجعل نفسه سيدًا لما يعرف الآن بألمانيا الغربية.

كان كلوفيس الأول الفاتح الجرماني الأول بعد سقوط الإمبراطورية الرومانية الذي اعتنق المسيحية الكاثوليكية بدلاً من الآريوسية . وهكذا أعطيت فرنسا لقب "الابنة الكبرى للكنيسة" ( بالفرنسية: La fille aînée de l'Église ) من قبل البابوية ، ^[45] وأطلق على الملوك الفرنسيين لقب "أكثر ملوك فرنسا المسيحيين " ( ريكس كريستيانيسيموس ).

اعتنق الفرنجة الثقافة المسيحية جالو رومانية وأعيدت تسمية بلاد الغال القديمة في النهاية إلى فرانسيا ("أرض الفرنجة"). اعتمد الفرنجة الجرمانية اللغات الرومانية ، باستثناء شمال بلاد الغال حيث كانت المستوطنات الرومانية أقل كثافة وحيث ظهرت اللغات الجرمانية . جعل كلوفيس باريس عاصمته وأسس سلالة ميروفنجي ، لكن مملكته لم تنجو من موته. عامل الفرنجة الأرض كملكية خاصة بحتة وقسموها بين ورثتهم ، لذلك ظهرت أربع ممالك من كلوفيس: باريس ، أورليان ، سواسون ، وريم . و آخر ملوك Merovingian السلطة المفقودةلمن رؤساء البلديات من القصر (رب الأسرة). هزم عمدة القصر ، تشارلز مارتل ، الغزو الإسلامي للغال في معركة تورز (732) واكتسب الاحترام والقوة داخل ممالك الفرنجة. استولى ابنه ، بيبين القصير ، على تاج فرانسيا من الميروفنجيون الضعفاء وأسس سلالة كارولينجيان . قام شارلمان ، ابن بيبين ، بإعادة توحيد ممالك الفرنجة وبنى إمبراطورية شاسعة عبر أوروبا الغربية والوسطى.

أعلن الإمبراطور الروماني المقدس من قبل البابا ليو الثالث ، وبالتالي تأسيس بشكل جدي منذ فترة طويلة الحكومة الفرنسية جمعية التاريخية مع الكنيسة الكاثوليكية ، ^[46] حاول شارلمان لإحياء الإمبراطورية الرومانية الغربية والعظمة الثقافية. أبقى لويس الأول ، ابن شارلمان (الإمبراطور 814-840) ، الإمبراطورية موحدة. ومع ذلك ، فإن هذه الإمبراطورية الكارولنجية لن تنجو من موته. في 843 ، بموجب معاهدة فردان ، تم تقسيم الإمبراطورية بين أبناء لويس الثلاثة ، حيث ذهب شرق فرنسا إلى لويس الألماني ، ووسط فرنسا إلى لوثر الأول.، وغرب فرنسا إلى تشارلز الأصلع . يقترب غرب فرنسا من المساحة التي احتلتها فرنسا الحديثة وكانت مقدمة لها. ^[47]

خلال القرنين التاسع والعاشر ، التي كانت مهددة باستمرار من قبل غزوات الفايكنج ، أصبحت فرنسا دولة لامركزية للغاية: أصبحت ألقاب النبلاء وأراضيهم وراثية ، وأصبحت سلطة الملك أكثر تديناً من علمانية ، وبالتالي كانت أقل فاعلية ويتحدىها النبلاء الأقوياء باستمرار. . وهكذا تم تأسيس الإقطاع في فرنسا. بمرور الوقت ، ازدادت قوة بعض أتباع الملك لدرجة أنهم شكلوا تهديدًا للملك في كثير من الأحيان. على سبيل المثال ، بعد معركة هاستينغز عام 1066 ، أضاف ويليام الفاتح "ملك إنجلترا" إلى ألقابه ، ليصبح تابعًا (كدوق نورماندي ) وملك فرنسا (كملك إنجلترا) ، خلق توترات متكررة.

العصور الوسطى العليا والمتأخرة (القرن العاشر- الخامس عشر)

حكمت سلالة كارولينجيان فرنسا حتى عام 987 ، عندما توج هيو كابت ، دوق فرنسا وكونت باريس ، ملكًا على الفرنجة . ^[48] صاحب أحفاد و Capetians ، و فالوا و عائلة بوربون موحدة -progressively البلاد من خلال الحروب والميراث الأسرات في المملكة من فرنسا، التي كانت قد أعلنت بشكل كامل في 1190 من قبل فيليب الثاني ملك فرنسا ( فيليب أوغست ). قام الملوك اللاحقون بتوسيع نطاقهم الملكي المملوك مباشرةلتغطية أكثر من نصف فرنسا القارية الحديثة بحلول القرن الخامس عشر ، بما في ذلك معظم شمال ووسط وغرب فرنسا. خلال هذه العملية ، أصبحت السلطة الملكية أكثر حزماً ، وتركزت على مجتمع متسلسل هرمي يميز النبلاء ورجال الدين والعامة .

لعب النبلاء الفرنسيون دورًا بارزًا في معظم الحروب الصليبية لاستعادة وصول المسيحيين إلى الأراضي المقدسة . شكّل الفرسان الفرنسيون الجزء الأكبر من التدفق المستمر للتعزيزات طوال فترة الحروب الصليبية التي امتدت لمائتي عام ، بحيث أشار العرب بشكل موحد إلى الصليبيين على أنهم فرانج لا يهتمون كثيرًا بما إذا كانوا قد جاءوا بالفعل من فرنسا. ^[49] كما استورد الصليبيون الفرنسيون اللغة الفرنسية إلى بلاد الشام ، جاعلين من الفرنسية أساس اللغة المشتركة ("لغة الفرنجة") للدول الصليبية . ^{[49] كان} الفرسان الفرنسيون يشكلون أيضًا الأغلبية في كل من المستشفىو أوامر معبد . هذا الأخير ، على وجه الخصوص ، كان يمتلك العديد من الممتلكات في جميع أنحاء فرنسا وبحلول القرن الثالث عشر كان المصرفيين الرئيسيين للتاج الفرنسي ، حتى ألغى فيليب الرابع الأمر في عام 1307. تم إطلاق الحملة الصليبية الألبيجينية في عام 1209 للقضاء على الكاثار المهرطقين في المنطقة الجنوبية الغربية فرنسا الحديثة. في النهاية ، تم إبادة الكاثار وضم مقاطعة تولوز المستقلة إلى أراضي التاج في فرنسا . ^[50]

منذ القرن الحادي عشر ، نجح House of Plantagenet ، حكام مقاطعة Anjou ، في بسط سيطرته على المقاطعات المحيطة في Maine و Touraine ، ثم قام تدريجياً ببناء "إمبراطورية" امتدت من إنجلترا إلى جبال البيرينيه وغطت نصف أراضيها. فرنسا الحديثة. استمرت التوترات بين مملكة فرنسا وإمبراطورية بلانتاجنيت لمائة عام ، حتى غزا فيليب الثاني ملك فرنسا ، بين عامي 1202 و 1214 ، معظم ممتلكات الإمبراطورية القارية ، تاركًا إنجلترا وأكيتاين إلى بلانتاجنيتس. بعد معركة Bouvines ، تراجعت محكمة Angevin إلى إنجلترا ، لكنها استمرتإن التنافس بين الكابتن والبلانتاجنت من شأنه أن يمهد الطريق لصراع آخر ، حرب المائة عام .

توفي تشارلز الرابع المعرض دون وريث عام 1328. ^[51] بموجب قواعد قانون ساليك ، لا يمكن أن ينتقل تاج فرنسا إلى امرأة ولا يمكن أن يمر خط الملكية عبر خط الإناث. ^[51] وبناءً على ذلك ، انتقل التاج إلى فيليب فالوا ، ابن عم تشارلز ، وليس من خلال سلالة الإناث لابن أخ تشارلز ، إدوارد بلانتاجنيت ، الذي سيصبح قريبًا إدوارد الثالث ملك إنجلترا . في عهد فيليب فالوا ، وصلت الملكية الفرنسية إلى ذروة قوتها في العصور الوسطى. ^[51] تنازع إدوارد الثالث ملك إنجلترا على مقعد فيليب على العرش عام 1337 ، عشية الموجة الأولى من الموت الأسود ، ^[52]وخاضت إنجلترا وفرنسا حربًا فيما أصبح يعرف باسم حرب المائة عام. ^[53] تغيرت الحدود الدقيقة بشكل كبير مع مرور الوقت ، لكن حيازات الملوك الإنجليز الفرنسية ظلت ممتدة لعقود. مع القادة الكاريزميين ، مثل Joan of Arc و La Hire ، استعادت الهجمات المضادة الفرنسية القوية معظم الأراضي القارية الإنجليزية. مثل بقية أوروبا ، ضرب الموت الأسود فرنسا. مات نصف سكان فرنسا البالغ عددهم 17 مليون نسمة. ^{[54] [55]}

الفترة الحديثة المبكرة (القرن الخامس عشر - 1789)

المقالات الرئيسية: عصر النهضة الفرنسية (حوالي 1400 - 1650) ، فرنسا الحديثة المبكرة (1500 - 1789) ، الحروب الدينية الفرنسية (1562 - 1598) و Ancien Régime (1400–1792 )

شهد عصر النهضة الفرنسي تطورًا ثقافيًا مذهلاً وأول توحيد للغة الفرنسية ، والتي ستصبح اللغة الرسمية لفرنسا ولغة الأرستقراطية في أوروبا. كما شهدت أيضًا مجموعة طويلة من الحروب ، المعروفة باسم الحروب الإيطالية ، بين فرنسا وبيت هابسبورغ . المستكشفون الفرنسيون ، مثل جاك كارتييه أو صموئيل دي شامبلين ، طالبوا بأراضي في الأمريكتين لفرنسا ، مما مهد الطريق لتوسيع الإمبراطورية الاستعمارية الفرنسية الأولى . أدى صعود البروتستانتية في أوروبا إلى اندلاع حرب أهلية بفرنسا تُعرف باسم حروب الدين الفرنسية ، حيث شهد أكثر الحوادث شهرةً الآلاف من الهوغونوتيين.قتل في مذبحة يوم القديس بارثولوميو من 1572. ^[56] والحروب الدينية وانتهت هنري IV الصورة مرسوم نانت الذي منح بعض حرية الدين المسيحيون الفرنسيون. ساعدت القوات الإسبانية ، إرهاب أوروبا الغربية ، ^[57] الجانب الكاثوليكي خلال حروب الدين في 1589-1594 ، وغزت شمال فرنسا عام 1597 ؛ بعد بعض المناوشات في عشرينيات وثلاثينيات القرن السادس عشر ، عادت إسبانيا وفرنسا إلى حرب شاملة بين عامي 1635 و 1659. كلفت الحرب فرنسا 300000 ضحية. ^[58]

في عهد لويس الثالث عشر ، روج الكاردينال النشط ريشيليو لمركزية الدولة وعزز السلطة الملكية من خلال نزع سلاح أصحاب السلطة المحليين في عشرينيات القرن السادس عشر. لقد دمر بشكل منهجي قلاع اللوردات المتحديين وندد باستخدام العنف الخاص (المبارزة وحمل الأسلحة والحفاظ على الجيوش الخاصة). بحلول نهاية عشرينيات القرن السادس عشر ، أسس ريشيليو "الاحتكار الملكي للقوة" كعقيدة. ^[59] وخلال ويس الرابع عشر أقلية الصورة وصايه الملكة آن و الكاردينال مازارين ، وهي فترة من المتاعب المعروفة باسم سعفة النخل وقعت في فرنسا. كان هذا التمرد مدفوعًا بأمراء إقطاعيين ومحاكم ذات سيادةكرد فعل على صعود السلطة الملكية المطلقة في فرنسا.

بلغ النظام الملكي ذروته خلال القرن السابع عشر وعهد لويس الرابع عشر. من خلال تحويل اللوردات الإقطاعيين الأقوياء إلى حاشية في قصر فرساي ، أصبحت قوة لويس الرابع عشر الشخصية بلا منازع. تذكرت حروبه العديدة ، وجعل من فرنسا القوة الأوروبية الرائدة. أصبحت فرنسا الدولة الأكثر اكتظاظًا بالسكان في أوروبا وكان لها تأثير هائل على السياسة والاقتصاد والثقافة الأوروبية. أصبحت الفرنسية اللغة الأكثر استخدامًا في الدبلوماسية والعلوم والأدب والشؤون الدولية ، وظلت كذلك حتى القرن العشرين. ^[60] حصلت فرنسا على العديد من الممتلكات في الخارج في الأمريكتين وأفريقيا وآسيا. ألغى لويس الرابع عشر أيضًا مرسوم نانت ، مما أجبر الآلاف من الهوغونوت على المنفى.

تحت حكم لويس الخامس عشر ، حفيد لويس الرابع عشر ، خسرت فرنسا فرنسا الجديدة ومعظم ممتلكاتها الهندية بعد هزيمتها في حرب السنوات السبع (1756-1763). في الأراضي الأوروبية تواصل نموها، ولكن مع الاستحواذ البارزة مثل لورين (1766) و كورسيكا (1770). الملك غير المحبوب ، وحكم لويس الخامس عشر الضعيف ، وقراراته المالية والسياسية والعسكرية غير الحكيمة - بالإضافة إلى فجور محكمته - أساءت إلى النظام الملكي ، الذي مهد الطريق للثورة الفرنسية بعد 15 عامًا من وفاته. ^{[61] [62]}

لويس السادس عشر ، حفيد لويس الخامس عشر ، دعم بنشاط الأمريكيين ، الذين كانوا يسعون إلى استقلالهم عن بريطانيا العظمى (تم تحقيقها في معاهدة باريس 1783 ). كانت الأزمة المالية التي تفاقمت بسبب تورط فرنسا في الحرب الثورية الأمريكية أحد العوامل العديدة المساهمة في الثورة الفرنسية. حدث جزء كبير من عصر التنوير في الأوساط الفكرية الفرنسية ، وتم تحقيق الاختراقات والاختراعات العلمية الكبرى ، مثل اكتشاف الأكسجين (1778) وأول منطاد الهواء الساخن الذي يحمل الركاب (1783) ، من قبل العلماء الفرنسيين. المستكشفون الفرنسيون ، مثل Bougainville و Lapérouse، شارك في رحلات الاستكشاف العلمي من خلال البعثات البحرية حول العالم. فلسفة التنوير، والذي سبب ودافع كمصدر أساسي لل شرعية و سلطة ، إلى تقويض قوة ودعم النظام الملكي وساعد في تمهيد الطريق للثورة الفرنسية.

فرنسا الثورية (1789–1799)

في مواجهة المشاكل المالية ، استدعى الملك لويس السادس عشر العقارات العامة (جمع العقارات الثلاثة للمملكة ) في مايو 1789 لاقتراح حلول لحكومته. عندما وصل الأمر إلى طريق مسدود ، شكل ممثلو الطبقة الثالثة مجلسًا وطنيًا ، مما يشير إلى اندلاع الثورة الفرنسية . خوفًا من قيام الملك بقمع الجمعية الوطنية التي تم إنشاؤها حديثًا ، اقتحم المتمردون الباستيل في 14 يوليو 1789 ، وهو التاريخ الذي سيصبح اليوم الوطني لفرنسا .

في أوائل أغسطس 1789، و الجمعية الوطنية التأسيسية ألغت الامتيازات لل نبل مثل العبودية الشخصية وحقوق الصيد الخالصة. من خلال إعلان حقوق الإنسان والمواطن(27 أغسطس 1789) أنشأت فرنسا الحقوق الأساسية للرجال. ويؤكد الإعلان "حقوق الإنسان الطبيعية وغير القابلة للتقادم" في "الحرية والملكية والأمن ومقاومة القهر". أُعلن عن حرية التعبير والصحافة ، وحُظرت الاعتقالات التعسفية. ودعت إلى تدمير الامتيازات الأرستقراطية وأعلنت الحرية والمساواة في الحقوق لجميع الرجال ، فضلاً عن الوصول إلى المناصب العامة على أساس الموهبة بدلاً من الولادة. في نوفمبر 1789 ، قررت الجمعية تأميم وبيع جميع ممتلكات الكنيسة الرومانية الكاثوليكية التي كانت أكبر مالك للأراضي في البلاد. في يوليو 1790 ، صدر دستور مدني لرجال الدينأعاد تنظيم الكنيسة الكاثوليكية الفرنسية ، وألغى سلطة الكنيسة في جباية الضرائب ، وما إلى ذلك. أدى ذلك إلى استياء شديد في أجزاء من فرنسا ، مما قد يساهم في اندلاع الحرب الأهلية بعد بضع سنوات. بينما كان الملك لويس السادس عشر لا يزال يتمتع بشعبية بين السكان ، بدا أن رحلته الكارثية إلى فارينيس (يونيو 1791) تبرر الشائعات بأنه ربط آماله في الخلاص السياسي باحتمالات الغزو الأجنبي. تم تقويض مصداقيته بشدة لدرجة أن إلغاء النظام الملكي وإنشاء جمهورية أصبح احتمالًا متزايدًا.

في أغسطس 1791 ، هدد إمبراطور النمسا وملك بروسيا في إعلان بيلنيتز فرنسا الثورية بالتدخل بقوة السلاح لاستعادة الملكية الفرنسية المطلقة. في سبتمبر 1791 ، أجبرت الجمعية التأسيسية الوطنية الملك لويس السادس عشر على قبول الدستور الفرنسي لعام 1791 ، وبالتالي تحويل الملكية الفرنسية المطلقة إلى ملكية دستورية . في المنشأة حديثا الجمعية التشريعية (أكتوبر 1791)، العداء المتقدمة وتعميقها بين المجموعة، ودعا في وقت لاحق " بوردو "، الذين فضلوا الحرب مع النمسا و بروسيا ، ومجموعة تسمى فيما بعد "Montagnards أو Jacobins ، الذين عارضوا مثل هذه الحرب. لكن الأغلبية في الجمعية عام 1792 رأت أن الحرب مع النمسا وبروسيا فرصة لتعزيز شعبية الحكومة الثورية ، واعتقدت أن فرنسا ستفوز في حرب ضد تلك الملكيات المجمعة. في 20 أبريل 1792 ، أعلنوا الحرب على النمسا . ^{[الرابع عشر]}

في 10 أغسطس 1792 ، هدد حشد غاضب قصر الملك لويس السادس عشر ، الذي لجأ إلى الجمعية التشريعية. ^{[63] [64]} غزا الجيش البروسي فرنسا في وقت لاحق في أغسطس 1792. في أوائل سبتمبر ، قتل الباريسيون ، الغاضبون من الجيش البروسي الذي استولى على فردان والانتفاضات المضادة للثورة في غرب فرنسا ، ما بين 1000 و 1500 سجين بمداهمة الباريسيين السجون. و الجمعية و مجلس مدينة باريس بدا غير قادر على وقف ذلك إراقة الدماء. ^{[63] [65]} و المؤتمر الوطني ، الذي تم اختياره في أول انتخابات برلمانية تجرى الذكور بالاقتراع العام ، ^[63]في 20 سبتمبر 1792 خلفت الجمعية التشريعية وفي 21 سبتمبر ألغت الملكية بإعلان الجمهورية الفرنسية الأولى . وكان الملك السابق لويس السادس عشر أدين من الخيانة و بالمقصلة في يناير 1793 . كانت فرنسا قد أعلنت الحرب على بريطانيا العظمى والجمهورية الهولندية في نوفمبر 1792 وفعلت الشيء نفسه على إسبانيا في مارس 1793 ؛ في ربيع عام 1793 ، غزت النمسا وبروسيا فرنسا. في مارس ، أنشأت فرنسا " جمهورية شقيقة " في " جمهورية ماينز ".

أيضًا في مارس 1793 ، بدأت الحرب الأهلية لفندي ضد باريس ، والتي أثارها كل من الدستور المدني لرجال الدين لعام 1790 والتجنيد العسكري على مستوى البلاد في أوائل عام 1793 ؛ في أماكن أخرى من فرنسا كان التمرد يتخمر أيضًا. وصل الخلاف بين الفصائل في المؤتمر الوطني ، الذي اشتعلت فيه النيران منذ أكتوبر 1791 ، إلى ذروته مع إجبار مجموعة " الجيروندين " في 2 يونيو 1793 على الاستقالة ومغادرة المؤتمر. بدأت الثورة المضادة في مارس 1793 في فيندي ، وبحلول يوليو امتدت إلى بريتانيونورماندي وبوردو ومرسيليا وطولون وليون. تمكنت حكومة مؤتمر باريس بين أكتوبر وديسمبر 1793 من خلال إجراءات وحشية من إخضاع معظم الانتفاضات الداخلية ، على حساب عشرات الآلاف من الأرواح. يعتبر بعض المؤرخين أن الحرب الأهلية استمرت حتى عام 1796 ، وقد أسفرت عن مقتل 450 ألف شخص. ^{[66] [67]} بحلول نهاية عام 1793 كان الحلفاء قد طردوا من فرنسا. ألغت فرنسا في فبراير 1794 العبودية في مستعمراتها الأمريكية ، لكنها عادت إلى العمل بها لاحقًا.

وصلت الخلافات السياسية والعداوات في المؤتمر الوطني بين أكتوبر 1793 ويوليو 1794 إلى مستويات غير مسبوقة ، مما أدى إلى الحكم على العشرات من أعضاء المؤتمر بالإعدام والمقطع. في غضون ذلك ، كانت حروب فرنسا الخارجية عام 1794 تزدهر ، على سبيل المثال في بلجيكا. في عام 1795 ، بدا أن الحكومة عادت إلى اللامبالاة تجاه رغبات واحتياجات الطبقات الدنيا فيما يتعلق بحرية الدين ( الكاثوليكي ) والتوزيع العادل للطعام. حتى عام 1799 ، كان السياسيون ، بصرف النظر عن اختراعهم لنظام برلماني جديد (" الدليل ") ، منشغلين بإثناء الناس عن الكاثوليكية والملكية.

نابليون والقرن التاسع عشر (1799-1914)

نابليون بونابرت سيطرت على جمهورية في عام 1799 تصبح القنصل الأولى وبعد ذلك الإمبراطور من الإمبراطورية الفرنسية (1804-1814، 1815). استمرارا لل حروب التي اندلعت في الممالك الأوروبية ضد الجمهورية الفرنسية، ومجموعات من تغيير التحالفات الأوروبية أعلنت الحروب على الإمبراطورية نابليون. غزت جيوشه معظم أوروبا القارية بانتصارات سريعة مثل معارك Jena-Auerstadt أو Austerlitz . أعضاء بونابرت تم تعيين الأسرة الملوك في بعض الممالك التي أنشئت حديثا. ^[69]

هذه الانتصارات أدى إلى التوسع في جميع أنحاء العالم من المثل العليا للثورة الفرنسية والإصلاحات، مثل النظام المتري ، و قانون نابليون وإعلان حقوق الإنسان. في يونيو 1812 ، هاجم نابليون روسيا ووصل إلى موسكو. بعد ذلك تفكك جيشه بسبب مشاكل الإمداد والمرض والهجمات الروسية وأخيراً الشتاء. بعد الكارثية الحملة الروسية ، والتي تلت انتفاضة الملكيات الأوروبية ضد حكمه، هزم نابليون والنظام الملكي بوربون استعادة . مات حوالي مليون فرنسي خلال الحروب النابليونية . ^[69] بعد عودته القصيرةمن المنفى ، هُزم نابليون أخيرًا في عام 1815 في معركة واترلو ، وأعيد تأسيس النظام الملكي (1815-1830) ، مع قيود دستورية جديدة.

أطيح بسلالة بوربون الفاسدة من قبل ثورة يوليو عام 1830 ، والتي أسست ملكية يوليو الدستورية . في ذلك العام ، غزت القوات الفرنسية الجزائر ، لتأسيس أول وجود استعماري في أفريقيا منذ الغزو الفاشل لنابليون لمصر عام 1798. في عام 1848 أدت الاضطرابات العامة إلى ثورة فبراير ونهاية ملكية يوليو. إلغاء العبودية وإدخال حق الاقتراع العام للذكور ، اللذان تم سنهما لفترة وجيزة خلال الثورة الفرنسية ، أعيد سنهما في عام 1848. في عام 1852 ، أعلن رئيس الجمهورية الفرنسية ، لويس نابليون بونابرت ، ابن شقيق نابليون الأول ، إمبراطورًا لـ و الإمبراطورية الثانية، مثل نابليون الثالث. وتضاعفت التدخلات الفرنسية في الخارج، وخصوصا في شبه جزيرة القرم ، في المكسيك و إيطاليا والتي أسفرت عن ضم دوقية سافوي و مقاطعة نيس ، التي كانت جزءا من مملكة سردينيا . أطيح بنابليون الثالث بعد الهزيمة في الحرب الفرنسية البروسية عام 1870 واستبدلت نظامه بالجمهورية الثالثة . بحلول عام 1875 ، كان الغزو الفرنسي للجزائر قد اكتمل وقتل نتيجة لذلك ما يقرب من 825000 جزائري. ^[70]

امتلكت فرنسا ممتلكات استعمارية ، بأشكال مختلفة ، منذ بداية القرن السابع عشر ، ولكن في القرنين التاسع عشر والعشرين ، امتدت إمبراطوريتها الاستعمارية العالمية إلى حد كبير وأصبحت ثاني أكبر إمبراطورية في العالم بعد الإمبراطورية البريطانية . بما في ذلك فرنسا المتروبولية ، بلغت المساحة الإجمالية للأراضي الخاضعة للسيادة الفرنسية ما يقرب من 13 مليون كيلومتر مربع في عشرينيات وثلاثينيات القرن الماضي ، 8.6٪ من أراضي العالم. كانت بداية القرن ، المعروفة باسم Belle Époque ، فترة اتسمت بالتفاؤل والسلام الإقليمي والازدهار الاقتصادي والابتكارات التكنولوجية والعلمية والثقافية. في عام 1905 ، كانت علمانية الدولةرسميًا .

الفترة المعاصرة (1914 حتى الآن)

كانت فرنسا عضوًا في الوفاق الثلاثي عندما اندلعت الحرب العالمية الأولى . تم احتلال جزء صغير من شمال فرنسا ، لكن فرنسا وحلفاءها خرجوا منتصرين ضد القوى المركزية بتكلفة بشرية ومادية هائلة. خلفت الحرب العالمية الأولى 1.4 مليون جندي فرنسي قتلى ، 4٪ من سكانها. ^[71] قُتل ما بين 27 و 30٪ من الجنود المجندين من عام 1912 إلى عام 1915. ^[72] تميزت سنوات ما بعد الحرب بتوترات دولية شديدة ومجموعة متنوعة من الإصلاحات الاجتماعية التي أدخلتها حكومة الجبهة الشعبية ( إجازة سنوية ، ثماني ساعات في أيام العمل ، النساء في الحكومة ).

في عام 1940، كانت فرنسا غزت من قبل ألمانيا النازية و إيطاليا . تم تقسيم متروبوليتان فرنسا إلى منطقة احتلال ألماني في الشمال ، ومنطقة احتلال إيطالي في الجنوب الشرقي و Vichy France ، وهو نظام استبدادي تم إنشاؤه حديثًا يتعاون مع ألمانيا ، في الجنوب ، بينما فرنسا الحرة ، الحكومة في المنفى بقيادة تشارلز ديغول ، في لندن. ^[73] من عام 1942 إلى عام 1944 ، تم ترحيل حوالي 160.000 مواطن فرنسي ، بما في ذلك حوالي 75000 يهودي ، ^{[74] [75] [76]} إلى معسكرات الموت ومعسكرات الاعتقال في ألمانيا وبولندا المحتلة. ^[77] في سبتمبر 1943 ، كانت كورسيكا أول منطقة حضرية فرنسية تحرر نفسها من المحور. في 6 يونيو 1944 ، غزا الحلفاء نورماندي وفي أغسطس غزوا بروفانس . خلال العام التالي انتصر الحلفاء والمقاومة الفرنسية على دول المحور واستعادت السيادة الفرنسية بتأسيس الحكومة المؤقتة للجمهورية الفرنسية (GPRF). هذه الحكومة المؤقتة، التي أنشأها ديغول، والتي تهدف إلى مواصلة شن حرب ضد ألمانيا و المتعاونين تطهير من منصبه. كما قامت بعدة إصلاحات مهمة (امتد حق الاقتراع إلى النساء ، وإنشاء نظام ضمان اجتماعي ).

وضعت GPRF الأساس لنظام دستوري جديد نتج عنه الجمهورية الرابعة ، التي شهدت نموًا اقتصاديًا مذهلاً ( les Trente Glorieuses ). كانت فرنسا أحد الأعضاء المؤسسين لحلف الناتو (1949). حاولت فرنسا استعادة السيطرة على الهند الصينية الفرنسية لكنها هزمت من قبل فيت مينه في عام 1954 في معركة ديان بيان فو . بعد أشهر فقط ، واجهت فرنسا صراعًا آخر مناهضًا للاستعمار في الجزائر . التعذيب والقمع الممنهج ، وكذلك عمليات القتل خارج نطاق القضاء التي ارتكبت للحفاظ على السيطرة على الجزائر، التي تعتبر بعد ذلك جزءًا لا يتجزأ من فرنسا وموطنًا لأكثر من مليون مستوطن أوروبي ، ^{[78] [79]} دمرت البلاد وكادت أن تؤدي إلى انقلاب وحرب أهلية. ^[80]

في عام 1958 ، أفسحت الجمهورية الرابعة الضعيفة وغير المستقرة الطريق للجمهورية الخامسة ، والتي تضمنت رئاسة قوية. ^[81] في الدور الأخير ، تمكن شارل ديغول من الحفاظ على تماسك البلاد أثناء اتخاذ خطوات لإنهاء الحرب الجزائرية . انتهت الحرب باتفاقيات إيفيان عام 1962 التي أدت إلى استقلال الجزائر. جاء الاستقلال الجزائري بثمن باهظ: الخسائر الكبيرة التي تكبدها الشعب الجزائري. وقد أسفر عن مقتل نصف مليون إلى مليون شخص وتشريد أكثر من مليوني جزائري داخليًا. ^{[82] [83] [84]} من بقايا الإمبراطورية الاستعمارية مقاطعات وأقاليم ما وراء البحار الفرنسية .

في سياق الحرب الباردة ، واصلت ديغول سياسة "الاستقلال الوطني" نحو الغرب و الكتل الشرقية . ولهذه الغاية ، انسحب من القيادة العسكرية المتكاملة للناتو (مع بقائه في حلف الناتو نفسه) ، وأطلق برنامج تطوير نووي وجعل فرنسا القوة النووية الرابعة . و استعادة ودية العلاقات الفرنسية-الألمانية لخلق توازن الأوروبي بين المجالين الأمريكية والسوفيتية من النفوذ. ومع ذلك ، فقد عارض أي تطور لأوروبا فوق الوطنية ، لصالح أوروبا من الدول ذات السيادة. في أعقاب سلسلة الاحتجاجات العالمية عام 1968 ، كان لثورة مايو 1968 تأثير اجتماعي هائل. في فرنسا ، تعتبر هذه اللحظة الفاصلة عندما تحول المثل الأعلى الأخلاقي المحافظ (الدين ، والوطنية ، واحترام السلطة) نحو نموذج أخلاقي أكثر ليبرالية ( العلمانية ، والفردية ، والثورة الجنسية ). على الرغم من أن الثورة كانت فشلاً سياسياً (حيث ظهر الحزب الديجولي أقوى من ذي قبل) إلا أنها أعلنت عن انقسام بين الشعب الفرنسي وديغول الذي استقال بعد فترة وجيزة.

في حقبة ما بعد الديغولية ، ظلت فرنسا واحدة من أكثر الاقتصادات تطوراً في العالم ، لكنها واجهت العديد من الأزمات الاقتصادية التي أدت إلى ارتفاع معدلات البطالة وزيادة الدين العام. في أواخر القرن العشرين وأوائل القرن الحادي والعشرين ، كانت فرنسا في طليعة تطوير الاتحاد الأوروبي فوق الوطني ، ولا سيما من خلال التوقيع على معاهدة ماستريخت (التي أنشأت الاتحاد الأوروبي) في عام 1992 ، وإنشاء منطقة اليورو في عام 1999 وتوقيع معاهدة لشبونة في 2007. ^[87] كما تم دمج فرنسا بشكل تدريجي ولكن بشكل كامل في الناتو ومنذ ذلك الحين شاركت في معظم الحروب التي يرعاها الناتو. ^[88]

منذ القرن التاسع عشر ، استقبلت فرنسا العديد من المهاجرين . وكان معظمهم من العمال الأجانب الذكور من الدول الأوروبية الكاثوليكية الذين عادوا بشكل عام إلى أوطانهم عندما لا يعملون. ^[89] خلال السبعينيات واجهت فرنسا أزمة اقتصادية وسمحت للمهاجرين الجدد (معظمهم من المغرب العربي ) ^[89] بالاستقرار الدائم في فرنسا مع عائلاتهم والحصول على الجنسية الفرنسية. نتج عن ذلك مئات الآلاف من المسلمين (خاصة في المدن الكبرى) يعيشون في مساكن عامة مدعومة ويعانون من معدلات بطالة عالية للغاية. ^{[90] في} نفس الوقت تخلت فرنسا عن الاندماج of immigrants, where they were expected to adhere to French traditional values and cultural norms. They were encouraged to retain their distinctive cultures and traditions and required merely to integrate.^[91]

Since the 1995 Paris Métro and RER bombings, France has been sporadically targeted by Islamist organisations, notably the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 which provoked the largest public rallies in French history, gathering 4.4 million people,^[92][93] the November 2015 Paris attacks which resulted in 130 deaths, the deadliest attack on French soil since World War II^[94][95] and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004,^[96] as well as the 2016 Nice truck attack, which caused 87 deaths during Bastille Day celebrations. Opération Chammal, France's military efforts to contain ISIS, killed over 1,000 ISIS troops between 2014 and 2015.^[97][98]

Geography

Location and borders

The vast majority of France's territory and population is situated in Western Europe and is called Metropolitan France, to distinguish it from the country's various overseas polities. It is bordered by the North Sea in the north, the English Channel in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Mediterranean sea in the southeast. Its land borders consist of Belgium and Luxembourg in the northeast, Germany and Switzerland in the east, Italy and Monaco in the southeast, and Andorra and Spain in the south and southwest. With the exception of the northeast, most of France's land borders are roughly delineated by natural boundaries and geographic features: to the south and southeast, the Pyrenees and the Alps and the Jura, respectively, and to the east, the Rhine river. Due to its shape, France is often referred to as l'Hexagone ("The Hexagon"). Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is Corsica. Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes 41° and 51° N, and longitudes 6° W and 10° E, on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern temperate zone. Its continental part covers about 1000 km from north to south and from east to west.

France has several overseas regions across the world, which are organized as follows:

• In South America: French Guiana.
• In the Atlantic Ocean: Saint Pierre and Miquelon and, in the Antilles: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy.
• In the Pacific Ocean: French Polynesia, the special collectivity of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and Clipperton Island.
• In the Indian Ocean: Réunion island, Mayotte, Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands, St. Paul and Amsterdam islands, and the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean
• In the Antarctic: Adélie Land.

France has land borders with Brazil and Suriname via French Guiana and with the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the French portion of Saint Martin.

Metropolitan France covers 551,500 square kilometres (212,935 sq mi),^[99] the largest among European Union members.^[20] France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories (excluding Adélie Land), is 643,801 km² (248,573 sq mi), 0.45% of the total land area on Earth. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the southeast, the Massif Central in the south central and Pyrenees in the southwest.

Due to its numerous overseas departments and territories scattered across the planet, France possesses the second-largest Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 mi²), just behind the EEZ of the United States, which covers 11,351,000 km² (4,383,000 mi²), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia, which covers 8,148,250 km² (4,111,312 mi²). Its EEZ covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world.

Geology, topography and hydrography

Metropolitan France has a wide variety of topographical sets and natural landscapes. Large parts of the current territory of France were raised during several tectonic episodes like the Hercynian uplift in the Paleozoic Era, during which the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Morvan, the Vosges and Ardennes ranges and the island of Corsica were formed. These massifs delineate several sedimentary basins such as the Aquitaine basin in the southwest and the Paris basin in the north, the latter including several areas of particularly fertile ground such as the silt beds of Beauce and Brie. Various routes of natural passage, such as the Rhône Valley, allow easy communications. The Alpine, Pyrenean and Jura mountains are much younger and have less eroded forms. At 4,810.45 metres (15,782 ft)^[100] above sea level, Mont Blanc, located in the Alps on the French and Italian border, is the highest point in Western Europe. Although 60% of municipalities are classified as having seismic risks, these risks remain moderate.

The coastlines offer contrasting landscapes: mountain ranges along the French Riviera, coastal cliffs such as the Côte d'Albâtre, and wide sandy plains in the Languedoc. Corsica lies off the Mediterranean coast. France has an extensive river system consisting of the four major rivers Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, the Rhône and their tributaries, whose combined catchment includes over 62% of the metropolitan territory. The Rhône divides the Massif Central from the Alps and flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the Camargue. The Garonne meets the Dordogne just after Bordeaux, forming the Gironde estuary, the largest estuary in Western Europe which after approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) empties into the Atlantic Ocean.^[101] Other water courses drain towards the Meuse and Rhine along the north-eastern borders. France has 11 million square kilometres (4.2×10^⁶ sq mi) of marine waters within three oceans under its jurisdiction, of which 97% are overseas.

Climate

The French metropolitan territory is relatively large, so the climate is not uniform, giving rise to the following climate nuances:

• The hot-summer mediterranean climate (Csa) is found along the Gulf of Lion. Summers are hot and dry, while winters are mild and wet. Cities affected by this climate: Arles, Avignon, Fréjus, Hyères, Marseille, Menton, Montpellier, Nice, Perpignan, Toulon.

• The warm-summer mediterranean climate (Csb) is found in the northern part of Brittany. Summers are warm and dry, while winters are cool and wet. Cities affected by this climate: Belle Île, Saint-Brieuc.

• The humid subtropical climate (Cfa) is found in the Garonne and Rhône's inland plains. Summers are hot and wet, while winters are cool and damp. Cities affected by this climate: Albi, Carcassonne, Lyon, Orange, Toulouse, Valence.

• The oceanic climate (Cfb) is found around the coasts of the Bay of Biscay, and a little bit inland. Summers are pleasantly warm and wet, while winters are cool and damp. Cities affected by this climate: Amiens, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Brest, Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Dunkirk, Lille, Nantes, Orléans, Paris, Reims, Tours.

• The degraded oceanic climate (degraded-Cfb) is found in the interior plains and in the intra-alpine valleys, far from the ocean (or sea). Summers are hot and wet, while winters are cold and gloomy. Cities affected by this climate: Annecy, Besançon, Bourges, Chambéry, Clermont-Ferrand, Colmar, Dijon, Grenoble, Langres, Metz, Mulhouse, Nancy, Strasbourg.

• The subalpine oceanic climate (Cfc) is found at the foot of all the mountainous regions of France. Summers are short, cool and wet, while winters are moderately cold and damp. No major cities are affected by this climate.

• The warm-summer mediterranean continental climate (Dsb) is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 700 and 1,400 metres a.s.l. Summers are pleasantly warm and dry, while winters are very cold and snowy. City affected by this climate: Barcelonnette.

• The cool-summer mediterranean continental climate (Dsc) is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 1,400 and 2,100 metres a.s.l. Summers are cool, short and dry, while winters are very cold and snowy. Place affected by this climate: Isola 2000.

• The warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb) is found in all the mountainous regions of the Northern half of France between 500 and 1,000 metres a.s.l. Summers are pleasantly warm and wet, while winters are very cold and snowy. Cities affected by this climate: Chamonix, Mouthe. In January 1985, in Mouthe, the temperature has dropped under −41 °C.

• The subalpine climate (Dfc) is found in all the mountainous regions of the northern half of France between 1,000 and 2,000 metres a.s.l. Summers are cool, short and wet, while winters are very cold and snowy. Places affected by this climate: Cauterets Courchevel, Alpe d'Huez, Les 2 Alpes, Peyragudes, Val-Thorens.

• The alpine tundra climate (ET) is found in all the mountainous regions of France, generally above 2,000 or 2,500 metres a.s.l. Summers are chilly and wet, while winters are extremely cold, long and snowy. Mountains affected by this climate: Aiguilles-Rouges, Aravis, the top of Crêt de la neige (rare, altitude 1,718 m) and the top of Grand-Ballon (rare, altitude 1,423 m).

• The ice cap climate (EF) is found in all the mountainous regions of France that have a glacier. Summers are cold and wet, while winters are extremely cold, long and snowy. Mountains affected by this climate: Aiguille du midi, Barre des Écrins, Belledonne, Grand-Casse, Mont Blanc (4,810 m), Pic du Midi de Bigorre.

• In the overseas regions, there are three broad types of climate:

• • A tropical climate (Am) in most overseas regions including eastern French Guiana: high constant temperature throughout the year with a dry and a wet season.
  • An equatorial climate (Af) in western French Guiana: high constant temperature with even precipitation throughout the year.
  • A subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc), characterised by mild, wet summers and cool, but generally not cold, damp winters. Cities or places affected by this climate: Port-aux-Français, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
  • An ice cap climate (EF): extremely cold year-round in Adélie Land.

Environment

France was one of the first countries to create an environment ministry, in 1971.^[102] Although it is one of the most industrialised countries in the world, France is ranked only 19th by carbon dioxide emissions, behind less populous nations such as Canada or Australia. This is due to the country's heavy investment in nuclear power following the 1973 oil crisis,^[103] which now accounts for 75 percent of its electricity production^[104] and results in less pollution.^[105][106] According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index conducted by Yale and Columbia, France was the second-most environmentally-conscious country in the world (after Switzerland), compared to tenth place in 2016 and 27th in 2014.^[107][108]

Like all European Union state members, France agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 20% of 1990 levels by the year 2020,^[109] compared to the United States plan to reduce emissions by 4% of 1990 levels.^[110] As of 2009^[update], French carbon dioxide emissions per capita were lower than that of China's.^[111] The country was set to impose a carbon tax in 2009 at 17 euros per tonne of carbon emitted,^[112] which would have raised 4 billion euros of revenue annually.^[113] However, the plan was abandoned due to fears of burdening French businesses.^[114]

Forests account for 31 percent of France's land area—the fourth-highest proportion in Europe—representing an increase of 7 percent since 1990.^{[115][116][117]} French forests are some of the most diverse in Europe, comprising more than 140 species of trees.^[118] France had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.52/10, ranking it 123rd globally out of 172 countries.^[119] There are nine national parks^[120] and 46 natural parks in France,^[121] with the government planning to convert 20% of its Exclusive economic zone into a Marine protected area by 2020.^[122] A regional nature park^[123] (French: parc naturel régional or PNR) is a public establishment in France between local authorities and the national government covering an inhabited rural area of outstanding beauty, to protect the scenery and heritage as well as setting up sustainable economic development in the area.^[124] A PNR sets goals and guidelines for managed human habitation, sustainable economic development and protection of the natural environment based on each park's unique landscape and heritage. The parks foster ecological research programs and public education in the natural sciences.^[125] As of 2019^[update] there are 54 PNRs in France.^[126]

Administrative divisions

The French Republic is divided into 18 regions (located in Europe and overseas), five overseas collectivities, one overseas territory, one special collectivity – New Caledonia and one uninhabited island directly under the authority of the Minister of Overseas France – Clipperton.

Regions

Since 2016 France is mainly divided into 18 administrative regions: 13 regions in metropolitan France (including the territorial collectivity of Corsica),^[127] and five located overseas.^[99] The regions are further subdivided into 101 departments,^[128] which are numbered mainly alphabetically. This number is used in postal codes and was formerly used on vehicle number plates. Among the 101 departments of France, five (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion) are in overseas regions (ROMs) that are also simultaneously overseas departments (DOMs), enjoy exactly the same status as metropolitan departments and are an integral part of the European Union.

The 101 departments are subdivided into 335 arrondissements, which are, in turn, subdivided into 2,054 cantons.^[129] These cantons are then divided into 36,658 communes, which are municipalities with an elected municipal council.^[129] Three communes—Paris, Lyon and Marseille—are subdivided into 45 municipal arrondissements.

The regions, departments and communes are all known as territorial collectivities, meaning they possess local assemblies as well as an executive. Arrondissements and cantons are merely administrative divisions. However, this was not always the case. Until 1940, the arrondissements were territorial collectivities with an elected assembly, but these were suspended by the Vichy regime and definitely abolished by the Fourth Republic in 1946.

Overseas territories and collectivities

In addition to the 18 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic has five overseas collectivities (French Polynesia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna), one sui generis collectivity (New Caledonia), one overseas territory (French Southern and Antarctic Lands), and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean (Clipperton Island).

Overseas collectivities and territories form part of the French Republic, but do not form part of the European Union or its fiscal area (with the exception of St. Bartelemy, which seceded from Guadeloupe in 2007). The Pacific Collectivities (COMs) of French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia continue to use the CFP franc^[130] whose value is strictly linked to that of the euro. In contrast, the five overseas regions used the French franc and now use the euro.^[131]

Name	Constitutional status	Capital
Clipperton Island	State private property under the direct authority of the French government	Uninhabited
French Polynesia	Designated as an overseas land (pays d'outre-mer or POM), the status is the same as an overseas collectivity.	Papeete
French Southern and Antarctic Lands	Overseas territory (territoire d'outre-mer or TOM)	Port-aux-Français
New Caledonia	Sui generis collectivity	Nouméa
Saint Barthélemy	Overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM)	Gustavia
Saint Martin	Overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM)	Marigot
Saint Pierre and Miquelon	Overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM). Still referred to as a collectivité territoriale.	Saint-Pierre
Wallis and Futuna	Overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer or COM). Still referred to as a territoire.	Mata-Utu

Politics

Government

The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic with strong democratic traditions.^[132] The Constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by referendum on 28 September 1958.^[133] It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to Parliament. The executive branch itself has two leaders. The president of the Republic, currently Emmanuel Macron, is the head of state, elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term (formerly 7 years).^[134] The prime minister, currently Jean Castex, is the head of government, appointed by the president of the Republic to lead the Government of France.

The French Parliament is a bicameral legislature comprising a National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) and a Senate.^[135] The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms.^[136] The Assembly has the power to dismiss the government; thus the majority in the Assembly determines the choice of government. Senators are chosen by an electoral college for 6-year terms (originally 9-year terms); one half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years.^[137]

The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say.^[138] The Government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament.

Until World War II, Radicals were a strong political force in France, embodied by the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party which was the most important party of the Third Republic. Since World War II, they were marginalized while French politics became characterized by two politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred on the French Section of the Workers' International and its successor the Socialist Party (since 1969); and the other right-wing, centred on the Gaullist Party, whose name changed over time to the Rally of the French People (1947), the Union of Democrats for the Republic (1958), the Rally for the Republic (1976), the Union for a Popular Movement (2007) and The Republicans (since 2015). In the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, radical centrist party En Marche! became the dominant force, overtaking both Socialists and Republicans.

As of 2017, voter turnout was 75 percent during recent elections, higher than the OECD average of 68 percent.^[139]

Law

France uses a civil legal system, wherein law arises primarily from written statutes;^[99] judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it (though the amount of judicial interpretation in certain areas makes it equivalent to case law in a common law system). Basic principles of the rule of law were laid in the Napoleonic Code (which was, in turn, largely based on the royal law codified under Louis XIV). In agreement with the principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, law should only prohibit actions detrimental to society. As Guy Canivet, first president of the Court of Cassation, wrote about the management of prisons: Freedom is the rule, and its restriction is the exception; any restriction of Freedom must be provided for by Law and must follow the principles of necessity and proportionality. That is, Law should lay out prohibitions only if they are needed, and if the inconveniences caused by this restriction do not exceed the inconveniences that the prohibition is supposed to remedy.

French law is divided into two principal areas: private law and public law. Private law includes, in particular, civil law and criminal law. Public law includes, in particular, administrative law and constitutional law. However, in practical terms, French law comprises three principal areas of law: civil law, criminal law, and administrative law. Criminal laws can only address the future and not the past (criminal ex post facto laws are prohibited).^[140] While administrative law is often a subcategory of civil law in many countries, it is completely separated in France and each body of law is headed by a specific supreme court: ordinary courts (which handle criminal and civil litigation) are headed by the Court of Cassation and administrative courts are headed by the Council of State.

To be applicable, every law must be officially published in the Journal officiel de la République française.

France does not recognise religious law as a motivation for the enactment of prohibitions; it has long abolished blasphemy laws and sodomy laws (the latter in 1791). However, "offences against public decency" (contraires aux bonnes mœurs) or disturbing public order (trouble à l'ordre public) have been used to repress public expressions of homosexuality or street prostitution. Since 1999, civil unions for homosexual couples are permitted, and since 2013, same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption are legal.^[141] Laws prohibiting discriminatory speech in the press are as old as 1881. Some consider hate speech laws in France to be too broad or severe, undermining freedom of speech.^[142]France has laws against racism and antisemitism,^[143] while the 1990 Gayssot Act prohibits Holocaust denial.

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed by the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State is the basis for laïcité (state secularism): the state does not formally recognize any religion, except in Alsace-Moselle. Nonetheless, it does recognize religious associations. The Parliament has listed many religious movements as dangerous cults since 1995, and has banned wearing conspicuous religious symbols in schools since 2004. In 2010, it banned the wearing of face-covering Islamic veils in public; human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch described the law as discriminatory towards Muslims.^[144][145] However, it is supported by most of the population.^[146]

Foreign relations

France is a founding member of the United Nations and serves as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto rights.^[149] In 2015, France was described as being "the best networked state in the world", because it is a country that "is member of more multi-lateral organisations than any other country".^[150]

France is a member of the G8, World Trade Organization (WTO),^[151] the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)^[152] and the Indian Ocean Commission (COI).^[153] It is an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS)^[154] and a leading member of the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) of 84 fully or partly French-speaking countries.^[155]

As a significant hub for international relations, France hosts the second largest assembly of diplomatic missions in the world and the headquarters of international organisations including the OECD, UNESCO, Interpol, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and la Francophonie.^[156]

Postwar French foreign policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union, of which it was a founding member. Since the 1960s, France has developed close ties with reunified Germany to become the most influential driving force of the EU.^[157] In the 1960s, France sought to exclude the British from the European unification process,^[158] seeking to build its own standing in continental Europe. However, since 1904, France has maintained an "Entente cordiale" with the United Kingdom, and there has been a strengthening of links between the countries, especially militarily.

France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but under President de Gaulle, it excluded itself from the joint military command to protest the Special Relationship between the United States and Britain and to preserve the independence of French foreign and security policies. However, as a result of Nicolas Sarkozy's pro-American politics (much criticised in France by the leftists and by a part of the right), France re-joined the NATO joint military command on 4 April 2009.^{[159][160][161]}

In the early 1990s, the country drew considerable criticism from other nations for its underground nuclear tests in French Polynesia.^[162] France vigorously opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq,^[163][164] straining bilateral relations with the United States^[165][166] and the United Kingdom.

France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies (Françafrique)^[167] and has supplied economic aid and troops for peacekeeping missions in Ivory Coast and Chad.^[168] Recently, after the unilateral declaration of independence of Northern Mali by the Tuareg MNLA and the subsequent regional Northern Mali conflict with several Islamist groups including Ansar Dine and MOJWA, France and other African states intervened to help the Malian Army to retake control.

In 2017, France was the fourth-largest donor (in absolute terms) of development aid in the world, behind the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.^[169] This represents 0.43% of its GNP, the 12th highest among the OECD.^[170] The organisation managing the French help is the French Development Agency, which finances primarily humanitarian projects in sub-Saharan Africa.^[171] The main goals of this support are "developing infrastructure, access to health care and education, the implementation of appropriate economic policies and the consolidation of the rule of law and democracy".^[171]

Military

The French Armed Forces (Forces armées françaises) are the military and paramilitary forces of France, under the President of the Republic as supreme commander. They consist of the French Army (Armée de Terre), French Navy (Marine Nationale, formerly called Armée de Mer), the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l’Espace), and the Military Police called National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale), which also fulfils civil police duties in the rural areas of France. Together they are among the largest armed forces in the world and the largest in the EU. According to a 2018 study by Crédit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military, and the most powerful in Europe, only behind Russia.^[172]

While the Gendarmerie is an integral part of the French armed forces (gendarmes are career soldiers), and therefore under the purview of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, it is operationally attached to the Ministry of the Interior as far as its civil police duties are concerned.

When acting as general purpose police force, the Gendarmerie encompasses the counter terrorist units of the Parachute Intervention Squadron of the National Gendarmerie (Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale), the Search Sections of the National Gendarmerie (Sections de Recherche de la Gendarmerie Nationale), responsible for criminal enquiries, and the Mobile Brigades of the National Gendarmerie (Brigades mobiles de la Gendarmerie Nationale, or in short Gendarmerie mobile) which have the task to maintain public order.

The following special units are also part of the Gendarmerie: the Republican Guard (Garde républicaine) which protects public buildings hosting major French institutions, the Maritime Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie maritime) serving as Coast Guard, the Provost Service (Prévôté), acting as the Military Police branch of the Gendarmerie.

As far as the French intelligence units are concerned, the Directorate-General for External Security (Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure) is considered to be a component of the Armed Forces under the authority of the Ministry of Defense. The other, the Central Directorate for Interior Intelligence (Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur) is a division of the National Police Force (Direction générale de la Police Nationale), and therefore reports directly to the Ministry of the Interior. There has been no national conscription since 1997.^[173]

France has a special military corps, the French Foreign Legion, founded in 1830, which consists of foreign nationals from over 140 countries who are willing to serve in the French Armed Forces and become French citizens after the end of their service period. The only other countries having similar units are Spain (the Spanish Foreign Legion, called Tercio, was founded in 1920) and Luxembourg (foreigners can serve in the National Army provided they speak Luxembourgish).

France is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN, and a recognised nuclear state since 1960. France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)^[174] and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France's annual military expenditure in 2018 was US$63.8 billion, or 2.3% of its GDP, making it the fifth biggest military spender in the world after the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.^[175]

French nuclear deterrence, (formerly known as "Force de Frappe"), relies on complete independence. The current French nuclear force consists of four Triomphant class submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 ASMP medium-range air-to-ground missiles with nuclear warheads,^[176] of which around 50 are deployed by the Air and Space Force using the Mirage 2000N long-range nuclear strike aircraft, while around 10 are deployed by the French Navy's Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) attack aircraft, which operate from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The new Rafale F3 aircraft will gradually replace all Mirage 2000N and SEM in the nuclear strike role with the improved ASMP-A missile with a nuclear warhead.

France has major military industries with one of the largest aerospace industries in the world.^[177][178] Its industries have produced such equipment as the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank among others. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M. France is a major arms seller,^[179][180] with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices.

France has consistently developed its cybersecurity capabilities, which are regularly ranked as some of the most robust of any nation of the world.^[181][182]

The Bastille Day military parade held in Paris each 14 July for France's national day, called Bastille Day in English-speaking countries (referred to in France as Fête nationale), is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe. Other smaller parades are organised across the country.

Government finance

The Government of France has run a budget deficit each year since the early 1970s. As of 2016^[update], French government debt levels reached 2.2 trillion euros, the equivalent of 96.4% of French GDP.^[183] In late 2012, credit rating agencies warned that growing French Government debt levels risked France's AAA credit rating, raising the possibility of a future downgrade and subsequent higher borrowing costs for the French authorities.^[184]However, in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the French government issued 10-years bonds which had negative interest rates, for the first time in its history.^[185] France also possesses in 2020 the fourth-largest gold reserves in the world.^[186]

Economy

A member of the Group of Seven (formerly Group of Eight) leading industrialized countries, as of 2020^[update], it is ranked as the world's tenth largest and the EU's second largest economy by purchasing power parity.^[188] France joined 11 other EU members to launch the euro in 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc (₣) in 2002.^[189]

France has a diversified economy,^[190] that is dominated by the service sector (which represented in 2017 78.8% of its GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounted for 19.5% of its GDP and the primary sector accounted for the remaining 1.7%.^[191] The fifth largest trading nation in the world (and second in Europe after Germany). It is the third largest manufacturing country in Europe behind Germany and Italy. France is also the most visited destination in the world,^[192][193] as well the European Union's leading agricultural power.^[194]

France was in 2019 the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe,^[195] Europe's second largest spender in Research and development,^[196] ranked among the 10 most innovative countries in the world by the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index,^[197] as well as the 15th most competitive nation globally, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report (up 2 notches compared to 2018).^[198]

According to the IMF, in 2020, France was the world's 20th country by GDP per capita with $39,257 per inhabitant. In 2019, France was listed on the United Nations's Human Development Index with a value of 0.901 (indicating very high human development) and 23rd on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2019.^[199][200]

In 2018, France was the 5th largest trading nation in the world, as well as the second-largest trading nation in Europe (after Germany).^[201] In 2008, France was the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $118 billion, ranking behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially monetary transfers to banks located there) and the United States ($316 billion), but above the United Kingdom ($96.9 billion), Germany ($25 billion), or Japan ($24 billion). In the same year, French companies invested $220 billion outside France, ranking France as the second largest outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($311 billion), and ahead of the UK ($111 billion), Japan ($128 billion) and Germany ($157 billion).^[202][203]

Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. Three largest financial institutions cooperatively owned by their customers are located in France.^[204] The Paris stock exchange (French: La Bourse de Paris) is an old institution, created by Louis XV in 1724.^[205] In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels merged into Euronext.^[206] In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York stock exchange to form NYSE Euronext, the world's largest stock exchange.^[206] Euronext Paris, the French branch of the NYSE Euronext group is Europe's 2nd largest stock exchange market, behind the London Stock Exchange. French companies have maintained key positions in the insurance and banking industries: AXA was in 2019 the world's third largest insurance company by total non banking assets.^[207] The leading French banks are BNP Paribas and the Crédit Agricole, both ranking among the top 10 largest banks by assets according to a 2020 S&P Global Market Intelligence report.^[208] According to the same source, Société Générale and Groupe BPCE were in 2020 the world's 17th and 19th largest banks, respectively.^[208]

France is a member of the Eurozone (around 330 million consumers) which is part of the European Single Market (more than 500 million consumers). Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. France introduced the common European currency, the Euro in 2002.^[209][210]

Agriculture

France has historically been a large producer of agricultural products.^[211] Extensive tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe^[212] (representing 20% of the EU's agricultural production)^[213] and the world's third biggest exporter of agricultural products.^[214]

Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as internationally recognized processed foods are the primary French agricultural exports. Rosé wines are primarily consumed within the country, but Champagne and Bordeaux wines are major exports, being known worldwide. EU agriculture subsidies to France have decreased in recent years but still amounted to $8 billion in 2007.^[215] That same year, France sold 33.4 billion euros of transformed agricultural products.^[216] France produces rum via sugar cane-based distilleries almost all of which are located in overseas territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion. Agriculture is an important sector of France's economy: 3.8% of the active population is employed in agriculture, whereas the total agri-food industry made up 4.2% of French GDP in 2005.^[213]

Tourism

With 89 million international tourist arrivals in 2018,^[217] France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (83 million) and the United States (80 million). It is third in income from tourism due to shorter duration of visits.^[218] The most popular tourist sites include (annual visitors): Eiffel Tower (6.2 million), Château de Versailles (2.8 million), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (2 million), Pont du Gard (1.5 million), Arc de Triomphe (1.2 million), Mont Saint-Michel (1 million), Sainte-Chapelle (683,000), Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg (549,000), Puy de Dôme (500,000), Musée Picasso (441,000), and Carcassonne (362,000).^[219]

Paris region

France, especially Paris, has some of the world's largest and most renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world (5.7 million), the Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million), mostly devoted to Impressionism, the Musée de l'Orangerie (1.02 million), which is home to eight large Water Lily murals by Claude Monet, as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou (1.2 million), dedicated to contemporary art. Disneyland Paris is Europe's most popular theme park, with 15 million combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009.^[220]

French Riviera

With more than 10 millions tourists a year, the French Riviera (French: Côte d'Azur), in Southeast France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the Paris region.^[221] It benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, 115 kilometres (71 mi) of coastline and beaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants.^[222]:31 Each year the Côte d'Azur hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet.^[222]:66

Châteaux

With 6 millions tourists a year, the castles of the Loire Valley (French: châteaux) and the Loire Valley itself are the third leading tourist destination in France;^[223][224] this World Heritage site is noteworthy for its architectural heritage, in its historic towns but in particular its castles, such as the Châteaux d'Amboise, de Chambord, d'Ussé, de Villandry, Chenonceau and Montsoreau. The Château de Chantilly, Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte, all three located near Paris, are also visitor attractions.

Other protected areas

France has 37 sites inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List and features cities of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, as well as rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism). Small and picturesque French villages are promoted through the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (literally "The Most Beautiful Villages of France"). The "Remarkable Gardens" label is a list of the over 200 gardens classified by the Ministry of Culture. This label is intended to protect and promote remarkable gardens and parks. France attracts many religious pilgrims on their way to St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts several million visitors a year.

Energy

Électricité de France (EDF), the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, is also one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2018, it produced around 20% of the European Union's electricity,^[225] primarily from nuclear power. France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the G8, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power.^[226] As of 2016^[update], 72% of the electricity produced by France is generated by 58 nuclear power plants.^[227][228] In this context, renewable energies are having difficulty taking off. France also uses hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, such as the Eguzon dam, Étang de Soulcem and Lac de Vouglans.

Transport

The railway network of France, which as of 2008^[update] stretches 29,473 kilometres (18,314 mi)^[229] is the second most extensive in Western Europe after that of Germany.^[230] It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at 320 km/h (199 mph) in commercial use.^[231] The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. Rail connections exist to all other neighboring countries in Europe, except Andorra. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both underground services (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes) and tramway services (Nantes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier...) complementing bus services.

There are approximately 1,027,183 kilometres (638,262 mi) of serviceable roadway in France, ranking it the most extensive network of the European continent.^[232] The Paris region is enveloped with the most dense network of roads and highways that connect it with virtually all parts of the country. French roads also handle substantial international traffic, connecting with cities in neighboring Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco. There is no annual registration fee or road tax; however, usage of the mostly privately owned motorways is through tolls except in the vicinity of large communes. The new car market is dominated by domestic brands such as Renault (27% of cars sold in France in 2003), Peugeot (20.1%) and Citroën (13.5%).^[233] Over 70% of new cars sold in 2004 had diesel engines, far more than contained petrol or LPG engines.^[234] France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge,^[235] and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie.

There are 464 airports in France.^[99] Charles de Gaulle Airport, located in the vicinity of Paris, is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across the world. Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in Marseille,^[236] which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea.^[237][238] 12,261 kilometres (7,619 mi) of waterways traverse France including the Canal du Midi, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean through the Garonne river.^[99]

Science and technology

Since the Middle Ages, France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement. Around the beginning of the 11th century, Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, reintroduced the abacus and armillary sphere, and introduced Arabic numerals and clocks to Northern and Western Europe.^[240] The University of Paris, founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important universities in the Western world.^[241] In the 17th century, mathematician René Descartes defined a method for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, while Blaise Pascal became famous for his work on probability and fluid mechanics. They were both key figures of the Scientific Revolution, which blossomed in Europe during this period. The Academy of Sciences was founded by Louis XIV to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.

The Age of Enlightenment was marked by the work of biologist Buffon and chemist Lavoisier, who discovered the role of oxygen in combustion, while Diderot and D'Alembert published the Encyclopédie, which aimed to give access to "useful knowledge" to the people, a knowledge that they can apply to their everyday life.^[242] With the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France with scientists such as Augustin Fresnel, founder of modern optics, Sadi Carnot who laid the foundations of thermodynamics, and Louis Pasteur, a pioneer of microbiology. Other eminent French scientists of the 19th century have their names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré, physicists Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, who remained famous for their work on radioactivity, the physicist Paul Langevin and virologist Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV AIDS. Hand transplantation was developed on 23 September 1998 in Lyon by a team assembled from different countries around the world including Jean-Michel Dubernard who, shortly thereafter, performed the first successful double hand transplant.^[243] Telesurgery was developed by Jacques Marescaux and his team on 7 September 2001 across the Atlantic Ocean (New-York-Strasbourg, Lindbergh Operation).^[244] A face transplant was first done on 27 November 2005^[245][246] by Dr. Bernard Devauchelle.

France was the fourth country to achieve nuclear capability^[247] and has the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world.^[248] It is also a leader in civilian nuclear technology.^{[249][250][251]} France was the third nation, after the former USSR and the United States, to launch its own space satellite and remains the biggest contributor to the European Space Agency (ESA).^{[252][253][254]} The European Airbus, formed from the French group Aérospatiale along with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), designs and develops civil and military aircraft as well as communications systems, missiles, space rockets, helicopters, satellites, and related systems. France also hosts major international research instruments such as the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility or the Institut Laue–Langevin and remains a major member of CERN. It also owns Minatec, Europe's leading nanotechnology research center.

The SNCF, the French national railroad company, has developed the TGV, a high speed train which holds a series of world speed records. The TGV has been the fastest wheeled train in commercial use since reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 April 2007.^[255] Western Europe is now serviced by a network of TGV lines.

The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) has been ranked by the Nature Index 2020 as the fourth institution with highest share of articles published in scientific journals in the world.^[256] France itself was the 6th nation globally with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2020, which is valid for the calendar year 2019.^[257]

As of 2018^[update], 69 French people have been awarded a Nobel Prize^[258] and 12 have received the Fields Medal.^[259]

Demographics

With an estimated April 2021 population of 67.4 million people,^[260] France is the 20th most populous country in the world, the third-most populous in Europe (after Russia and Germany), and the second most populous in the European Union (after Germany).

France is an outlier among developed countries in general, and European countries in particular, in having a relatively high rate of natural population growth: by birth rates alone, it was responsible for almost all natural population growth in the European Union in 2006.^[261] Between 2006 and 2016, France saw the second highest overall increase in population in the EU, and was one of only four EU countries where natural births accounted for most population growth.^[262] This was the highest rate since the end of the baby boom in 1973, and coincides with the rise of the total fertility rate from a nadir of 1.7 in 1994 to 2.0 in 2010.

As of January 2021^[update] the fertility rate declined slightly to 1.84 children per woman, below the replacement rate of 2.1, and considerably below the high of 4.41 in 1800.^{[263][264][265][266]} France's fertility rate and crude birth rate nonetheless remain among the highest in the EU. However, like many developed nations, France's population is aging; the average age is 41.7 years, while about a fifth of French people are 65 or over.^[267] Average life expectancy at birth is 82.7 years, the 12th highest in the world.

From 2006 to 2011 population growth averaged 0.6 percent per year;^[268] since 2011, annual growth has been between 0.4 and 0.5 percent annually.^[269] Immigrants are major contributors to this trend; in 2010, 27 percent of newborns in metropolitan France had at least one foreign-born parent and 24 percent had at least one parent born outside of Europe (excluding French overseas territories).^[270]

Ethnic groups

Most French people are of Celtic (Gauls) origin, with an admixture of Italic (Romans) and Germanic (Franks) groups.^[271] Different regions reflect this diverse heritage, with notable Breton elements in western France, Aquitanian in the southwest, Scandinavian in the northwest, Alemannic in the northeast and Ligurian in the southeast.

Large-scale immigration over the last century and a half has led to a more multicultural society. In 2004, the Institut Montaigne estimated that within Metropolitan France, 51 million people were White (85% of the population), 6 million were Northwest African (10%), 2 million were Black (3.3%), and 1 million were Asian (1.7%).^[272][273]

Since the French Revolution, and as codified in the 1958 French Constitution, it is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and ancestry. In 2008, the TeO ("Trajectories and origins") poll conducted jointly by INED and the French National Institute of Statistics^[274][275] estimated that 5 million people were of Italian ancestry (the largest immigrant community), followed by 3 million to 6 million^{[276][277][278]} of Northwest African ancestry, 2.5 million of Sub-Saharan African origin, 500,000 ethnic Armenian, and 200,000 people of Turkish ancestry.^[279] There are also sizable minorities of other European ethnic groups, namely Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Greek.^{[276][280][281]} France has a significant Gitan (Romani) population, numbering between 20,000 and 400,000.^[282] Many foreign Roma are expelled back to Bulgaria and Romania frequently.^[283]

It is currently estimated that 40% of the French population is descended at least partially from the different waves of immigration the country has received since the early 20th century;^[284] between 1921 and 1935 alone, about 1.1 million net immigrants came to France.^[285] The next largest wave came in the 1960s, when around 1.6 million pieds noirs returned to France following the independence of its Northwest African possessions, Algeria and Morocco.^[286][287] They were joined by numerous former colonial subjects from North and West Africa, as well as numerous European immigrants from Spain and Portugal.

France remains a major destination for immigrants, accepting about 200,000 legal immigrants annually.^[288] In 2005, it was Western Europe's leading recipient of asylum seekers, with an estimated 50,000 applications (albeit 15% decrease from 2004).^[289] In 2010, France received about 48,100 asylum applications—placing it among the top five asylum recipients in the world^[290] and in subsequent years it saw the number of applications increase, ultimately doubling to 100,412 in 2017.^[291] The European Union allows free movement between the member states, although France established controls to curb Eastern European migration,^{[citation needed]} and immigration remains a contentious political issue.

In 2008, the INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) estimated that the total number of foreign-born immigrants was around 5 million (8% of the population), while their French-born descendants numbered 6.5 million, or 11% of the population. Thus, nearly a fifth of the country's population were either first or second-generation immigrants, of which more than 5 million were of European origin and 4 million of Maghrebi ancestry.^{[292][293][294]} In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137,000 persons, mostly from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.^[295]

In 2014, the INSEE published a study which reported doubling of the number of Spanish immigrants, Portuguese and Italians in France between 2009 and 2012. According to the French Institute, this increase resulting from the financial crisis that hit several European countries in that period, has pushed up the number of Europeans installed in France.^[296] Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 percent between 2009 and 2012, i.e. in this period went from 5300 to 11,000 people.^[296] Of the total of 229,000 foreigners who were in France in 2012, nearly 8% were Portuguese, 5% British, 5% Spanish, 4% Italians, 4% Germans, 3% Romanians, and 3% Belgians.^[296]

Major cities

France is a highly urbanized country, with its largest cities (in terms of metropolitan area population in 2016^[297]) being Paris (12,568,755 inh.), Lyon (2,310,850), Marseille (1,756,296), Toulouse (1,345,343), Bordeaux (1,232,550), Lille (1,187,824), Nice (1,006,402), Nantes (961,521), Strasbourg (785,839) and Rennes (727,357). (Note: There are significant differences between the metropolitan population figures just cited and those in the following table, which indicates the population of the communes). Rural flight was a perennial political issue throughout most of the 20th century.

Language

According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the official language of France is French,^[298] a Romance language derived from Latin. Since 1635, the Académie française has been France's official authority on the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal weight. There are also regional languages spoken in France, such as Occitan, Breton, Catalan, Flemish (Dutch dialect), Alsatian (German dialect), Basque, and Corsican. Italian was the official language of Corsica until 9 May 1859.^[299]

The Government of France does not regulate the choice of language in publications by individuals but the use of French is required by law in commercial and workplace communications. In addition to mandating the use of French in the territory of the Republic, the French government tries to promote French in the European Union and globally through institutions such as the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. The perceived threat from anglicisation has prompted efforts to safeguard the position of the French language in France. Besides French, there exist 77 vernacular minority languages of France, eight spoken in French metropolitan territory and 69 in the French overseas territories.

From the 17th to the mid-20th century, French served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe.^[300] The dominant position of French language in international affairs was overtaken by English, since the emergence of the United States as a major power.^{[60][301][302]}

For most of the time in which French served as an international lingua franca, it was not the native language of most Frenchmen: a report in 1794 conducted by Henri Grégoire found that of the country's 25 million people, only three million spoke French natively; the rest spoke one of the country's many regional languages, such as Alsatian, Breton or Occitan.^[303] Through the expansion of public education, in which French was the sole language of instruction, as well as other factors such as increased urbanisation and the rise of mass communication, French gradually came to be adopted by virtually the entire population, a process not completed until the 20th century.

As a result of France's extensive colonial ambitions between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, as well as the Caribbean. French is the second most studied foreign language in the world after English,^[304] and is a lingua franca in some regions, notably in Africa. The legacy of French as a living language outside Europe is mixed: it is nearly extinct in some former French colonies (The Levant, South and Southeast Asia), while creoles and pidgins based on French have emerged in the French departments in the West Indies and the South Pacific (French Polynesia). On the other hand, many former French colonies have adopted French as an official language, and the total number of French speakers is increasing, especially in Africa.

It is estimated that between 300 million^[305] and 500 million^[306] people worldwide can speak French, either as a mother tongue or a second language.

According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the European Union and carried in France by the INSEE and based on a sample of 15,350 persons, French was the native language of 87.2% of the total population, or roughly 55.81 million people, followed by Arabic (3.6%, 2.3 million), Portuguese (1.5%, 960,000), Spanish (1.2%, 770,000) and Italian (1.0%, 640,000). Native speakers of other languages made up the remaining 5.2% of the population.^[307]

Religion

France is a secular country in which freedom of religion is a constitutional right. French religious policy is based on the concept of laïcité, a strict separation of church and state under which public life is kept completely secular.

According to a survey held in 2016 by Institut Montaigne and Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP), 51.1% of the total population of France was Christian, 39.6% had no religion (atheism or agnosticism), 5.6% were Muslims, 2.5% were followers of other faiths, and the remaining 0.4% were undecided about their faith.^[308] Estimates of the number of Muslims in France vary widely. In 2003, the French Ministry of the Interior estimated the total number of people of Muslim background to be between 5 and 6 million (8–10%).^[309][310] The current Jewish community in France is the largest in Europe and the third-largest in the world after Israel and the United States, ranging between 480,000 and 600,000, about 0.8% of the population as of 2016.^[308]

Catholicism has been the predominant religion in France for more than a millennium, though it is not as actively practised today as it was. Among the 47,000 religious buildings in France, 94% are Roman Catholic.^[311] During the French Revolution, activists conducted a brutal campaign of de-Christianisation, ending the Catholic Church as the state religion. In some cases clergy and churches were attacked, with iconoclasm stripping the churches of statues and ornaments. After alternating between royal and secular republican governments during the 19th century, in 1905 France passed the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, which established the principle of laïcité.^[312]

To this day, the government is prohibited from recognizing any specific right to a religious community (except for legacy statutes like those of military chaplains and the local law in Alsace-Moselle). It recognizes religious organisations according to formal legal criteria that do not address religious doctrine. Conversely, religious organisations are expected to refrain from intervening in policy-making.^[313] Certain groups, such as Scientology, Children of God, the Unification Church, and the Order of the Solar Temple are considered cults ("sectes" in French), and therefore do not have the same status as recognized religions in France.^[314] Secte is considered a pejorative term in France.^[315]

Health

The French health care system is one of universal health care largely financed by government national health insurance. In its 2000 assessment of world health care systems, the World Health Organization found that France provided the "close to best overall health care" in the world.^[317] The French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997.^[318][319] In 2011, France spent 11.6% of GDP on health care, or US$4,086 per capita,^[320] a figure much higher than the average spent by countries in Europe but less than in the United States. Approximately 77% of health expenditures are covered by government funded agencies.^[321]

Care is generally free for people affected by chronic diseases (affections de longues durées) such as cancer, AIDS or cystic fibrosis. Average life expectancy at birth is 78 years for men and 85 years for women, one of the highest of the European Union and the World.^[322][323] There are 3.22 physicians for every 1000 inhabitants in France,^[324] and average health care spending per capita was US$4,719 in 2008.^[325]As of 2007^[update], approximately 140,000 inhabitants (0.4%) of France are living with HIV/AIDS.^[99]

Even if the French have the reputation of being one of the thinnest people in developed countries,^{[326][327][328][329][330]}France—like other rich countries—faces an increasing and recent epidemic of obesity, due mostly to the replacement in French eating habits of traditional healthy French cuisine by junk food.^{[331][326][327][332]} The French obesity rate is still far below that of the United States—currently equal to American rate in the 1970s—and is still the lowest of Europe.^{[327][329][332]} Authorities now regard obesity as one of the main public health issues and fight it fiercely.^[333] Nevertheless, rates of childhood obesity are slowing in France, while continuing to grow in other countries.^[334]

Education

In 1802, Napoleon created the lycée, the second and final stage of secondary education that prepares students for higher education studies or a profession.^[336] Nevertheless, Jules Ferry is considered the father of the French modern school, leading reforms in the late 19th century that established free, secular, and compulsory education (currently mandatory until the age of 16).^[337][338]

French education is centralized and divided into three stages: Primary, secondary, and higher education. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, ranked France's education as below OECD average in 2018.^[339] Primary and secondary education are predominantly public, run by the Ministry of National Education. While training and remuneration of teachers and the curriculum are the responsibility of the state centrally, the management of primary and secondary schools is overseen by local authorities. Primary education comprises two phases, nursery school (école maternelle) and elementary school (école élémentaire). Nursery school aims to stimulate the minds of very young children and promote their socialization and development of a basic grasp of language and number. Around the age of six, children transfer to elementary school, whose primary objectives are learning about writing, arithmetic and citizenship. Secondary education also consists of two phases. The first is delivered through colleges (collège) and leads to the national certificate (Diplôme national du brevet). The second is offered in high schools (lycée) and finishes in national exams leading to a baccalaureate (baccalauréat, available in professional, technical or general flavors) or certificate of professional competence (certificat d'aptitude professionelle).

Higher education is divided between public universities and the prestigious and selective Grandes écoles, such as Sciences Po Paris for Political studies, HEC Paris for Economics, Polytechnique, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales for Social studies and the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris that produce high-profile engineers, or the École nationale d'administration for careers in the Grands Corps of the state. The Grandes écoles have been criticized for alleged elitism, producing many if not most of France's high-ranking civil servants, CEOs, and politicians.^[340]

Culture

France has been a centre of Western cultural development for centuries. Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time; France is still recognised in the world for its rich cultural tradition.

The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation. The creation of the Ministry of Culture in 1959 helped preserve the cultural heritage of the country and make it available to the public. The Ministry of Culture has been very active since its creation, granting subsidies to artists, promoting French culture in the world, supporting festivals and cultural events, protecting historical monuments. The French government also succeeded in maintaining a cultural exception to defend audiovisual products made in the country.

France receives the highest number of tourists per year, largely thanks to the numerous cultural establishments and historical buildings implanted all over the territory. It counts 1,200 museums welcoming more than 50 million people annually.^[341] The most important cultural sites are run by the government, for instance through the public agency Centre des monuments nationaux, which is responsible for approximately 85 national historical monuments. The 43,180 buildings protected as historical monuments include mainly residences (many castles) and religious buildings (cathedrals, basilicas, churches), but also statues, memorials and gardens. The UNESCO inscribed 45 sites in France on the World Heritage List.^[342]

Art

The origins of French art were very much influenced by Flemish art and by Italian art at the time of the Renaissance. Jean Fouquet, the most famous medieval French painter, is said to have been the first to travel to Italy and experience the Early Renaissance at first hand. The Renaissance painting School of Fontainebleau was directly inspired by Italian painters such as Primaticcio and Rosso Fiorentino, who both worked in France. Two of the most famous French artists of the time of Baroque era, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, lived in Italy.

The 17th century was the period when French painting became prominent and individualised itself through classicism. Prime Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert founded in 1648 the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture under Louis XIV to protect these artists; in 1666 he also created the still-active French Academy in Rome to have direct relations with Italian artists.

French artists developed the rococo style in the 18th century, as a more intimate imitation of old baroque style, the works of the court-endorsed artists Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard being the most representative in the country. The French Revolution brought great changes, as Napoleon favoured artists of neoclassic style such as Jacques-Louis David and the highly influential Académie des Beaux-Arts defined the style known as Academism. At this time France had become a centre of artistic creation, the first half of the 19th century being dominated by two successive movements, at first Romanticism with Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, then Realism with Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, a style that eventually evolved into Naturalism.

In the second part of the 19th century, France's influence over painting became even more important, with the development of new styles of painting such as Impressionism and Symbolism. The most famous impressionist painters of the period were Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir.^[344] The second generation of impressionist-style painters, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat, were also at the avant-garde of artistic evolutions,^[345] as well as the fauvist artists Henri Matisse, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.^[346][347]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cubism was developed by Georges Braque and the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, living in Paris. Other foreign artists also settled and worked in or near Paris, such as Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani and Wassily Kandinsky.

Many museums in France are entirely or partly devoted to sculptures and painting works. A huge collection of old masterpieces created before or during the 18th century are displayed in the state-owned Musée du Louvre, such as the Mona Lisa, also known as "La Joconde". While the Louvre Palace has been for a long time a museum, the Musée d'Orsay was inaugurated in 1986 in the old railway station Gare d'Orsay, in a major reorganisation of national art collections, to gather French paintings from the second part of the 19th century (mainly Impressionism and Fauvism movements).^[348][349] The musée d'Orsay was voted in 2018 the best museum in the world.^[350]

Modern works are presented in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which moved in 1976 to the Centre Georges Pompidou. These three state-owned museums welcome close to 17 million people a year.^[351] Other national museums hosting paintings include the Grand Palais (1.3 million visitors in 2008), but there are also many museums owned by cities, the most visited being the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (0.8 million entries in 2008), which hosts contemporary works.^[351] Outside Paris, all the large cities have a Museum of Fine Arts with a section dedicated to European and French painting. Some of the finest collections are in Lyon, Lille, Rouen, Dijon, Rennes and Grenoble.

Architecture

During the Middle Ages, many fortified castles were built by feudal nobles to mark their powers. Some French castles that survived are Chinon, Château d'Angers, the massive Château de Vincennes and the so-called Cathar castles. During this era, France had been using Romanesque architecture like most of Western Europe. Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in France are the Saint Sernin Basilica in Toulouse, the largest romanesque church in Europe,^[352] and the remains of the Cluniac Abbey.

The Gothic architecture, originally named Opus Francigenum meaning "French work",^[353] was born in Île-de-France and was the first French style of architecture to be copied in all Europe.^[354] Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic cathedrals and basilicas, the first of these being the Saint Denis Basilica (used as the royal necropolis); other important French Gothic cathedrals are Notre-Dame de Chartres and Notre-Dame d'Amiens. The kings were crowned in another important Gothic church: Notre-Dame de Reims.^[355] Aside from churches, Gothic Architecture had been used for many religious palaces, the most important one being the Palais des Papes in Avignon.

The final victory in the Hundred Years' War marked an important stage in the evolution of French architecture. It was the time of the French Renaissance and several artists from Italy were invited to the French court; many residential palaces were built in the Loire Valley, from 1450 with as a first reference the Château de Montsoreau.^[356] Such residential castles were the Château de Chambord, the Château de Chenonceau, or the Château d'Amboise.

Following the renaissance and the end of the Middle Ages, Baroque architecture replaced the traditional Gothic style. However, in France, baroque architecture found a greater success in the secular domain than in a religious one.^[357] In the secular domain, the Palace of Versailles has many baroque features. Jules Hardouin Mansart, who designed the extensions to Versailles, was one of the most influential French architect of the baroque era; he is famous for his dome at Les Invalides.^[358] Some of the most impressive provincial baroque architecture is found in places that were not yet French such as the Place Stanislas in Nancy. On the military architectural side, Vauban designed some of the most efficient fortresses in Europe and became an influential military architect; as a result, imitations of his works can be found all over Europe, the Americas, Russia and Turkey.^[359][360]

After the Revolution, the Republicans favoured Neoclassicism although it was introduced in France prior to the revolution with such buildings as the Parisian Pantheon or the Capitole de Toulouse. Built during the first French Empire, the Arc de Triomphe and Sainte Marie-Madeleine represent the best example of Empire style architecture.^[361]

Under Napoleon III, a new wave of urbanism and architecture was given birth; extravagant buildings such as the neo-baroque Palais Garnier were built. The urban planning of the time was very organised and rigorous; for example, Haussmann's renovation of Paris. The architecture associated to this era is named Second Empire in English, the term being taken from the Second French Empire. At this time there was a strong Gothic resurgence across Europe and in France; the associated architect was Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In the late 19th century, Gustave Eiffel designed many bridges, such as Garabit viaduct, and remains one of the most influential bridge designers of his time, although he is best remembered for the iconic Eiffel Tower.

In the 20th century, French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier designed several buildings in France. More recently, French architects have combined both modern and old architectural styles. The Louvre Pyramid is an example of modern architecture added to an older building. The most difficult buildings to integrate within French cities are skyscrapers, as they are visible from afar. For instance, in Paris, since 1977, new buildings had to be under 37 meters (121 feet).^[362] France's largest financial district is La Defense, where a significant number of skyscrapers are located.^[363] Other massive buildings that are a challenge to integrate into their environment are large bridges; an example of the way this has been done is the Millau Viaduct. Some famous modern French architects include Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, Christian de Portzamparc or Paul Andreu.

Literature

The earliest French literature dates from the Middle Ages, when what is now known as modern France did not have a single, uniform language. There were several languages and dialects, and writers used their own spelling and grammar. Some authors of French medieval texts are unknown, such as Tristan and Iseult and Lancelot-Grail. Other authors are known, for example Chrétien de Troyes and Duke William IX of Aquitaine, who wrote in Occitan.

Much medieval French poetry and literature were inspired by the legends of the Matter of France, such as The Song of Roland and the various chansons de geste. The Roman de Renart, written in 1175 by Perrout de Saint Cloude, tells the story of the medieval character Reynard ('the Fox') and is another example of early French writing. An important 16th-century writer was François Rabelais, whose novel Gargantua and Pantagruel has remained famous and appreciated until now. Michel de Montaigne was the other major figure of the French literature during that century. His most famous work, Essais, created the literary genre of the essay.^[364] French poetry during that century was embodied by Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay. Both writers founded the La Pléiade literary movement.

During the 17th century, Madame de La Fayette published anonymously La Princesse de Clèves, a novel that is considered to be one of the first psychological novels of all time.^[365] Jean de La Fontaine is one of the most famous fabulists of that time, as he wrote hundreds of fables, some being far more famous than others, such as The Ant and the Grasshopper. Generations of French pupils had to learn his fables, that were seen as helping teaching wisdom and common sense to the young people. Some of his verses have entered the popular language to become proverbs, such as "À l'œuvre, on connaît l'artisan."[A workman is known by his chips].^[366]

Jean Racine, whose incredible mastery of the alexandrine and of the French language has been praised for centuries, created plays such as Phèdre or Britannicus. He is, along with Pierre Corneille (Le Cid) and Molière, considered as one of the three great dramatists of France's golden age. Molière, who is deemed to be one of the greatest masters of comedy of the Western literature,^[368] wrote dozens of plays, including Le Misanthrope, L'Avare, Le Malade imaginaire, as well as Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His plays have been so popular around the world that French language is sometimes dubbed as "the language of Molière" (la langue de Molière),^[369] just like English is considered as "the language of Shakespeare".

French literature and poetry flourished even more in the 18th and 19th centuries. Denis Diderot's best-known works are Jacques the Fatalist and Rameau's Nephew. He is however best known for being the main redactor of the Encyclopédie, whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century (in fields such as arts, sciences, languages, and philosophy) and to present them to the people, to fight ignorance and obscurantism. During that same century, Charles Perrault was a prolific writer of famous children's fairy tales including Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Bluebeard. At the start of the 19th century, symbolist poetry was an important movement in French literature, with poets such as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé.^[370]

The 19th century saw the writings of many renowned French authors. Victor Hugo is sometimes seen as "the greatest French writer of all time"^[371] for excelling in all literary genres. The preface of his play Cromwell is considered to be the manifesto of the Romantic movement. Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles are considered as "poetic masterpieces",^[372] Hugo's verse having been compared to that of Shakespeare, Dante and Homer.^[372] His novel Les Misérables is widely seen as one of the greatest novel ever written^[373] and The Hunchback of Notre Dame has remained immensely popular.

Other major authors of that century include Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte-Cristo), Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), Émile Zola (Les Rougon-Macquart), Honoré de Balzac (La Comédie humaine), Guy de Maupassant, Théophile Gautier and Stendhal (The Red and the Black, The Charterhouse of Parma), whose works are among the most well known in France and the world. The Prix Goncourt is a French literary prize first awarded in 1903.^[374] Important writers of the 20th century include Marcel Proust, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Antoine de Saint Exupéry wrote Little Prince, which has remained popular for decades with children and adults around the world.^[375] As of 2014^[update], French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation.^[376] The first Nobel Prize in Literature was a French author, while France's latest Nobel prize in literature is Patrick Modiano, who was awarded the prize in 2014.^[376] Jean-Paul Sartre was also the first nominee in the committee's history to refuse the prize in 1964.^[376]

Philosophy

Medieval philosophy was dominated by Scholasticism until the emergence of Humanism in the Renaissance. Modern philosophy began in France in the 17th century with the philosophy of René Descartes, Blaise Pascal and Nicolas Malebranche. Descartes revitalised Western philosophy, which had been declined after the Greek and Roman eras.^[377] His Meditations on First Philosophy changed the primary object of philosophical thought and raised some of the most fundamental problems for foreigners such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant.

French philosophers produced some of the most important political works of the Age of Enlightenment. In The Spirit of the Laws, Baron de Montesquieu theorised the principle of separation of powers, which has been implemented in all liberal democracies since it was first applied in the United States. Voltaire came to embody the Enlightenment with his defence of civil liberties, such as the right to a free trial and freedom of religion.

19th-century French thought was targeted at responding to the social malaise following the French Revolution. Rationalist philosophers such as Victor Cousin and Auguste Comte, who called for a new social doctrine, were opposed by reactionary thinkers such as Joseph de Maistre, Louis de Bonald and Félicité Robert de Lamennais, who blamed the rationalist rejection of traditional order. De Maistre is considered, together with the Englishman Edmund Burke, one of the founders of European conservatism, while Comte is regarded as the founder of positivism, which Émile Durkheim reformulated as a basis for social research.

In the 20th century, partly as a reaction to the perceived excesses of positivism, French spiritualism thrived with thinkers such as Henri Bergson and it influenced American pragmatism and Whitehead's version of process philosophy. Meanwhile, French epistemology became a prominent school of thought with Jules Henri Poincaré, Gaston Bachelard, Jean Cavaillès and Jules Vuillemin. Influenced by German phenomenology and existentialism, the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre gained a strong influence after World War II, and late-20th-century-France became the cradle of postmodern philosophy with Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault.

Music

France has a long and varied musical history. It experienced a golden age in the 17th century thanks to Louis XIV, who employed a number of talented musicians and composers in the royal court. The most renowned composers of this period include Marc-Antoine Charpentier, François Couperin, Michel-Richard Delalande, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Marin Marais, all of them composers at the court. After the death of the "Roi Soleil", French musical creation lost dynamism, but in the next century the music of Jean-Philippe Rameau reached some prestige, and today he is still one of the most renowned French composers. Rameau became the dominant composer of French opera and the leading French composer for the harpsichord.^{[379][full citation needed]}

French composers played an important role during the music of the 19th and early 20th century, which is considered to be the Romantic music era. Romantic music emphasised a surrender to nature, a fascination with the past and the supernatural, the exploration of unusual, strange and surprising sounds, and a focus on national identity. This period was also a golden age for operas. French composers from the Romantic era included: Hector Berlioz (best known for his Symphonie fantastique), Georges Bizet (best known for Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas), Gabriel Fauré (best known for his Pavane, Requiem, and nocturnes), Charles Gounod (best known for his Ave Maria and his opera Faust), Jacques Offenbach (best known for his 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann), Édouard Lalo (best known for his Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra and his Cello Concerto in D minor), Jules Massenet (best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty, the most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892)) and Camille Saint-Saëns (he has many frequently-performed works, including The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah (Opera), Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and his Symphony No. 3).

Later came precursors of modern classical music. Érik Satie was a key member of the early-20th-century Parisian avant-garde, best known for his Gymnopédies. Francis Poulenc's best known works are his piano suite Trois mouvements perpétuels (1919), the ballet Les biches (1923), the Concert champêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, the opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1957) and the Gloria (1959) for soprano, choir and orchestra. Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy are the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and chromaticism influenced many composers who followed.^[380] Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of atonality. The two composers invented new musical forms^{[381][382][383][384]} and new sounds. Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau, Miroirs, Le tombeau de Couperin and Gaspard de la nuit, demand considerable virtuosity. His mastery of orchestration is evident in the Rapsodie espagnole, Daphnis et Chloé, his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and his orchestral work Boléro (1928). More recently, the middle of the 20th century, Maurice Ohana, Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Boulez contributed to the evolutions of contemporary classical music.^[385]

French music then followed the rapid emergence of pop and rock music at the middle of the 20th century. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, French pop music, known as chanson française, has also remained very popular. Among the most important French artists of the century are Édith Piaf, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg.^[386] Although there are very few rock bands in France compared to English-speaking countries,^[387] bands such as Noir Désir, Mano Negra, Niagara, Les Rita Mitsouko and more recently Superbus, Phoenix and Gojira,^[388] or Shaka Ponk, have reached worldwide popularity.

Other French artists with international careers have been popular in several countries, most notably female singers Dalida, Mireille Mathieu, Mylène Farmer,^[388] Alizée and Nolwenn Leroy,^[389] electronic music pioneers Jean-Michel Jarre, Laurent Garnier and Bob Sinclar, later Martin Solveig and David Guetta. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), electronic duos Daft Punk, Justice and Air also reached worldwide popularity and contributed to the reputation of modern electronic music in the world.^{[388][390][391]}

Among current musical events and institutions in France, many are dedicated to classical music and operas. The most prestigious institutions are the state-owned Paris National Opera (with its two sites Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille), the Opéra National de Lyon, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse and the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. As for music festivals, there are several events organised, the most popular being Eurockéennes (a word play which sounds in French as "European"), Solidays and Rock en Seine. The Fête de la Musique, imitated by many foreign cities, was first launched by the French Government in 1982.^[392][393] Major music halls and venues in France include Le Zénith sites present in many cities and other places in Paris (Paris Olympia, Théâtre Mogador, Élysée Montmartre).

Cinema

France has historical and strong links with cinema, with two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumière Brothers) credited with creating cinema in 1895.^[398] The world's first female filmmaker, Alice Guy-Blaché, was also from France.^[399] Several important cinematic movements, including the late 1950s and 1960s Nouvelle Vague, began in the country. It is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the Government of France. France remains a leader in filmmaking, as of 2015^[update] producing more films than any other European country.^[400][401] The nation also hosts the Cannes Festival, one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world.^[402][403]

Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has also been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason, French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland (Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Żuławski), Argentina (Gaspar Noé, Edgardo Cozarinsky), Russia (Alexandre Alexeieff, Anatole Litvak), Austria (Michael Haneke) and Georgia (Géla Babluani, Otar Iosseliani) are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in other countries, such as Luc Besson, Jacques Tourneur or Francis Veber in the United States.

Although the French film market is dominated by Hollywood, France is the only nation in the world where American films make up the smallest share of total film revenues, at 50%, compared with 77% in Germany and 69% in Japan.^[404] French films account for 35% of the total film revenues of France, which is the highest percentage of national film revenues in the developed world outside the United States, compared to 14% in Spain and 8% in the UK.^[404] France is in 2013 the 2nd exporter of films in the world after the United States.^[405]

Until recently, France had for centuries been the cultural center of the world,^[300] although its dominant position has been surpassed by the United States. Subsequently, France takes steps in protecting and promoting its culture, becoming a leading advocate of the cultural exception.^[406] The nation succeeded in convincing all EU members to refuse to include culture and audiovisuals in the list of liberalised sectors of the WTO in 1993.^[407] Moreover, this decision was confirmed in a voting in the UNESCO in 2005: the principle of "cultural exception" won an overwhelming victory with 198 countries voting for it and only 2 countries, the United States and Israel, voting against.^[408]

Fashion

Fashion has been an important industry and cultural export of France since the 17th century, and modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s. Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses. The expression Haute couture is, in France, a legally protected name, guaranteeing certain quality standards.

The association of France with fashion and style (French: la mode) dates largely to the reign of Louis XIV^[409] when the luxury goods industries in France came increasingly under royal control and the French royal court became, arguably, the arbiter of taste and style in Europe. But France renewed its dominance of the high fashion (French: couture or haute couture) industry in the years 1860–1960 through the establishing of the great couturier houses such as Chanel, Dior, and Givenchy. The French perfume industry is world leader in its sector and is centered on the town of Grasse.^[410]

In the 1960s, the elitist "Haute couture" came under criticism from France's youth culture. In 1966, the designer Yves Saint Laurent broke with established Haute Couture norms by launching a prêt-à-porter ("ready to wear") line and expanding French fashion into mass manufacturing. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established by Sonia Rykiel, Thierry Mugler, Claude Montana, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as LVMH.

According to 2017 data compiled by Deloitte, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH), a French brand, is the largest luxury company in the world by sales, selling more than twice the amount of its nearest competitor.^[411] Moreover, France also possesses 3 of the top 10 luxury goods companies by sales (LVMH, Kering SA, L'Oréal), more than any other country in the world.^[411]

Media

Best-selling daily national newspapers in France are Le Parisien Aujourd'hui en France (with 460,000 sold daily), Le Monde and Le Figaro, with around 300,000 copies sold daily, but also L'Équipe, dedicated to sports coverage.^[413] In the past years, free dailies made a breakthrough, with Metro, 20 Minutes and Direct Plus distributed at more than 650,000 copies respectively.^[414] However, the widest circulations are reached by regional daily Ouest France with more than 750,000 copies sold, and the 50 other regional papers have also high sales.^[415][416] The sector of weekly magazines is stronger and diversified with more than 400 specialized weekly magazines published in the country.^[417]

The most influential news magazines are the left-wing Le Nouvel Observateur, centrist L'Express and right-wing Le Point (more than 400.000 copies),^[418] but the highest circulation for weeklies is reached by TV magazines and by women's magazines, among them Marie Claire and ELLE, which have foreign versions. Influential weeklies also include investigative and satirical papers Le Canard Enchaîné and Charlie Hebdo, as well as Paris Match. Like in most industrialized nations, the print media have been affected by a severe crisis in the past decade. In 2008, the government launched a major initiative to help the sector reform and become financially independent,^[419][420] but in 2009 it had to give 600,000 euros to help the print media cope with the economic crisis, in addition to existing subsidies.^[421]

In 1974, after years of centralised monopoly on radio and television, the governmental agency ORTF was split into several national institutions, but the three already-existing TV channels and four national radio stations^[423][424] remained under state-control. It was only in 1981 that the government allowed free broadcasting in the territory, ending state monopoly on radio.^[424] French television was partly liberalized in the next two-decade with the creation of several commercial channels, mainly thanks to cable and satellite television. In 2005 the national service Télévision Numérique Terrestre introduced digital television all over the territory, allowing the creation of other channels.

The four existing national channels are owned by state-owned consortium France Télévisions, funded by advertising revenue and TV licence fees. Public broadcasting group Radio France run five national radio stations. Among these public media are Radio France Internationale, which broadcasts programs in French all over the world, and Franco-German TV channel TV5 Monde. In 2006, the government created global news channel France 24. Long-established TV channels TF1 (privatized in 1987), France 2 and France 3 have the highest shares, while radio stations RTL, Europe 1 and state-owned France Inter are the least listened to.

Society

According to a BBC poll in 2010, based on 29,977 responses in 28 countries, France is globally seen as a positive influence in the world's affairs: 49% have a positive view of the country's influence, whereas 19% have a negative view.^[425][426] The Nation Brand Index of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind Germany.^[427] A global opinion poll for the BBC saw France ranked the fourth most positively viewed nation in the world (behind Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom) in 2014.^[428]

According to a poll in 2011, the French were found to have the highest level of religious tolerance and to be the country where the highest proportion of the population defines its identity primarily in term of nationality and not religion.^[429] As of 2011^[update], 75% of French had a favourable view of the United States, making France one of the most pro-American countries in the world.^[430] As of 2017^[update], the favourable view of the United States had dropped to 46%.^[431] In January 2010, the magazine International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", ahead of 193 other countries, for the fifth year running.^[432]

The OECD Better Life Index states that "France performs well in many measures of well-being relative to most other countries in the Better Life Index."^[433]

The French Revolution continues to permeate the country's collective memory. The tricolour flag of France,^[434] the anthem "La Marseillaise", and the motto Liberté, égalité, fraternité, defined in Title 1 of the Constitution as national symbols, all emerged during the cultural ferment of the early revolution, along with Marianne, a common national personification. In addition, Bastille Day, the national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.^[435]

A common and traditional symbol of the French people is the Gallic rooster. Its origins date back to Antiquity, since the Latin word Gallus meant both "rooster" and "inhabitant of Gaul". Then this figure gradually became the most widely shared representation of the French, used by French monarchs, then by the Revolution and under the successive republican regimes as representation of the national identity, used for some stamps and coins.^[436]

France is one of the world leaders of gender equality in the workplace: as of 2017, it has 36.8% of its corporate board seats held by women, which makes it the leader of the G20 for that metric;^[438] and was ranked in 2019 by the World Bank as one of the only 6 countries in the world where women have the same work rights as men.^[439]

France is one of the most liberal countries in the world when it comes to LGBT rights: a 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that 86% of the French think that same-sex relationships should be accepted by society, one of the highest acceptance rates in the world (comparable to that of other Western European nations).^[440] France legalized same-sex marriage and adoption in 2013.^[441] The government has used its diplomatic clout to support LGBT rights throughout the world, notably in the United Nations.^[442]

In 2020, France was ranked 5th in the Environmental Performance Index (behind the United Kingdom), out of 180 countries ranked by Yale University in that study.^[443] Being the host country of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, the French government was instrumental in securing the 2015 Paris agreement, a success that has been credited to its "openness and experience in diplomacy"^[444] (though the US, after the election of President Trump in 2016, then announced it will withdraw from the agreement).

Cuisine

French cuisine is renowned for being one of the finest in the world.^[445][446] According to the regions, traditional recipes are different, the North of the country prefers to use butter as the preferred fat for cooking, whereas olive oil is more commonly used in the South.^[447] Moreover, each region of France has iconic traditional specialties: Cassoulet in the Southwest, Choucroute in Alsace, Quiche in the Lorraine region, Beef bourguignon in the Bourgogne, provençal Tapenade, etc. France's most renowned products are wines,^[448] including Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and Beaujolais as well as a large variety of different cheeses, such as Camembert, Roquefort and Brie. There are more than 400 different varieties.^[449][450]

A meal often consists of three courses, hors d'œuvre or entrée (introductory course, sometimes soup), plat principal (main course), fromage (cheese course) or dessert, sometimes with a salad offered before the cheese or dessert. Hors d'œuvres could include terrine de saumon au basilic, lobster bisque, foie gras, French onion soup or a croque monsieur. The plat principal could include a pot au feu or steak frites. The dessert could be mille-feuille pastry, a macaron, an éclair, crème brûlée, mousse au chocolat, crêpes, or Café liégeois.

French cuisine is also regarded as a key element of the quality of life and the attractiveness of France.^[432] A French publication, the Michelin guide, awards Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments.^[451][452] The acquisition or loss of a star can have dramatic effects on the success of a restaurant. By 2006, the Michelin Guide had awarded 620 stars to French restaurants, at that time more than any other country, although the guide also inspects more restaurants in France than in any other country (by 2010, Japan was awarded as many Michelin stars as France, despite having half the number of Michelin inspectors working there).^[453][454]

In addition to its wine tradition, France is also a major producer of beer and rum. The three main French brewing regions are Alsace (60% of national production), Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Lorraine. France produces rum via distilleries located on islands such as Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

Sports

France hosts "the world's biggest annual sporting event", the Tour de France,^[456] and other popular sports played in France include: football, judo, tennis,^[457] rugby union^[458] and pétanque. France has hosted events such as the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups,^[459] the 2007 Rugby World Cup,^[460] and will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The country also hosted the 1960 European Nations' Cup, UEFA Euro 1984, UEFA Euro 2016 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The Stade de France in Saint-Denis is France's largest stadium and was the venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and 2007 Rugby World Cup finals. Since 1903, France is famous for its 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race.^[461] Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the Paris Masters and the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. French martial arts include Savate and Fencing.

France has a close association with the Modern Olympic Games; it was a French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who suggested the Games' revival, at the end of the 19th century.^[462][463] After Athens was awarded the first Games, in reference to the Olympics' Greek origins, Paris hosted the second Games in 1900.^[464] Paris was the first home of the International Olympic Committee, before it moved to Lausanne.^[465] Since 1900, France has hosted the Olympics on 4 further occasions: the 1924 Summer Olympics, again in Paris^[463] and three Winter Games (1924 in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville).^[463]

Similar to the Olympics, France introduced Olympics for the deaf people (Deaflympics) in 1924 with the idea of a French deaf car mechanic, Eugène Rubens-Alcais who paved the way to organise the inaugural edition of the Summer Deaflympics in Paris.^[466]

Both the national football team and the national rugby union team are nicknamed "Les Bleus" in reference to the team's shirt colour as well as the national French tricolour flag. Football is the most popular sport in France, with over 1,800,000 registered players, and over 18,000 registered clubs.^[467] The football team is among the most successful in the world, with two FIFA World Cup victories in 1998 and 2018,^[468] one FIFA World Cup second place in 2006,^[469] and two UEFA European Championships in 1984^[470] and 2000.^[471]

The top national football club competition is Ligue 1. France has produced some of the greatest players in the world, including three time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, three time Ballon d'Or recipient Michel Platini, record holder for most goals scored at a World Cup Just Fontaine, first football player to receive the Légion d'honneur Raymond Kopa, and the record goalscorer for the French national team Thierry Henry.^[473]

The French Open, also called Roland-Garros, is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments.^[474]

Rugby union is popular, particularly in Paris and the southwest of France.^[475] The national rugby union team has competed at every Rugby World Cup, and takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship.

See also

• Outline of France
• List of communes in France
• History of French
• History of France

Footnotes

References

Further reading

• "France." in Europe, edited by Ferdie McDonald and Claire Marsden, Dorling Kindersley, (Gale, 2010), pp. 144–217. online
• "France." in Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, edited by Timothy L. Gall and Derek M. Gleason, (13th ed., vol. 5: Europe, Gale, 2012), pp. 215–243. online

Topics

• Carls, Alice-Catherine. "France." in World Press Encyclopedia, edited by Amanda C. Quick, (2nd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2003), pp. 314–337. online coverage of press and media
• Chabal, Emile, ed. France since the 1970s: History, Politics and Memory in an Age of Uncertainty (2015) Excerpt
• Gildea, Robert. France Since 1945 (2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2002).
• Goodliffe, Gabriel, and Riccardo Brizzi, eds. France After 2012 (Bergham, 2015)
• Haine, W. S. Culture and Customs of France (Greenwood Press, 2006).
• Kelly, Michael, ed. French Culture and Society: The Essentials (Oxford University Press, 2001).
• Raymond, Gino. Historical Dictionary of France (2nd ed. Scarecrow, 2008).
• Jones, Colin. Cambridge Illustrated History of France (Cambridge University Press,1999)
• Ancient maps of France from the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, The National Library of Israel

External links

The Wikibook Wikijunior:Countries A-Z has a page on the topic of: France

• France at Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• France at UCB Libraries GovPubs
• France at Curlie
• France at the EU
• Wikimedia Atlas of France
• Geographic data related to France at OpenStreetMap
• Key Development Forecasts for France from International Futures

Economy

• INSEE
• OECD France statistics

Government

• France.fr (in English) Official French tourism website
• (in French) Official Site of the Government
• Official site of the French public service – Links to various administrations and institutions
• Official site of the National Assembly

Culture

• Contemporary French Civilization, journal, University of Illinois.
• FranceGuide – Official website of the French Government Tourist Office