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Simultaneously France renounced the of immigrants, where they were expected to adhere to French traditional values and cultural norms. The , a teaching hospital in Paris, one of Europe's largest hospitals. 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 with and , and with , and , a style that eventually evolved into.

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It is a and the. Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes and , and longitudes and , on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern zone.

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Join Kobo & start eReading today - In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Bruxelles merged into. In the 20th century, partly as a reaction to the perceived excesses of positivism, French thrived with thinkers such as and it influenced American and 's version of.

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France French: , officially the French Republic : République française , is a whose territory consists of in , as well as. The metropolitan area of France extends from the to the and the , and from the to the. The overseas territories include in and several islands in the Atlantic, and oceans. The country's five of which are situated overseas span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres 248,573 sq mi and a total population of 67. France is a with its in , the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major include , , , , and. French Republic Source gives area of metropolitan France as 551,500 km2 212,900 sq mi and lists overseas regions separately, whose areas sum to 89,179 km 2 34,432 sq mi. Adding these give the total shown here for the entire French Republic. During the , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the , a people. France emerged as a major European power in the following its victory in the 1337 to 1453. During the , French culture flourished and a was established, which by the 20th century would be the second largest in the world. The 16th century was dominated by between and. France became Europe's dominant cultural, political, and military power under. In the late 18th century, the overthrew the , established one of modern history's earliest , and saw the drafting of the , which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century took power and established the. His subsequent shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the in 1870. France was a in , from which it , and was one of the in , but came under by the in 1940. Following in 1944, a was established and later dissolved in the course of the. The , led by , was formed in 1958 and remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and typically retained. France has long been a global centre of , , and. It hosts Europe's number of cultural and leads the world in tourism, receiving around 83 million foreign annually. France is a with the world's by , and by. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in of , , , and. France is globally considered a in the world, being one of the five with and is an official. It is a and the. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of and , the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank free in English. Another theory is that it is derived from the word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around. Early hominids led a life. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium, initially working , and , and later. This makes it France's oldest city. The Roman-era Theatre of Latin: Augustodunum in is one of the main historical sites of. The concept of emerged at that time; it corresponds to the territories of Celtic settlement ranging between the , the , the and the Mediterranean. The borders of modern France are roughly the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was then a prosperous country, of which the southernmost part was heavily subject to Greek and Roman cultural and economic influences. Gaul was divided by into Roman provinces. Many cities were founded during the , including present-day , which is considered the capital of the Gauls. These cities were built in traditional Roman style, with a , a , a , an and. The Gauls mixed with Roman settlers and eventually adopted Roman culture and speech , from which the French language evolved. The merged with the into the same. Nevertheless, the situation improved in the first half of the 4th century, which was a period of revival and prosperity for Roman Gaul. In 312, Emperor converted to Christianity. Subsequently, Christians, who had been persecuted until then, increased rapidly across the entire Roman Empire. But, from the beginning of the 5th century, the resumed, and , such as the , and crossed the Rhine and settled in Gaul, Spain and other parts of the. At the end of the period, ancient Gaul was divided into several Germanic kingdoms and a remaining Gallo-Roman territory, known as the. Simultaneously, , fleeing the , settled the western part of. As a result, the Armorican was renamed , was revived and independent arose in this region. With 's conversion to Catholicism in 498, the , and until then, became and of. The Germanic Franks adopted , except in northern Gaul where Roman settlements were less dense and where emerged. Clovis made Paris his capital and established the , but his kingdom would not survive his death. The Franks treated land purely as a private possession and divided it among their heirs, so four kingdoms emerged from Clovis's: Paris, , , and. The to their head of household. One mayor of the palace, , defeated an at the 732 and earned respect and power within the Frankish kingdoms. His son, , seized the crown of Francia from the weakened Merovingians and founded the. Pepin's son, , reunited the Frankish kingdoms and built a vast empire across and Central Europe. Proclaimed by and thus establishing in earnest the French Government's longtime with the , Charlemagne tried to revive the and its cultural grandeur. Charlemagne's son, Emperor 814—840 , kept the empire united; however, this Carolingian Empire would not survive his death. In 843, under the , the empire was divided between Louis' three sons, with going to , to , and to. West Francia approximated the area occupied by, and was the precursor, to modern France. During the 9th and 10th centuries, continually threatened by , France became a very decentralised state: the nobility's titles and lands became hereditary, and the authority of the king became more religious than secular and thus was less effective and constantly challenged by powerful noblemen. Thus was established in France. Over time, some of the king's vassals would grow so powerful that they often posed a threat to the king. Late Middle Ages 10th century—15th century from 985 to 1947. The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when , Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned. His descendants—the , the , and the —progressively unified the country through wars and dynastic inheritance into the Kingdom of France, which was fully declared in 1190 by. The French nobility played a prominent role in most in order to restore Christian access to the. French knights made up the bulk of the steady flow of reinforcements throughout the two-hundred-year span of the Crusades, in such a fashion that the Arabs uniformly referred to the crusaders as Franj caring little whether they really came from France. The French Crusaders also imported the French language into the , making the base of the litt. French knights also made up the majority in both the and the. The latter, in particular, held numerous properties throughout France and by the 13th century were the principal bankers for the French crown, until annihilated the order in 1307. The was launched in 1209 to eliminate the heretical in the southwestern area of modern-day France. In the end, the Cathars were exterminated and the autonomous was annexed into the. Later kings expanded their to cover over half of modern continental France, including most of the north, centre and west of France. Meanwhile, the royal authority became more and more assertive, centred on a distinguishing , clergy, and. Under the rules of the the crown of France could not pass to a woman nor could the line of kingship pass through the female line. Accordingly, the crown passed to Philip of Valois, a cousin of Charles, rather than through the female line to Charles' nephew, Edward, who would soon become. During the reign of , the French monarchy reached the height of its medieval power. The exact boundaries changed greatly with time, but French landholdings of the remained extensive for decades. With charismatic leaders, such as and , strong French counterattacks won back English continental territories. Like the rest of Europe, France was struck by the Black Death; half of the 17 million population of France died. Early modern period 15th century—1789 Main articles: c. The French Renaissance saw a spectacular cultural development and the first standardisation of the French language, which would become the and the language of Europe's aristocracy. It also saw a long set of wars, known as the , between France, , and the. Refusing to accept the Spanish-Portuguese claims of supremacy in the , King ordered his to sail against his Spanish rival, King , who ruled as Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 until 1556. The Emperor's realm extended from Spain to parts of what are now Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. French explorers, such as or , claimed lands in the Americas for France, paving the way for the expansion of the. The rise of Protestantism in Europe led France to a civil war known as the , where, in the most notorious incident, thousands of were murdered in the of 1572. The Wars of Religion were ended by 's , which granted some freedom of religion to the Huguenots. Under , the energetic promoted the centralisation of the state and reinforced the royal power by disarming domestic power holders in the 1620s. He systematically destroyed castles of defiant lords and denounced the use of private violence , carrying weapons, and maintaining private army. This rebellion was driven by the great feudal lords and as a reaction to the in France. Remembered for his numerous wars, he made France the leading European power. France became the and had tremendous influence over European politics, economy, and culture. French became the most-used language in diplomacy, science, literature and international affairs, and remained so until the 20th century. France obtained many overseas possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Its kept growing, however, with notable acquisitions such as 1766 and 1770. The financial crisis that followed France's involvement in the American Revolutionary War was one of many contributing factors to the French Revolution. Much of the occurred in French intellectual circles, and major scientific breakthroughs and inventions, such as the 1778 and the first 1783 , were achieved by French scientists. French explorers, such as and , took part in the through maritime expeditions around the globe. The Enlightenment philosophy, in which is advocated as the primary source for and , undermined the power of and support for the monarchy and helped pave the way for the French Revolution. Revolutionary France 1789—1799 The on 14 July 1789 was the most emblematic event of the. Facing financial troubles, King summoned the gathering the three in May 1789 to propose solutions to his government. As it came to an impasse, the representatives of the formed into a , signalling the outbreak of the. Fearing that the king would suppress the newly created National Assembly, insurgents on 14 July 1789, a date which would become. In early August 1789, the of the such as and exclusive hunting rights. Through the 27 August 1789 France established fundamental rights for men. Freedom of speech and press were declared, and arbitrary arrests outlawed. It called for the destruction of aristocratic privileges and proclaimed freedom and equal rights for all men, as well as access to public office based on talent rather than birth. In November 1789, the Assembly decided to nationalize and sell all property of the which had been the largest landowner in the country. In July 1790, a reorganised the French Catholic Church, cancelling the authority of the Church to levy taxes, et cetera. This fueled much discontent in parts of France, which would contribute to the civil war breaking out some years later. His credibility was so deeply undermined that the and establishment of a republic became an increasing possibility. In August 1791, the Emperor of and the King of in the threatened revolutionary France to intervene by force of arms to restore the French absolute monarchy. In the newly established October 1791 , enmity developed and deepened between a group, later called the '', who favored war with and , and a group later called '' or '', who opposed such a war. A majority in the in 1792 however saw a war with Austria and Prussia as a chance to boost the popularity of the revolutionary government, and thought that France would win a war against those gathered monarchies. On 20 April 1792, therefore, they. A Prussian army invaded France later in August 1792. In early September, Parisians, infuriated by and counter-revolutionary uprisings in the west of France, by raiding the Parisian prisons. The and the seemed unable to stop that bloodshed. The , chosen in the first elections under male , on 20 September 1792 succeeded the and on 21 September abolished the monarchy by proclaiming the. Also in March 1793, the started, evoked by both the of 1790 and the nationwide army early 1793; elsewhere in France rebellion was brewing too. A factionalist feud in the National Convention, smoldering ever since October 1791, came to a climax with the group of the '' on 2 June 1793 being forced to resign and leave the Convention. The counter-revolution, begun in March 1793 in the Vendée, by July had spread to , , Bordeaux, Marseilles, Toulon, Lyon. Paris' Convention government between October and December 1793 with brutal measures managed to subdue most internal uprisings, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. Some historians consider the civil war to have lasted until 1796 with a toll of possibly 450,000 lives. France in February 1794 in its , but would. Political disagreements and enmity in the between October 1793 and July 1794 reached unprecedented levels, leading to dozens of Convention members being sentenced to death and guillotined. Meanwhile, in 1794 were going prosperous, for example in Belgium. In 1795, the government seemed to return to indifference towards the desires and needs of the lower classes concerning freedom of religion and fair distribution of food. Until 1799, politicians, apart from inventing a new parliamentary system the '' , busied themselves with dissuading the people from and from royalism. Napoleon and 19th century 1799—1914 , , and his built a across Europe. His conquests spread the French revolutionary ideals across much of Europe, such as popular sovereignty, legal equality, republicanism, and administrative reorganization while his legal reforms had a major impact worldwide. Nationalism, especially in , emerged in reaction against him. Bonaparte in 1799 becoming and later of the 1804—1814; 1815. As a continuation of sparked by the European monarchies against the French Republic, changing sets of declared wars on Napoleon's Empire. His armies conquered most of continental Europe with swift victories such as the or. Members of the family were appointed as monarchs in some of the newly established kingdoms. These victories led to the worldwide expansion of French revolutionary ideals and reforms, such as the , the and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. After the catastrophic , and the ensuing against his rule, Napoleon was defeated and the Bourbon monarchy. About a million Frenchmen died during the Napoleonic Wars. After his from exile, Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815 at the , the monarchy was 1815—1830 , with new constitutional limitations. The discredited Bourbon dynasty was overthrown by the of 1830, which established the constitutional. In that year, French troops conquered Algeria, establishing the first colonial presence in Africa since Napoleon's abortive in 1798. According to historian Ben Kiernan, the French conquest and pacification of Algeria from 1830 until the early twentieth century slaughtered 825,000 Algerian people. French losses from 1831—51 were 3,336 killed in action and 92,329 dead in the hospital. In 1848 general unrest led to the and the end of the July Monarchy. The abolition of slavery and male , both briefly enacted during the French Revolution were re-enacted in 1848. He multiplied French interventions abroad, especially in , in and which resulted in the annexation of the and the , then part of the. Animated map of the growth and decline of the. France had , in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century, but in the 19th and 20th centuries, its extended greatly and became the second largest in the world behind the. Including , the total area of land under French almost reached 13 million square kilometres in the 1920s and 1930s, 8. Known as the , the turn of the century was a period characterised by optimism, regional peace, economic prosperity and technological, scientific and cultural innovations. The French conquest of was one of the longest and toughest in the annals of European colonialism. French historian Daniel Rivet puts the casualty rate among Moroccans who resisted the French occupation at 100,000. Contemporary period 1914—present The in , built between 1880 and 1920, show that some rural parts of France remained traditional areas until recently. France was a member of the when World War I broke out. A small part of Northern France was occupied, but France and its allies emerged victorious against the at a tremendous human and material cost. World War I left 1. Between 27 and 30% of soldiers conscripted from 1912—1915 were killed. The interbellum years were marked by and a variety of social reforms introduced by the , ,. In 1940, France was and occupied by. Metropolitan France was divided into a and , a newly established authoritarian regime collaborating with , in the south, while , the government-in-exile led by , was set up in London. From 1942 to 1944, about 160,000 French citizens, including around , were deported to and in Germany and occupied Poland. On 6 June 1944 the and in August they. This interim government, established by de Gaulle, aimed to continue to and to. It also made several important reforms suffrage extended to women, creation of a system. France was one of the founding members of 1949. On 8 May 1945, while in France, peaceful demonstrations in , in eastern Algeria, were. More than 40,000 Algerian fell victim to the shooting and strafing, from planes, and armed cars. At the end of the same month the French bombarded , killing hundreds. The on 23 November 1946 killed about 6,000. Between March 1947 and September 1948, the electoral victory of the proponents of independence in was followed by a by the French army 18,000, mostly , troops , resulting in some 90,000 deaths. Some 200 peaceful civilians demonstrating for independence were killed by mostly Senegalese French troops in , , on April 7—8, 1947. The ensuing repression of the French army and paramilitary forces took the form, during 1958—1960, of a policy, whereby entire villages of south-central and western Cameroon in the Bassa and Bamiléké areas were burned to the ground, resulting in between 60,000 and 100,000 deaths. France attempted to but was defeated by the in 1954 at the climactic. Only months later, France faced another. In 1958, the weak and unstable Fourth Republic gave way to the , which included a strengthened Presidency. In the latter role, Charles de Gaulle managed to keep the country together while taking steps to end the. Despite its military victory, France granted. The war exacted a heavy human toll among the Algerian population. It resulted in some 500,000 deaths and 2,137,000 internally displaced Algerians. A vestige of the colonial empire are the. To this end, he withdrew from 's military integrated command, he launched a and made France the. He cordial in order to create a European counterweight between the American and Soviet spheres of influence. However, he opposed any development of a , favouring a Europe of. In the wake of the series of worldwide , the had an enormous social impact. In France, it is considered to be the watershed moment when a conservative moral ideal religion, patriotism, respect for authority shifted towards a more liberal moral ideal , ,. Although the revolt was a political failure as the party emerged even stronger than before it announced a split between the French people and de Gaulle who resigned shortly after. In the post-Gaullist era, France remained one of the most developed , but faced several economic crises that resulted in high unemployment rates and increasing public debt. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries France has been at the forefront of the development of a supranational , notably by signing the which created the European Union in 1992, establishing the in 1999, and signing the in 2007. Since the 19th century France has received many. These have been mostly male from European Catholic countries who generally returned home when not employed. During the 1970s France faced economic crisis and allowed new immigrants mostly from the to permanently and to acquire French citizenship. It resulted in hundreds of thousands of Muslims especially in the larger cities living in subsidised public housing and suffering from very high unemployment rates. Simultaneously France renounced the 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. Since the , France has been sporadically targeted by Islamist organisations, notably the in January 2015 which provoked the in French history, gathering 4. The vast majority of France's territory and population is situated in and is called , to distinguish it from the country's various overseas polities. It is bordered by the in the north, the in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Mediterranean sea in the southeast. It land borders consist of and in the northeast, Germany and in the east, and in the southeast, and and 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. Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is. Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes and , and longitudes and , on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern zone. Its continental part covers about 1000 km from north to south and from east to west. France has land borders with and via and with the through the French portion of. Metropolitan France covers 551,500 square kilometres 212,935 sq mi , the largest among members. France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories excluding , is 643,801 km 2 248,573 sq mi , 0. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the in the southeast, the in the south central and in the southwest. Geology, topography and hydrography Geological formations near , dating back to. 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 , the , the , the and ranges and the island of 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. Although 60% of municipalities are classified as having seismic risks, these risks remain moderate. The coastlines offer contrasting landscapes: mountain ranges along the , coastal cliffs such as the , and wide sandy plains in the. Corsica lies off the Mediterranean coast. France has an extensive river system consisting of the four major rivers , the , the , the 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. Other water courses drain towards the Meuse and Rhine along the north-eastern borders. France has 11 million square kilometres 4. Climate Most of the low-lying areas of metropolitan France are located in the oceanic climate zone, Cfb and Cfc in the. Corsica and a small part of the territory bordering the mediterranean basin lies in the Csa and Csb zones. The Paris sedimentary basin and, more so, the basins protected by mountain chains show a stronger seasonal temperature variability and less rainfall during autumn and winter. Therefore, most of the territory has a semi-oceanic climate and forms a transition zone between strictly oceanic climate near the coasts and other climate zones. Environment in is one of the best known protected areas of France. France was one of the first countries to create an environment ministry, in 1971. Although it is one of the most industrialised countries in the world, France is ranked , behind less populous nations such as Canada or Australia. This is because France decided to invest in following the , which now accounts for 75% of its electricity production and results in less pollution. The in illustrates France's flora diversity. Like all European Union state members, France agreed to cut by at least 20% of 1990 levels by the year 2020, compared to the United States plan to reduce emissions by 4% of 1990 levels. As of 2009 , French carbon dioxide emissions per capita were lower than that of China's. The country was set to impose a in 2009 at 17 euros per tonne of carbon emitted, which would have raised 4 billion euros of revenue annually. However, the plan was abandoned due to fears of burdening French businesses. Forests account for 28% of France's land area, and are some of the most diverse in Europe, comprising more than 140 species of trees. There are nine and 46 in France, with the government planning to convert 20% of its into a by 2020. The parks foster ecological research programmes and public education in the natural sciences. According to the 2016 conducted by and , France was the tenth-most environmentally-conscious country in the world. Administrative divisions Since 2016 France is mainly divided into 18 administrative regions: 13 regions in including the territorial collectivity of , and five located. The regions are further subdivided into 101 departments, which are numbered mainly alphabetically. This number is used in postal codes and was formerly used on vehicle number plates. The 101 departments are subdivided into 335 , which are, in turn, subdivided into 2,054. These cantons are then divided into 36,658 , which are municipalities with an elected municipal council. Three communes—Paris, Lyon and Marseille—are subdivided into 45. The regions, departments and communes are all known as , 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 and definitely abolished by the in 1946. Overseas territories and collectivities In addition to the 18 regions and 101 departments, the French Republic has five , , , , and , one collectivity , one , and one island possession in the Pacific Ocean. 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. In contrast, the five overseas regions used the French franc and now use the euro. The lands making up the French Republic, shown at the same. Still referred to as a collectivité territoriale. Still referred to as a territoire. Main article: Government The French Republic is a representative democratic republic with strong democratic traditions. The Constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved by on 28 September 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to parliament. The executive branch itself has two leaders: the , currently , who is and is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5-year term formerly 7 years , and the Government, led by the president-appointed. The National Assembly is the lower house of the French Parliament. The is a legislature comprising a Assemblée Nationale and a. The National Assembly deputies represent local constituencies and are directly elected for 5-year terms. The Assembly has the power to dismiss the government, and 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 , and one half of the seats are submitted to election every 3 years starting in September 2008. The Senate's legislative powers are limited; in the event of disagreement between the two chambers, the National Assembly has the final say. The Government has a strong influence in shaping the agenda of Parliament. In the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, party became the dominant force, overtaking both Socialists and Republicans. Law Main article: France uses a system; that is, law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it though the amount of judicial interpretation in certain areas makes it equivalent to. Basic principles of the were laid in the which was, in turn, largely based on the royal law codified under. 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 , first president of the , 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. The basic principles that the French Republic must respect are found in the 1789. French law is divided into two principal areas: and. Private law includes, in particular, and. Public law includes, in particular, and. 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 laws are prohibited. 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 and administrative courts are headed by the. To be applicable, every law must be officially published in the. France does not recognise as a motivation for the enactment of prohibitions. France has long had neither laws nor the latter being abolished in 1791. Since 1999, for homosexual couples are permitted, and since May 2013, and are legal in France. Laws prohibiting discriminatory speech in the press are. Some consider however that are too broad or severe and damage. France has laws against and. The is the basis for state secularism : the state does not formally recognize any religion,. Nonetheless, it does recognize religious associations. The Parliament has since 1995, and has since 2004. In 2010, it banned the ; human rights groups such as and described the law as discriminatory towards Muslims. However, it is supported by most of the population. Foreign relations French President and Chancellor , in 1987. France is a founding member of the and serves as one of the with veto rights. As a significant hub for international relations, France hosts the of in the world and the headquarters of including the , , , the , and. Postwar French foreign policy has been largely shaped by membership of the European Union, of which it was a. Since the , France has developed close ties with reunified Germany to become the. In the 1960s, France sought to exclude the British from the European unification process, seeking to build its own standing in continental Europe. The in , near the border with. In the early 1990s, the country drew considerable criticism from other nations for its underground nuclear tests in. France vigorously opposed the , straining bilateral relations with the United States and the United Kingdom. France retains strong political and economic influence in its and has supplied economic aid and troops for peace-keeping missions in and. Recently, after the unilateral declaration of independence of northern by the and the subsequent regional with several Islamist groups including and , France and other African states intervened to help the Malian Army to retake control. In 2013, France was the fourth-largest in absolute terms donor of in the world, behind the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. The organisation managing the French help is the , which finances primarily humanitarian projects in. Military Examples of France's military. Clockwise from top left: Nuclear aircraft carrier ; A ; French patrolling the valleys of Kapisa province in Afghanistan; a in Paris for the. The French Armed Forces Forces armées françaises are the military and paramilitary forces of France, under the as supreme commander. Together they are among the in the world and the largest in the. While the Gendarmerie is an integral part of the French armed forces gendarmes are career soldiers , and therefore under the purview of the , it is operationally attached to the 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 Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale , the 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 Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure is considered to be a component of the Armed Forces under the authority of the Ministry of Defence. 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 since 1997. France has a special military corps, the , 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 , and a since 1960. The current French nuclear force consists of four class submarines equipped with. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 medium-range with , of which around 50 are deployed by the Air Force using the long-range nuclear strike aircraft, while around 10 are deployed by the French Navy's attack aircraft, which operate from the nuclear-powered. France has major military industries with one of the largest in the world. Its industries have produced such equipment as the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the missile and the tank among others. Despite withdrawing from the project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the , , the demonstrator and the. France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices. The held in Paris each 14 July for , called Bastille Day in English-speaking countries but not in France , is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe. Government finance France is part of a monetary union, the dark blue , and of the. France has a that combines extensive private enterprise with substantial state enterprise and government intervention. The government retains considerable influence over key segments of infrastructure sectors, with majority ownership of railway, electricity, aircraft, nuclear power and telecommunications. As of 2016 , ranked France seventh largest exporter. Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. The Paris stock exchange French: La Bourse de Paris is an old institution, created by in 1724. In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Bruxelles merged into. In 2007, Euronext merged with the to form , the world's largest stock exchange. France is a member of the around 330 million consumers which is part of the more than 500 million consumers. France introduced the common European currency, the in 2002. French companies have maintained key positions in the insurance and banking industries: is the world's largest insurance company. The leading French banks are and the , ranking as the world's first and sixth largest banks in 2010 by assets , while the group was ranked the world's eighth largest in 2009. Agriculture , widely regarded as a , originates from the in Northeast France. France has historically been a large producer of agricultural products. Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as internationally recognised processed foods are the primary French agricultural exports. That same year, France sold 33. Agriculture is an important sector of France's economy: 3. Tourism The , featuring a , is one of the. With 83 million foreign tourists in 2012, France is as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of the United States 67 million and China 58 million. This 83 million figure excludes people staying less than 24 hours, such as North Europeans crossing France on their way to Spain or Italy. It is third in income from tourism due to shorter duration of visits. The most popular tourist sites include annual visitors : 6. France, especially Paris, has some of the world's largest and renowned museums, including the , which is the 5. France has 37 sites inscribed in and features cities of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity. This label is intended to protect and promote remarkable gardens and parks. France attracts many religious pilgrims on their , or to , a town in the that hosts several million visitors a year. Another major destination are the castles French: châteaux of the ; this is noteworthy for its architectural heritage, in its historic towns but in particular its castles, such as the d', de , d', de , and. The and , both located near Paris, are also visitor attractions. With more than 10 millions tourists a year, the French: Côte d'Azur , in Southeast France, is the second leading tourist destination in the country, after the. 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. France is the smallest emitter of among the , due to its heavy investment in. As of 2016 , 72% of the electricity produced by France is generated by 58 nuclear power plants. In this context, renewable energies are having difficulty taking off. France also uses hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, such as the , , and. The train can reach a maximum speed of 360 kilometres per hour 220 mph. The , which as of 2008 stretches 29,473 kilometres 18,314 mi is the second most extensive in Western Europe after that of. The Eurostar, along with the , connects with the United Kingdom through the. Rail connections exist to all other neighbouring countries in Europe, except. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes and tramway services Nantes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier... 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. 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 neighbouring Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco. There is no annual registration fee or ; 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 27% of cars sold in France in 2003 , 20. Over 70% of new cars sold in 2004 had , far more than contained petrol or engines. France possesses the , the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the. There are 464 in France. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in , which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Science and technology France is one of the biggest contributors to the , which conceived the , launched from French Guiana. Since the , France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement. Around the beginning of the 11th century, , born Gerbert d'Aurillac, reintroduced the and , and introduced and to Northern and Western Europe. The , founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important universities in the Western world. In the 17th century, mathematician defined a , while became famous for his work on and. They were both key figures of the , which blossomed in Europe during this period. The was founded by to encourage and protect the spirit of French. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest. With the , the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France with scientists such as , founder of modern , who laid the foundations of , and , a pioneer of. Other eminent French scientists of the 19th century have their. Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist , physicists , and , remained famous for their work on , the physicist and virologist , co-discoverer of. A was first done on 27 November 2005 by Dr. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in. France was the and has the in the world. It is also a leader in. France also hosts major international research instruments such as the or the and remains a major member of. It also owns , Europe's leading research center. As of 2016 , people have been awarded a and 12 have received the. Population density in the French Republic at the 1999 census. With an estimated total population of 67. France is also second most populous country in the after. France is an outlier among developed countries in general, and European countries in particular, in having a fairly high rate of natural population growth: by birth rates alone, France was responsible for almost all natural population growth in the European Union in 2006, with the natural growth rate excess of births over deaths rising to 300,000 and with the immigration the population grew with almost 400,000 people, although in the late 2010s it fell to 200,000. This was the highest rate since the end of the in 1973, and coincides with the rise of the from a nadir of 1. As of January 2017 the fertility rate was 1. From 2006 to 2011 population growth was on average +0. Immigrants are also major contributors to this trend; in 2010, 27% of newborns in metropolitan France had at least one parent and 24% had at least one parent born outside of Europe parents born in overseas territories are considered as born in France. Ethnic groups was elected to the French Parliament in 1914; he was a fervent supporter of. Most are of origin, with an admixture of and groups. Different regions reflect this diverse heritage, with notable elements in western France, in the southwest, in the northwest, in the northeast and influence in the southeast. Large-scale 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. A law originating from the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the 1958 makes it illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and ancestry. There are over 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France. There are also sizeable minorities of other , namely , , , and. France has a significant population, numbering between 20,000 and 400,000. Famous French Gypsies Gitans include , the and. Gypsies inspired the French novel. Many foreign are 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; between 1921 and 1935 alone, about 1. The next largest wave came in the 1960s, when around 1. They were joined by numerous former colonial subjects from North and West Africa, as well as numerous immigrants from Spain and. France remains a major destination for immigrants, accepting about 200,000 legal immigrants annually. It is also Western Europe's leading recipient of seekers, with an estimated 50,000 applications in 2005 a 15% decrease from 2004. The European Union allows free movement between the member states, although France established controls to curb migration, and immigration remains a contentious political issue. In 2008, the estimated that the total number of foreign-born immigrants was around 5 million 8% of the population , while their French-born descendants numbered 6. 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 ancestry. In 2008, France granted to 137,000 persons, mostly to people from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey. 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. Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 percent between 2009 and 2012, i. 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. Major cities France is a highly urbanized country, with its in terms of metropolitan area population in 2013 being Paris 12,405,426 inh. Note: There are significant differences between the metropolitan population figures just cited and those in the following table, which only include the core population. Functional urban areas francophone minorities According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the official language of France is French, a derived from. Since 1635, the has been France's official authority on the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal. There are also regional languages spoken in France, such as , , , dialect , dialect , , and others. 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 perceived threat from 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. 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 among the educated classes of Europe. 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 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 , or. 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 between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to the Americas, Africa, Polynesia, South-East Asia, and the Caribbean. French is the second most studied foreign language in the world after English, 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 and the South Pacific. 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 and 500 million people worldwide can speak French, either as a or a. According to the 2007 Adult Education survey, part of a project by the and carried in France by the and based on a sample of 15,350 persons, French was the first mother tongue of 87. People who had other languages as their mother tongue made up the 5. French religious policy is based on the concept of , a strict under which public life is kept completely secular. Estimates of the number of 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%. The current as of 2016 , about 0. Among the 47,000 religious buildings in France, 94% are. During the , activists conducted a brutal , ending the Catholic Church as the state religion. In some cases clergy and churches were attacked, with iconoclasm stripping the churches of statues and ornament. After the back and forth of Catholic royal and secular republican governments during the 19th century, France established by passage of the. Since 1905 the French Government has followed the principle of , in which it is prohibited from recognising any specific right to a religious community except for legacy statutes like those of military chaplains and the. It recognises 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. Secte is considered a pejorative term in France. The , a teaching hospital in Paris, one of Europe's largest hospitals. The is one of largely financed by government. The French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997. In 2011, France spent 11. Approximately 77% of health expenditures are covered by government funded agencies. Average life expectancy at birth is 78 years for men and 85 years for women, one of the highest of the European Union. As of 2007 , approximately 140,000 inhabitants 0. Even if the have the reputation of being one of the thinnest people in developed countries, France—like other rich countries—faces an increasing and recent epidemic of , due mostly to the replacement in French eating habits of traditional healthy French cuisine by. The French obesity rate is still far below that of the United States the obesity rate in France is the same as the United States had in the 1970s , and is still the lowest of Europe. Authorities now regard obesity as one of the main public health issues and fight it fiercely. Rates of are slowing in France, while continuing to grow in other countries. Education The on the campus of the. Nevertheless, it is who is considered to be the father of the French modern school, which is free, secular, and compulsory until the age of 13 since 1882 school attendance in France is now compulsory until the age of 16. Nowadays, the schooling system in France is centralised, and is composed of three stages, primary education, secondary education, and higher education. Primary and secondary education are predominantly public, run by the. In France, education is compulsory from six to sixteen years old, and the public school is secular and free. 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 socialisation 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. The second is offered in high schools lycée and finishes in national exams leading to a baccalaureate baccalauréat, available in professional, technical or general flavours or certificate of professional competence certificat d'aptitude professionelle. Health insurance for students is free until the age of 20. Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time, and France is still recognised in the world for its rich cultural tradition. The successive political regimes have always promoted artistic creation, and the creation of the 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. The French government also succeeded in maintaining a 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 welcoming more than 50 million people annually. The most important cultural sites are run by the government, for instance through the public agency , which is responsible for approximately 85 national historical monuments. The 43,180 buildings protected as historical monuments include mainly residences many and religious buildings , , , but also statutes, memorials and. The inscribed 41 sites in. Art Main article: The origins of French art were very much influenced by and by at the time of the Renaissance. The Renaissance painting was directly inspired by Italian painters such as and , who both worked in France. Two of the most famous French artists of the time of , and , lived in Italy. The 17th century was the period when French painting became prominent and individualised itself through classicism. French artists developed the style in the 18th century, as a more intimate imitation of old baroque style, the works of the court-endorsed artists , and being the most representative in the country. The French Revolution brought great changes, as favoured artists of such as and the highly influential defined the style known as. 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 with and , and with , and , a style that eventually evolved into. 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 and. The most famous impressionist painters of the period were , , , Claude Monet and. The second generation of impressionist-style painters, , , and , were also at the avant-garde of artistic evolutions, as well as the , and. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cubism was developed by and the Spanish painter , living in Paris. Other foreign artists also settled and worked in or near Paris, such as , , and. 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 , such as , also known as La Joconde. While the has been for a long time a museum, the Musée d'Orsay was inaugurated in 1986 in the old railway station , 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. Modern works are presented in the , which moved in 1976 to the. These three state-owned museums welcome close to 17 million people a year. Other national museums hosting paintings include the 1. 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 , , , , and. Architecture represents the French impact on religious architecture. During the Middle Ages, many fortified were built by feudal nobles to mark their powers. Some French castles that survived are , , the massive and the so-called. During this era, France had been using like most of Western Europe. Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in France are the in , the largest romanesque church in Europe, and the remains of the. Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic and basilicas, the first of these being the used as the royal necropolis ; other important French Gothic cathedrals are and. The kings were crowned in another important Gothic church:. Aside from churches, Gothic Architecture had been used for many religious palaces, the most important one being the 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 and several artists from Italy were invited to the French court; many residential palaces were built in the. Such residential castles were the , the , or the. Following the renaissance and the end of the Middle Ages, replaced the traditional Gothic style. However, in France, baroque architecture found a greater success in the secular domain than in a religious one. In the secular domain, the has many baroque features. Some of the most impressive provincial baroque architecture is found in places that were not yet French such as the in. On the military architectural side, 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. Built during the first French Empire, the and represent the best example of architecture. Under , a new wave of urbanism and architecture was given birth; extravagant buildings such as the neo-baroque were built. The urban planning of the time was very organised and rigorous; for example,. The architecture associated to this era is named in English, the term being taken from the. At this time there was a strong Gothic resurgence across Europe and in France; the associated architect was. In the late 19th century, designed many bridges, such as , and remains one of the most influential bridge designers of his time, although he is best remembered for the iconic. In the 20th century, French-Swiss architect designed several buildings in France. More recently, French architects have combined both modern and old architectural styles. The 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. France's largest financial district is , where a significant number of skyscrapers are located. 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. Some famous modern French architects include , , or. Literature Main article: The earliest French literature dates from the , 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 mediaeval texts are unknown, such as and. Other authors are known, for example and , who wrote in. Much medieval French poetry and literature were inspired by the legends of the , such as and the various. The Roman de Renart, written in 1175 by Perrout de Saint Cloude, tells the story of the mediaeval character 'the Fox' and is another example of early French writing. An important 16th-century writer was , whose novel has remained famous and appreciated until now. His most famous work, , created the literary genre of the essay. Both writers founded the literary movement. During the 17th century, published anonymously , a novel that is considered to be one of the very first of all times. Generations of French pupils had to learn his fables, that were seen as helping teaching and to the young people. Clockwise from top left: is the most played author in the ; is one of the most important French novelists and poets; 19th-century poet, writer and translator ; 20th-century philosopher and novelist. He is, along with and Molière, considered as one of the three great dramatists of the France's. Molière, who is deemed to be one of the greatest masters of comedy of the , wrote , including , , , and. French literature and poetry flourished even more in the 18th and 19th centuries. He is however best known for being the main redactor of the , whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century in fields such as arts, sciences, languages, philosophy and to present them to the people, in order to fight ignorance and. During that same century, was a prolific writer of famous children's fairy tales including , , and. At the start of the 19th century, was an important movement in French literature, with poets such as Charles Baudelaire, and. The 19th century saw the writings of many renowned French authors. The preface of his play is considered to be the manifesto of the. His novel is widely seen as one of the greatest novel ever written and has remained immensely popular. Other major authors of that century include and , , , , , and , , whose works are among the most well known in France and the world. The is a French literary prize first awarded in 1903. Important writers of the 20th century include , , , and. As of 2014 , French authors had more than. The first Nobel Prize in Literature was a French author, while France's latest Nobel prize in literature is , who was awarded the prize in 2014. Jean-Paul Sartre was also the first nominee in the committee's history to refuse the prize in 1964. Philosophy , founder of modern philosophy. French philosophers produced some of the most important political works of the. In , theorised the principle of , which has been implemented in all since. Rationalist philosophers such as and , who called for a new social doctrine, were opposed by reactionary thinkers such as , and , who blamed the rationalist rejection of traditional order. De Maistre is considered, together with the Englishman , one of the founders of European conservatism, while Comte is regarded as the founder of , which reformulated as a basis for social research. In the 20th century, partly as a reaction to the perceived excesses of positivism, French thrived with thinkers such as and it influenced American and 's version of. Meanwhile, French epistemology became a prominent school of thought with , , and. Music Main article: France has a long and varied musical history. The most renowned composers of this period include , , , and , all of them composers at the court. Rameau became the dominant composer of and the leading French composer for the harpsichord. 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: best known for his , best known for , which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas , best known for his , , and , best known for his and his , best known for his 100 of the 1850s—1870s and his uncompleted opera , best known for his for violin and and his , best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty, the most frequently staged are 1884 and 1892 and he has many frequently-performed works, including , , Opera , and his. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and influenced many composers who followed. Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of. The two composers invented new musical forms and new sounds. Ravel's piano compositions, such as , , and , demand considerable virtuosity. His mastery of orchestration is evident in the , , his arrangement of 's and his orchestral work 1928. More recently, the middle of the 20th century, , and contributed to the evolutions of. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, , known as , has also remained very popular. Among the most important French artists of the century are , , , and. Although there are very few rock bands in France compared to English-speaking countries, bands such as , , , and more recently , and , or , have reached worldwide popularity. In the 1990s and 2000s decade , electronic duos , and also reached worldwide popularity and contributed to the reputation of modern electronic music in the world. Among current musical events and institutions in France, many are dedicated to classical music and operas. The most prestigious institutions are the state-owned with its two sites and , the , the in Paris, the in and the. The , imitated by many foreign cities, was first launched by the French Government in 1982. Major music halls and venues in France include sites present in many cities and other places in Paris , ,. France has historical and strong links with , with two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière known as the having created cinema in 1895. Several important cinematic movements, including the late 1950s and 1960s , began in the country. It is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the. France remains a leader in filmmaking, as of 2015 producing more films than any other European country. The nation also hosts the , one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world. 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 , , and , and , Russia , , Austria , and , are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in other countries, such as , , or in the. Although the French film market is dominated by , 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. France is in 2013 the 2nd exporter of films in the world after the United States. Until recently, France had for centuries been the cultural center of the world, although its dominant position has been surpassed by the. Subsequently, France takes steps in protecting and promoting its culture, becoming a leading advocate of the. S and Israel, voted against it. Fashion 's headquarters on the , Paris. 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 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 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 houses such as , , and. The French perfume industry is world leader in its sector and is centered on the town of. With a greater focus on marketing and manufacturing, new trends were established by , , , and in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1990s saw a conglomeration of many French couture houses under luxury giants and multinationals such as. Media was founded in 1826; many of France's most prominent authors have written in its columns over the decades, and it is still considered a. Best-selling daily national newspapers in France are Aujourd'hui en France with 460,000 sold daily , and , with around 300,000 copies sold daily, but also , dedicated to sports coverage. In the past years, free dailies made a breakthrough, with , and Direct Plus distributed at more than 650,000 copies respectively. However, the widest circulations are reached by regional daily with more than 750,000 copies sold, and the 50 other regional papers have also high sales. The sector of weekly magazines is stronger and diversified with more than 400 specialised weekly magazines published in the country. The most influential news magazines are the left-wing , centrist and right-wing more than 400. Influential weeklies also include investigative and satirical papers and , as well as. Like in most industrialised nations, the print media have been affected by a in the past decade. In 2008, the government launched a major initiative to help the sector reform and become financially independent, but in 2009 it had to give 600,000 euros to help the print media cope with the , in addition to existing subsidies. It was only in 1981 that the government allowed free broadcasting in the territory, ending state monopoly on radio. French television was partly liberalised in the next two decade with the creation of several commercial channels, mainly thanks to cable and satellite television. In 2005 the national service introduced digital television all over the territory, allowing the creation of other channels. The four existing national channels are now owned by state-owned consortium , while public broadcasting group run five national radio stations. In 2006, the government created global news channel. Society Sculpture of , a common national personification of the French Republic. According to a 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. The of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind. 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. As of 2011, 75% of French had a favourable view of the United States, making France one of the most pro-American countries in the world. As of 2017 , the favourable view of the United States had dropped to 46%. The French Revolution continues to permeate the country's. In addition, , the national holiday, commemorates the on 14 July 1789. A common and traditional symbol of the French people is the. 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. Cuisine are usually made to accompany French cuisine French cuisine is renowned for being one of the finest in the world. According to the regions, traditional recipes are different, the North of the country prefers to use butter as the preferred fat for cooking, whereas is more commonly used in the South. Moreover, each region of France has iconic traditional specialities: in the Southwest, in Alsace, in the , in the , , etc. France's most renowned products are , including , , , and as well as a large variety of different , such as , and. There are more than 400 different varieties. Hors d'œuvres include terrine de saumon au basilic, lobster bisque, , or a. The plat principal could include a or. The dessert could be pastry, a , an , , , , or. Some with fruits French cuisine is also regarded as a key element of the and the attractiveness of France. A French publication, the , awards Michelin stars for excellence to a select few establishments. 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. 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. 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. Starting in 1903, the is the oldest and most prestigious of , and the world's most famous cycling race. Popular sports played in France include , , , and. France has hosted events such as the and , , the , and will host the. The country also hosted the , , and. Since 1903, France hosts the annual , the most famous in the world. France is famous for its. Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the and the , one of the four tournaments. After was awarded the first Games, in reference to the Olympics' Greek origins, Paris hosted the second Games. Paris was the first home of the , before it moved to. Since 1900, France has hosted the Olympics on 4 further occasions: the , again in Paris and three in , in and in. The top national football club competition is. The was built for the , and is listed as a. The , also called Roland-Garros, is a major tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June at the in. It is the premier tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual tournaments. The national rugby union team has competed at every , and takes part in the annual. Stemming from a , the French rugby team has won 16 Six Nations Championships, including 8 ; and has reached the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup 6 times and the final 3 times. The and are the most notable clubs currently playing in and the is the top-tier rugby league competitions in Europe. The is the professional competition for rugby league clubs in France. In recent decades, France has produced world-elite basketball players, most notably. The won gold at the. The national team has won two Olympic Silver Medals: in and. The overseas territories are not part of the French telephone numbering plan; their country calling codes are: +687, +689; +681. France also uses , shared with other members of the European Union. The domain is used in. France also comprises in North America; and in the Caribbean; , , and in the Pacific Ocean; and finally the. Palmer and Joel Colton 1978. A History of the Modern World 5th ed. United Nations World Tourism Organization. Although it has just 1% of the world's adults, France ranks fourth among nations in aggregate household wealth — behind China and just ahead of Germany. Europe as a whole accounts for 35% of the individuals in the global top 1%, but France itself contributes a quarter of the European contingent. Levy, War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495—1975, 2014 p. The Franks, from Their First Appearance in History to the Death of King Pepin. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts. Webster's Third New International Dictionary. A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2009. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Translation of: The French Revolution. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004. The Oxford History of The French Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts 2005. Michael Robert Marrus, Robert O. La France en Chine in French. Democracy Web: Comparative studies in Freedom. Secretariate of the Pacific Community. Commission de l'Océan Indien Indian Ocean Commission in French. Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. The French Ministry of Foreign affairs. En 2001, la France a vendu pour 1,288 milliard de dollars d'équipements militaires, ce qui la met au troisième rang mondial des exportateurs derrière les États-Unis et la Russie. La France est au 4ème rang mondial des exportateurs d'armes, derrière les Etats-Unis, le Royaume-Uni et la Russie, et devant Israël, selon un rapport du ministère de la Défense publié l'an dernier. France is the world's fifth largest exporter of goods mainly durables. The country ranks fourth in services and third in agriculture especially in cereals and the agri-food sector. It is the leading producer and exporter of farm products in Europe. Ministère de l'Alimentation, de l'Agriculture et de la Pêche. Ministère de l'Alimentation, de l'Agriculture et de la Pêche. Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency. The Journal of Commerce Online. Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Volume 81, Part 7: Russian Refugees in France and the United States Between the World Wars. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 1983, Oxford University Press, p. Rock music doesn't come naturally to the French. A Latin country, with more affinity to poetry and melody, France has very rarely produced talented rock musicians. Rock music has other, more Anglo-Saxon ingredients: fury, excess, electricity. Andy Hayler's 3 Star Restaurant Guide.