1.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
2.
Municipal arrondissements of France
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In France, a municipal arrondissement is a subdivision of the commune, and is used in the countrys three largest cities, Paris, Lyon and Marseille. It functions as a lower administrative division, with its own mayor. Although usually referred to simply as arrondissements, they should not be confused with departmental arrondissements, there are 45 municipal arrondissements in France,20 in Paris, nine in Lyon, and 16 in Marseille. However, a law in 1987 assigned the 16 arrondissements of Marseille to eight secteurs, thus, in effect, Marseille can be more properly described as being divided into eight secteurs, the sixteen arrondissements having been made merely units of demarcation. Area The largest arrondissement is the arrondissement of Marseille,63.21 km², which is 26 percent of the size of the city of Marseille. It contains the Luminy Park, which is a park. The smallest arrondissement is the arrondissement of Paris,0.992 km². Population The most populous arrondissement is the arrondissement of Paris. If the 15th arrondissement of Paris were a commune, it would be the ninth most-populous commune of France, larger than the cities of Bordeaux, Lille, the least populous arrondissement is the 16th arrondissement of Marseille, with only 16,574 inhabitants. However, the 16th arrondissement is part of the eighth secteur of Marseille, thus, the least populous arrondissement in France is the first arrondissement of Paris, with 16,888 inhabitants at the 1999 census. Density The arrondissement with the highest population density is the 11th arrondissement of Paris, the arrondissement with the lowest population density is the ninth arrondissement of Marseille, with 1,151 residents per km² in 1999. Municipal arrondissements have names only in Paris and are used even there. In Paris, residents are familiar with the arrondissements and. In Lyon, three arrondissements – Vieux Lyon, la Croix Rousse and Vaise – are generally referred to by names. In Marseille, it is common for people to refer to the names of the neighborhoods, anne or Mazargues, but also to the number of the arrondissements. Municipal arrondissements are used in the postal codes of France. The arrondissements of Paris form a spiral or snail pattern beginning from the first in the centre. In Marseille, they form a path from the first down through the southwest, to the southeast, northeast
3.
Tour Montparnasse
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Tour Maine-Montparnasse, also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a 210-metre office skyscraper located in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until 2011, as of March 2017, it is the 14th tallest building in the European Union. The tower was designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, built on top of the Montparnasse – Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, the 59 floors of the tower are mainly occupied by offices. The 56th floor, with a restaurant called le Ciel de Paris, the view covers a radius of 40 km, aircraft can be seen taking off from Orly Airport. The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be pneumatically lowered, the towers simple architecture, large proportions and monolithic appearance have been often criticised for being out of place in Pariss urban landscape. As a result, two years after its completion the construction of buildings over seven stories high in the city centre was banned, the design of the tower predates architectural trends of more modern skyscrapers today that are often designed to provide a window for every office. Only the offices around the perimeter of each floor of Tour Montparnasse have windows and it is said that the view from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, because it is the only place from which the tower cannot be seen. A2008 poll of editors on Virtualtourist voted the building the second-ugliest building in the world, in 2005, studies showed that the tower contained asbestos material. When inhaled, for instance during repairs, asbestos is a carcinogen, as with the Jussieu Campus, the problem of removing the asbestos material from a large building used by thousands of people is acute. Projected completion times for removal are three years if the building is emptied for the duration of the work and ten years if the building is not emptied, the removal of asbestos began in July 2007. Previously Tour Maine-Montparnasse housed the executive management of Accor, list of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region Official website Photos of Tour Montparnasse Tour Montparnasse Pictures and info
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
6.
Regions of France
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France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
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Departments of France
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In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
8.
Communes of France
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The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
9.
Arrondissements of Paris
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The city of Paris is divided into twenty arrondissements municipaux, administrative districts, more simply referred to as arrondissements. These are not to be confused with departmental arrondissements, which subdivide the 101 French départements, the word arrondissement, when applied to Paris, refers almost always to the municipal arrondissements listed below. The number of the arrondissement is indicated by the last two digits in most Parisian postal codes, the twenty arrondissements are arranged in the form of a clockwise spiral, starting from the middle of the city, with the first on the Right Bank of the Seine. The French cities of Lyon and Marseille have, more recently, in French, notably on street signs, the number is often given in Roman numerals. For example, the Eiffel Tower belongs to the VIIe arrondissement while Gare de lEst is in the Xe arrondissement, with the Bois de Vincennes 2. Without the Bois de Vincennes 3, with the Bois de Boulogne 4. Without the Bois de Boulogne 5,2005 is the year of the most recent official estimate, population of these arrondissements may still be growing Each arrondissement is subdivided administratively into four quartiers. Paris thus has eighty quartiers administratifs, each containing a police station, for a table giving the names of the eighty quartiers, see Quarters of Paris. On 11 October 1795, Paris was divided into twelve arrondissements and they were numbered from west to east, with the numbers 1-9 situated on the Right Bank of the Seine and the numbers 10-12 on the Left Bank. Each arrondissement was subdivided into four quartiers, which corresponded to the 48 original districts created in 1790, emperor Napoleon III and the Prefect of the Seine Baron Haussmann developed a plan to incorporate several of the surrounding communes into the Paris jurisdiction in the late 1850s. Parliament passed the legislation in 1859, and the expansion took effect when the law was promulgated on 3 November 1859. The previous twelve arrondissements were reorganized from twelve arrondissements into twenty, the mayor of Passy, Possoz, devised the idea of a numbering the arrondissements in a spiral pattern beginning with the first centered on the imperial palaces, which put Passy in the sixteenth. In historical records, when it is important to distinguish between two systems, the original arrondissements are indicated by adding the term ancienne, for example, arrondissement, for other uses of the term. Paris districts Paris, je taime, film composed of sequences on each arrondissement Cobb, Richard, Breach. Official Paris website Diagrams of each arrondissement showing its quartiers administratifs
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17th arrondissement of Paris
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The 17th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. The land area of this arrondissement is 5.669 km2, the town hall of the 17th arrondissement is on Rue des Batignolles. It is the town hall of Paris to be located in a modern building. The original building was torn down in 1971 to make room for the current edifice, the 17th arrondissement also hosts the Palais des Congrès of Paris, which is a large exhibition center with an associated high-rise hotel, the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile, the largest in the city. The peak population of Pariss 17th arrondissement was reached in 1954, today, the arrondissement remains dense in population and business activity, with 160,860 inhabitants and 92,267 jobs as of the most recent census. The southwestern part of the arrondissement is very dense in offices, several big companies have their headquarters there. The head office of Dailymotion is located in the Immeuble Horizons 17, when it existed, Gaz de France had its head office in the 17th arrondissement. Batignolles and Épinettes, two industrial areas, are now mostly residential. The area around the avenue de Clichy, shared with the 8th, 9th and 18th arrondissement of Paris, is occupied by a lot of shops and this is the third biggest avenue of Paris in terms of sales. 17th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
11.
18th arrondissement of Paris
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The 18th arrondissement, located on the Rive Droite, is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. It is mostly known for hosting the district of Montmartre, which contains a hill dominated by the Sacré Cœur basilica, along with the house of music diva Dalida and well known Moulin Rouge cabaret. The 18th arrondissement also contains the African and North African district of Goutte dOr which is famous for its market, the marché Barbès, the land area of this arrondissement is exactly 6.005 km2. The population of Pariss 18th arrondissement peaked in 1931 with 288,810 inhabitants, today, the arrondissement remains very dense in population and business activity with 184,586 inhabitants and 70,285 jobs as of the most recent census. In 2012 John Henley of The Guardian said the 18th arrondissement was a comparable in many ways to Londons Tower Hamlets. Montmartre Pigalle Goutte dOr, a neighborhood in the arrondissement Quartier de La Chapelle Dailymotion formerly had its headquarters in the arrondissement. In addition, Dargaud also has its headquarters there, 18th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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19th arrondissement of Paris
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The 19th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the Right Bank of the River Seine, it is crossed by two canals, the Canal Saint-Denis and the Canal de lOurcq, which meet near the Parc de la Villette, the land area of the arrondissement is 6.786 km2. The population of the 19th arrondissement is still increasing, at the last census, in 1999, the population was 172,730 inhabitants. As of the census,68,101 people worked in the arrondissement. This sector has become the home for immigrants to France. Parc des Buttes Chaumont Parc de la Villette Parc de la Butte-du-Chapeau-Rouge The Cent Quatre arts centre 19th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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8th arrondissement of Paris
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The 8th Arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the bank of the River Seine and centred on the Champs-Élysées. According to the 1999 census, it was the place of employment of people than any other single arrondissement of the capital. The land area of the arrondissement is 3.881 km2, the arrondissement had its highest population of 107,485 in 1891. In 1999, it had almost a third of that number and it is one of Pariss least densely populated arrondissements and contains 1. 8% of the total population of Paris. The head offices of AXA, Bouygues, Électricité de France, Eurazeo, Sanofi-Aventis, GDF Suez, HSBC France, standard & Poors France office is located in the 8th arrondissement. Air China and China Southern Airlines have their Paris offices in the arrondissement, at one time the head office of Union des Transports Aériens was located in this arrondissement. The predecessor airline Union Aéromaritime de Transport also had its office in the 8th arrondissement. When Suez existed, its office was in the 8th arrondissement. When Unibail existed, its office was in the arrondissement. At one time Groupe Danone had its office in the 8th arrondissement. At one time Alcatel-Lucents head office was located in the arrondissement, at one time Northwest Airlines had its Paris offices in the Madeleine station. At one time All Nippon Airways operated an office in the arrondissement. The classes are held at the École Maternelle et Primaire Saint Francois dEylau in the 16th arrondissement, intégrale, Institut denseignement supérieur privé has also one of its campus in the 8th arrondissement. 8th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
14.
9th arrondissement of Paris
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The 9th arrondissement, located on the Right Bank, is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. Along with the 2nd and 8th arrondissements, it one of the business centers of Paris. The land area of this arrondissement is 2.179 km2, groupe Danone has its head office in the 17 Boulevard Haussmann building in the 9th arrondissement. BNP Paribas has its office in the arrondissement. Kroll Inc. also has an office in this arrondissement, until June 1995, the head office of Société Générale was in this arrondissement. On that month the head office moved to the Société Générale Towers, the former head office remains as the companys registered office. Google Paris has its offices in the arrondissement, the peak population of the 9th arrondissement occurred in 1901, when it had 124,011 inhabitants. Since then, the arrondissement has widely attracted business activity, as a result, the population was in 1999 only 55,838 inhabitants, while it held 111,939 jobs. Media related to Paris 9e arrondissement at Wikimedia Commons 9th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
15.
10th arrondissement of Paris
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The 10th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the bank of the River Seine, the arrondissement contains two of Pariss six main railway stations, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de lEst. Built during the 19th century, these two termini are among the busiest in Europe, the 10th arrondissement also contains a large portion of the Canal Saint-Martin, linking the northeastern parts of Paris with the River Seine. The land area of the arrondissement is 2.892 km2, the 10th arrondissement is often referred to as lEntrepôt. Today, the arrondissement remains dense in both population and business activity, with 89,612 inhabitants and 71,962 jobs at last census in 1999. Due to its large Turkish minority, the 10th arrondissement is often called La Petite Turquie
16.
11th arrondissement of Paris
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The 11th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the Right Bank of the River Seine, the 11th is one of the most densely populated urban districts not just of Paris, the eleventh arrondissement is a varied and engaging area. The Place de la Bastille and the rue du Faubourg St Antoine are full of fashionable cafés, restaurants, and nightlife, the Oberkampf district to the north is another popular area for nightlife. The east is residential, with more wholesale commerce, while the areas around the Boulevard Voltaire. In recent years this district has emerged as one of the trendiest regions of Paris, on November 13th 2015, it was the site of coordinated shootings and bombings that left 132 dead. The land area of this arrondissement is 3.666 km2, the peak population of Pariss 11th arrondissement occurred in 1911, with 242,295 inhabitants. Today, the arrondissement remains the most densely populated in Paris, accompanied by a volume of business activity,149,102 inhabitants and 71,962 jobs in the last census. The population consists of a number of single adults, though its eastern portions are more family-oriented. There is a community spirit in most areas of the eleventh. Cirque dhiver Église Saint-Ambroise ESCP-EAP Musée Édith Piaf Musée du Fumeur 11th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage Mairie du 11e website
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20th arrondissement of Paris
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The 20th arrondissement, located on the Right Bank, is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. It contains the districts of Ménilmontant and Belleville which have welcomed many successive waves of immigration since the middle of the 19th century. Despite this, the arrondissement elected and was represented by the anti-immigration Front National politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, today, Belleville contains the second largest Chinatown in Paris. The 20th arrondissement is also known for the Père Lachaise Cemetery where one can find the tombs of many famous composers, writers, painters, musicians. The land area of this arrondissement is 5.984 km2, the population of Pariss 20th arrondissement peaked in 1936, when it had 208,115 inhabitants. Today it remains very dense in population and business activity with 182,952 inhabitants and 54,786 jobs as of the last census, parc de Belleville Père Lachaise Cemetery District of Belleville District of Ménilmontant The Directorate-General for External Security has its head office in the arrondissement. The humour publication Charlie Hebdo has its office in the arrondissement
18.
16th arrondissement of Paris
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The 16th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. It includes a concentration of museums between the Place du Trocadéro and the Place dIéna, the Bois de Boulogne, the second-largest public park in Paris, is also located in this arrondissement. The land area of this arrondissement is 16.305 km2, excluding the Bois de Boulogne, its land area is 7.846 km2. It is the largest arrondissement in Paris in terms of land area, the 16th arrondissement population peaked in 1962, when it had 227,418 inhabitants. At the last census, the population was 169,372, the 16th arrondissement contains a great deal of business activity, in 1999 it hosted 106,971 jobs. It is also the arrondissement in Paris to be divided into two separate postal codes. The southern part of the arrondissement carries a postal code of 75016, four Fortune Global 500 have their head offices in this arrondissement, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Kering, Lafarge, and Veolia. In addition Lagardère and Technip have their headquarters in this arrondissement, at one time Aérospatiale had its head office in the arrondissement. This scene was shot on Avenue dEylau in the 16th arrondissement, a notorious serial murder case, which generated an international media circus, centered in the 16th arrondissement during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. The focal point of the case was French doctor Marcel Petiot, on 11 March 1944, Petiots neighbors complained to police of a foul stench in the area and of large amounts of smoke billowing from a chimney of the house. Fearing a chimney fire, the police summoned firemen, who entered the house, in the fire, and scattered in the basement, were human remains. Following an investigation, during which time Petiot attempted to evade capture and he was convicted of 26 counts of murder and sentenced to death. On 25 May, Petiot was beheaded, after a stay of several days due to a problem in the mechanism of the guillotine. International schools, Russian Embassy School of Paris, on the grounds of the Russian Embassy in Paris, colegio Español Fecerico García Lorca, a Spanish international primary school owned by the Spanish government The Spanish secondary school, Liceo Español Luis Buñuel, is located in Neuilly sur Seine. The two campuses of the International School of Paris Kingsworth International School The Université Paris-Dauphine is in the arrondissement, the renowned classes préparatoires establishment Intégrale, Institut denseignement supérieur privé have one of their campuses in the arrondissement. The École de langue japonaise de Paris, a supplementary Japanese education programme, is held at the École Maternelle et Primaire Saint Francois dEylau in the 16th arrondissement, the school has its offices at the Association Amicale des Ressortissants Japonais en France in the 8th arrondissement. Media related to Paris 16e arrondissement at Wikimedia Commons 16th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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2nd arrondissement of Paris
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The 2nd arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. The arrondissement contains the former Paris Bourse and a number of banking headquarters, as well as a textile district, known as the Sentier. The 2nd arrondissement is also the home of most of Pariss surviving 19th-century glazed commercial arcades, at the beginning of the 19th century most of the streets of Paris were dark and muddy and lacked sidewalks. A few entrepreneurs copied the success of the Passage des Panoramas and its well-lit, dry, ¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the arrondissement was created in 1860, so we do not have figures before 1861. The French newspaper LObs has its office in the arrondissement. Bourbon has its office in the arrondissement. All Nippon Airways has its Paris Office in the arrondissement, china Airlines also has its France office in the arrondissement. Aigle Azurs registered office is in the arrondissement, in terms of state-operated schools, the second arrondissement has three nursery schools, five primary schools, and one high school. The nursery schools are École Maternelle Dussoubs, École Maternelle Saint Denis, the primary schools are École Élémentaire Beauregard, École Élémentaire Dussoubs, École Élémentaire Etienne Marcel, École Élémentaire Jussienne, and École Élémentaire Louvois. Collège César Franck is the sole state-operated high school in the arrondissement, École Élémentaire Privée Saint-Sauveur is the sole private primary school institution in the second arrondissement. 2nd arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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3rd arrondissement of Paris
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The 3rd arrondissement of Paris, situated on the right bank of the River Seine, is the smallest in area after the 2nd arrondissement. The arrondissement contains the northern, quieter part of the district of Le Marais. The oldest surviving house of Paris, built in 1407, is to be found in the 3rd arrondissement. The ancient Jewish quarter, the Pletzel which dates from the 13th century begins in the part of the 3rd arrondissement. It is home to the Musée dart et dhistoire du judaïsme, although trendy boutiques are now taking up many of the storefronts, there are still landmark stores selling traditional Jewish foods. With a land area of 1.171 km2, the 3rd arrondissement is the second smallest arrondissement in the city, the area now occupied by the third arrondissement attained its peak population in the period preceding the re-organization of Paris in 1860. In 1999, the population was 34,248, while the arrondissement hosted a total of 29,723 jobs, ¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the arrondissement was created in 1860, so we do not have figures before 1861
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1st arrondissement of Paris
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The 1st arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated principally on the bank of the River Seine, it also includes the west end of the Île de la Cité. It is the least populated of the arrondissements and one of the smallest by area, a significant part of which is occupied by the Louvre Museum. Much of the remainder of the arrondissement is dedicated to business, the 1st arrondissement is very small, with a land area of only 1,83 km2. The area now occupied by the first arrondissement attained its peak population in the preceding the re-organization of Paris in 1860. In 1999, the population was 16,888, while the arrondissement hosted 63,056 jobs, making it one of the most active for business after the 2nd, 8th, and 9th. ¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the arrondissement was created in 1860, each of the 20 Paris arrondissements is divided into four quarters. The table below lists the four quarters of the 1st arrondissement, at one time Air Inters head office was located in the first arrondissement. When Minerve, an airline, existed, its office was in the first arrondissement. In terms of state-operated schools, the first arrondissement has two schools, two primary schools, one école polyvalente, one high school, and one sixth form college. The state-operated nursery schools are École Maternelle Auxerrois and École Maternelle Sourdiere, the state-operated primary schools are École Élémentaire Arbre Sec and École Élémentaire DArgenteuil. The arrondissement has one école polyvalente, École Polyvalente Cambon, collège Jean-Baptiste Poquelin is the sole state-operated high school in the arrondissement. Lycée Professionnel Commercial Pierre Lescot is the sole state-operated sixth form college in the first arrondissement
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4th arrondissement of Paris
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The 4th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. The 4th arrondissement contains the Renaissance-era Paris City Hall, the eastern parts of the Île de la Cité as well as the Île Saint-Louis are also included within the 4th arrondissement. The 4th arrondissement is known for its streets, cafés. It is desirable for those insisting on old buildings and multi-cultural exposure, with a land area of 1.601 km2, the 4th arrondissement is the third smallest arrondissement in the city. The peak of population of the 4th arrondissement actually occurred before 1861, in 1999, the population was 30,675, while the arrondissement hosted 41,424 jobs. ¹The peak of population actually occurred before 1861, but the arrondissement was created in 1860, the Île de la Cité has been inhabited since the 1st century BC, when it was occupied by the Parisii tribe of the Gauls. The Right Bank was first settled in the early Middle Ages, since the end of the 19th century, le Marais has been populated by a significant Jewish population, the Rue des Rosiers being at the heart of its community, with a handful of kosher restaurants. Since the 1990s, gay culture has made an impact on the arrondissement, opening a number of bars and cafés in the area by the town hall
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12th arrondissement of Paris
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The 12th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. The 12th arrondissement contains the Opéra de la Bastille, the second largest opera house in Paris and it was inaugurated in 1989, on the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The Bois de Vincennes is also located in this arrondissement, the land area of this arrondissement is 16.324 km2, two-thirds of which consists of the Bois de Vincennes park. Excluding the Bois de Vincennes, its area is 6.377 km2. The peak of population of Pariss 12th arrondissement occurred in 1962 and was followed by three decades of decline, recently, however, the population has begun to grow again, since the restructuring of the 1990s. As of the last census, in 1999, the population was 136,591 inhabitants, the same census showed that the 12th arrondissement, heavily involved in business activity, contained 112,336 jobs, mainly around the new district of Bercy. The Derichebourg Group, the parent company of Servisair, has its office in the arrondissement. Foster Wheeler has its Foster Wheeler France division offices in the 12th arrondissement, lycée Paul Valéry is located in this arrondissement. Ensemble Scolaire Saint Michel de Picpus has two campuses in this arrondissmement
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Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
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7th arrondissement of Paris
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The 7th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city in France. It is also home to foreign diplomatic embassies, some of them occupying outstanding Hôtels particuliers. The arrondissement has been home to the French upper class since the 17th century, the 7th arrondissement of Paris and Neuilly-sur-Seine form the most affluent and prestigious residential area in France. The district became so fashionable within the French aristocracy that the phrase le Faubourg has been used to describe French nobility ever since. The oldest and most prestigious families of the French nobility built outstanding residences in the area, such as the Hôtel Matignon, the Hôtel de Salm, and the Hôtel Biron. After the Revolution many of these mansions, offering magnificent inner spaces, many receptions rooms, the French expression les ors de la Republique, referring to the luxurious environment of the national palaces, comes from that time. During the Restauration, the Faubourg recovered its past glory as the most exclusive high nobility district of Paris and was the heart of the country. After the Fall of Charles X, the district lost most of its political influence, during the 19th century, the arrondissement hosted no less than five Universal Exhibitions that have immensely impacted its cityscape. The Eiffel Tower and the Orsay building have been built for these Exhibitions, the land area of the arrondissement is 4.088 km². The 7th arrondissement attained its peak population in 1926 when it had 110,684 inhabitants, because it is the location of so many French government bodies, this arrondissement has never been as densely populated as some of the others. In 1999, the population was 56,985, while the arrondissement provided 76,212 jobs, the American University of Paris, a private liberal arts university, maintains several buildings near the Quai dOrsay. The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Education have their offices in the arrondissement. The arrondissement hosted the events for the 1900 Summer Olympics. 7th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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6th arrondissement of Paris
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The 6th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, France. Sulpice Church and square, the Pont des Arts and the Jardin du Luxembourg and it is a major locale for art galleries and one of the most fashionable districts of Paris as well as Paris most expensive area. The new Palace turned the neighborhood into a district for French nobility. The land area of the arrondissement is 2.154 km², in 1999, the population was 44,919 inhabitants while the arrondissement provided 43,691 jobs. Toei Animation Europe has its office in the arrondissement. The company, which opened in 2004, serves France, Germany, Italy, Spain, 6th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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5th arrondissement of Paris
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The 5th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. Situated on the bank of the River Seine, it is one of the central arrondissements of the capital. The arrondissement is notable for being the location of the Quartier Latin, a district dominated by universities, colleges, the 5th arrondissement is also one of the oldest districts of the city, dating back to ancient times. Traces of the areas past survive in such sites as the Arènes de Lutèce, a Roman amphitheatre, and the Thermes de Cluny, the 5th arrondissement covers some 2.541 km² in central Paris. The population of the arrondissement peaked in 1911 when the population density reached almost 50,000 inhabitants per km², in 1999, the population was 58,849, while 48,909 worked in the arrondissement. The Ve arrondissement is the oldest arrondissement in Paris, and was first built by the Romans. The construction of the Roman town Lutetia dates back from the 1st century BC, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research has its head office in the arrondissement. As part of the Latin Quarter, the 5th arrondissement is known for its concentration of educational
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13th arrondissement of Paris
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The 13th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. The neighborhood features a concentration of ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese businesses. The 13th arrondissement also hosts the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand and the newly built district of Paris Rive Gauche. The 13th arrondissement is still growing in population, mainly because of an influx of Asian immigrants, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first wave of Vietnamese refugees from the Vietnam War settled in the arrondissement, largely concentrated near Masséna Boulevard. Later waves of refugees and Asian immigrants transitioned from being exclusively ethnic Vietnamese to include ethnic Chinese from Vietnam and these migrants largely settled in the southern area of the arrondissement, creating an Asian quarter and establishing a commercial district and community institutions. Teochew, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer are spoken by residents in the community. At the last census in 1999, the population was 171,533, the 13th arrondissement is also rapidly growing in business activity, thanks to the new business district of Paris Rive Gauche. In 1999, the arrondissement contained 89,316 jobs, the head office of Accor, including the companys executive management, is in the Immeuble Odyssey in the 13th arrondissement. This facility is the registered office. Ubisoft has its business office in the arrondissement, the teaching and learning center is settled at the number 151. Pariss main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique, also called la Triangle de Choisy or la petite Asie, is located in the southeast of the arrondissement. The following can be found in area, Les Olympiades, Super-Italie and various other towers among the tallest in Paris Tang Frères and Paristore Asian supermarkets. Chinese community in Paris Vietnamese community in Paris 13th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage
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15th arrondissement of Paris
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The 15th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France, also called Arrondissement de Vaugirard. Situated on the Rive Gauche of the River Seine and sharing the Montparnasse district with the 6th and 14th arrondissements, the Tour Montparnasse – the tallest skyscraper in Paris – and the neighbouring Gare Montparnasse are both located in the 15th arrondissement, at its border with the 14th. It is also home to the convention center Paris expo Porte de Versailles, the loi du 16 juin 1859 decreed the annexation to Paris of the area between the old Wall of the Farmers-General and the wall of Thiers. The communes of Grenelle, Vaugirard, and Javel were incorporated into Paris in 1860, as in all the Parisian arrondissements, the fifteenth is made up of four administrative quarters. To the south, quartier Saint-Lambert occupies the site of the village of Vaugirard. The geography of the area was particularly suited to wine-making, as well as quarrying, in fact, many Parisian monuments, such as the École Militaire, were built from Vaugirard stone. The village, not yet being part of Paris, was considered by Parisians to be a suburb, pleasant for country walks or its cabarets. In 1860 Vaugirard was annexed to Paris, along with adjoining villages, to the east, quartier Necker was originally an uninhabited space between Paris and Vaugirard. The most well-known landmarks in the area are the Gare Montparnasse train station, the area around the train station has been renovated and now contains a number of office and apartment blocks, a park, and a shopping center. Finally, the contains a number of public buildings, the Lycée Buffon. To the north, quartier Grenelle was originally a village of the same name, the whole area broke off from the commune of Vaugirard in 1830, becoming the commune of Grenelle, which was in turn annexed to Paris in 1860. A century later, a number of apartment and office towers were built along the Seine, to the west, quartier Javel lies to the south of Grenelle plain. In addition, to the south of the highway, an extension of the 15th, formerly an aerodrome at the beginning of the 20th century, is now a heliport, a gym. The early airfield here has been encroached upon by development and a sports centre. The Sécurité Civile has a detachment there close to maintenance facilities, customs facilities are available and especially busy during the Salon dAeronautique airshows held at Le Bourget on the other side of the city. The land area of this arrondissement is 8.502 km2, the peak of population of Pariss 15th arrondissement occurred in 1962, when it had 250,551 inhabitants. Since then it has lost approximately one-tenth of its population, but it remains the most populous arrondissement of Paris, with 144,667 jobs at the same census, the 15th is also very dense in business activities. Musée Pasteur Musée du Service des Objets Trouvés Musée Bourdelle Musée Mendjisky specializing in school of Paris artists, Musée Jean Moulin, French Resistance – Church of Notre-Dame de la Salette in Paris Beaugrenelle Shopping Center
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Montparnasse
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Montparnasse was absorbed into the capitals 14th arrondissement in 1669. Beneath the ground are tunnels of the Catacombs of Paris, students in the 17th century who came to recite poetry in the hilly neighbourhood nicknamed it after Mount Parnassus, home to the nine Muses of arts and sciences in Greek mythology. The hill was levelled to construct the Boulevard Montparnasse in the 18th century, during the French Revolution many dance halls and cabarets opened their doors. The area is known for cafes and bars, such as the Breton restaurants specialising in crêpes located a few blocks from the Gare Montparnasse. Montparnasse became famous in the 1920s, referred to as les Années Folles, virtually penniless painters, sculptors, writers, poets and composers came from around the world to thrive in the creative atmosphere and for the cheap rent at artist communes such as La Ruche. Living without running water, in damp, unheated studios, seldom free of rats, Jean Cocteau once said that poverty was a luxury in Montparnasse. First promoted by art dealers such as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, today works by those artists sell for millions of euros, in post-World War I Paris, Montparnasse was a euphoric meeting ground for the artistic world. Fernand Léger wrote of that period, “man…relaxes and recaptures his taste for life, his frenzy to dance, manuel Ortiz de Zárate, Camilo Mori and others made their way from Chile where the profound innovations in art spawned the formation of the Grupo Montparnasse in Santiago. Montparnasse was a community where creativity was embraced with all its oddities and they became good friends, Hamnett later recounting how she once borrowed a jersey and corduroy trousers from Modigliani, then went to La Rotonde and danced in the street all night. Between 1921 and 1924, the number of Americans in Paris swelled from 6,000 to 30,000, Robert McAlmon, and Maria and Eugene Jolas came to Paris and published their literary magazine Transition. As well, Bill Bird published through his Three Mountains Press until British heiress Nancy Cunard took it over, the cafés and bars of Montparnasse were a meeting place where ideas were hatched and mulled over. The cafés at the centre of Montparnasses night-life were in the Carrefour Vavin, if they fell asleep, the waiters were instructed not to wake them. Arguments were common, some fuelled by intellect, others by alcohol, and if there were fights, and there often were, the police were never summoned. If you couldnt pay your bill, people such as La Rotondes proprietor, Victor Libion, as such, there were times when the cafés walls were littered with a collection of artworks, that today would make the curators of the worlds greatest museums drool with envy. There were many areas where the great artists congregated, one of them being near Le Dôme at no.10 rue Delambre called the Dingo Bar. When Man Rays friend and Dadaist, Marcel Duchamp, left for New York and this is where his career as a photographer began, and where James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau and the others filed in and posed in black and white. The rue de la Gaité in Montparnasse was the site of many of the great music-hall theatres, on their stages, using then-popular single name pseudonyms or one birth name only, Damia, Kiki, Mayol and Georgius, sang and performed to packed houses. And here too, Les Six was formed, creating music based on the ideas of Erik Satie and that could not be seen in my town
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Train station
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A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
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Gare Montparnasse
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Gare Montparnasse is one of the six large Paris railway termini, in the 14th arrondissement and 15th arrondissement of Paris. It was opened in 1840, rebuilt in 1852, and then rebuilt completely further south in 1969, a steam train crashed through the station in 1895, there is a well-known photograph of the event, and full scale reproductions outside a museum chain in South America. There is also a metro station, the station opened in 1840 as Gare de lOuest, later being renamed. A second station was built between 1848 and 1852, during the 1960s, a newer station integrated into a complex of office buildings was built. In 1969, the old station was torn down and the Tour Montparnasse built on its site, an extension was built in 1990 to host the TGV Atlantique. The Gare Montparnasse became famous for the derailment on October 22,1895, of the Granville–Paris Express, two of the 131 passengers sustained injuries, along with the fireman and two conductors. The only fatality was a woman on the street below, Marie-Augustine Aguilard and she was killed by falling masonry. The railway company paid for her funeral and provided a pension to look after her two children. The accident was caused by a faulty Westinghouse brake and the engine driver, a conductor was given a 25-franc fine and the engine driver a 50-franc fine. Replicas of the crash are recreated outside the Mundo a Vapor museum chain buildings in Brazil, in the southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. The station is served by suburban trains heading to the west and south-west of Paris. Satellite image from Google Maps Mundo a Vapor Museum The Brazilian museum which contains the 1895 derailment accident replica
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Bretons
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The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brittonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain including Cornwall to avoid the invading Germanic peoples and they also descend from the Gauls and in some parts from Vikings. They migrated in waves from the third to ninth century into Armorica, the main traditional language of Brittany is Breton, spoken in Lower Brittany. Today, Breton is spoken by less than 200,000 people, the other principal minority language of Brittany is Gallo, Gallo is spoken only in Upper Brittany, where Breton is less dominant. As one of the Brittonic languages, Breton is related closely to Cornish and more distantly to Welsh, currently, most Bretons native language is standard French. Brittany and its people are counted as one of the six Celtic nations, ethnically, along with the Cornish and Welsh, the Bretons are Celtic Britons. The actual number of ethnic Bretons in Brittany and France as a whole is difficult to assess as the government of France does not collect statistics on ethnicity, the population of Brittany, as of a January 2007 estimate, was 4,365,500. It is said that, in 1914, over 1 million people spoke Breton west of the boundary between Breton and Gallo-speaking regions – roughly 90% of the population of the half of Brittany. In 1945, it was about 75%, and today, in all of Brittany, Brittany has a population of roughly 4 million, including the department of Loire-Atlantique, which the Vichy government separated from historical Brittany in 1941. Three-quarters of the estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Breton speakers using Breton as an everyday language today are over the age of 65, many Breton families have also emigrated to the Americas, predominantly to Canada and the United States. In the late century, large numbers of British auxiliary troops in the Roman army may have been stationed in Armorica. The ninth-century Historia Brittonum states that the emperor Magnus Maximus, who withdrew Roman forces from Britain, nennius and Gildas mention a second wave of Britons settling in Armorica in the following century to escape the invading Anglo-Saxons and Scoti. Modern archaeology also supports a two-wave migration and it is generally accepted that the Brittonic speakers who arrived gave the region its current name as well as the Breton language, Brezhoneg, a sister language to Welsh and Cornish. The Bretons are known for their participation in the Hunt of the Apple of Eden and this took place between 400 and 600 AD. These legends were discovered in Poullia in Italy but have unfortunately been marked as improvable history, as in Cornwall, many Breton towns are named after these early saints. The Irish saint Columbanus was also active in Brittany and is commemorated accordingly at Saint-Columban in Carnac, in the Early Middle Ages, Brittany was divided into three kingdoms — Domnonia, Cornouaille, and Bro Waroch — which eventually were incorporated into the Duchy of Brittany. The first two kingdoms seem to derive their names from the homelands of the tribes in Britain. Neither language has official status under French law, however, some still use Breton as an everyday language, in modern times, a number of schools and colleges have emerged with the aim of providing Breton-medium education or bilingual Breton/French education
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Parc Montsouris
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Parc Montsouris is a public park in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, at the southern edge of Paris directly south of the center. The park is 15.5 hectares in area, and is designed as an English landscape garden, the Park contains a lake, a cascade, wide sloping lawns, and many notable varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers. It is also home to a station, a cafe. The roads of the park are popular with joggers on weekends. The Cité Universitaire stop on the line on the RER B is located in the center of Parc Montsouris, moque-Souris was a common name for windmills in France at the time, it was a facetious name, suggesting that the miller dared the mice to find any grain inside. The name over time changed from moque-souris to montsouris and this was the team which together made the Bois de Boulogne, the Bois de Vincennes, and the other great landscape parks of the Second Empire. The project was decided in 1865, but construction did not actually begin until 1867, the purpose of the park, according to Alphand, was to bring life and movement to the center of a quarter until then left to isolation and abandon. Unlike the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, the site for the park did not have any trees or other vegetation. It was largely occupied by a stone quarry, and to make the work more complicated, it was above a network of tunnels of abandoned mines. These tunnels were part of the ossuary of Paris, popularly known as the catacombs of Paris, before construction of the park could begin, some eight hundred skeletons were removed from the tunnels. The work was complicated by the track of the railroad line which circled Paris. Despite these difficulties, the work went ahead briskly, a one-hectare artificial lake was dug, fed by an artificial stream that passed over an artificial cascade made of rocks and cement. Stairways were constructed up the hills, with rustic-looking railings made of cement formed to resemble logs, winding roads and paths were built throughout the park. Davioud designed and built picturesque gatehouses, pavilions, a theater, bandstand, barillet-Deschamps planted hundreds of trees and bushes, and laid out sloping lawns and flowerbeds. Every feature of the park was designed to create a natural landscape. The park was dedicated in 1869, but work on the park continued until 1878. According to a legend, on the day of the park official opening someone made a mistake with the plumbing. According to the legend, the engineer was so distraught that he committed suicide
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Metropolitan France
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Metropolitan France, also known as European France, is the part of France in Europe. It comprises mainland France and nearby islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, Overseas France is the collective name for the part of France outside Europe, French overseas regions, territories, collectivities, and the sui generis collectivity of New Caledonia. Metropolitan France and Overseas France together form the French Republic, Metropolitan France accounts for 82. 2% of the land territory,3. 3% of the exclusive economic zone, and 95. 9% of the population of the French Republic. The five overseas regions—Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, French Guiana, in overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often called a métro, short for métropolitain. Similar terms existed to describe other European colonial powers and this usage of the words metropolis and metropolitan itself came from Ancient Greek metropolis, which was the name for a city-state from which originated colonies across the Mediterranean. By extension metropolis and metropolitan came to mean motherland, a nation or country as opposed to its colonies overseas, today there are some people in overseas France who object to the use of the term la France métropolitaine due to its colonial origins. They prefer to call it the European territory of France, as the Treaties of the European Union do, likewise, they oppose treating overseas France and metropolitan France as separate entities. As a result, since the end of the 1990s INSEE has included the five departments in its figures for France. Other branches of the French administration may have different definitions of what la France entière is, the World Bank refers to this as France only, and not the whole of France as INSEE does. According to the French government,64,860,000 people lived in metropolitan France as of January 2017, Metropolitan France covers a land area of 551,695 km². At sea, the economic zone of metropolitan France covers 334,604 km², while the EEZ of overseas France covers 9,821,231 km². In the second round of the 2007 French presidential election,37,342,004 French people cast a ballot. 35,907,015 of these cast their ballots in metropolitan France,1,088,679 cast their ballots in overseas France, and 346,310 cast their ballots in foreign countries. The French National Assembly is made up of 577 deputies,539 of whom are elected in metropolitan France,27 in overseas France, and 11 by French citizens living in foreign countries. Mainland France, or just the mainland, does not include the French islands in the Atlantic Ocean, English Channel or Mediterranean Sea, in Corsica, people from the mainland part of Metropolitan France are referred to as les continentaux. A casual synonym for the part of Metropolitan France is lHexagone, for its approximate shape. French colonial empire Mainland Wildlife of Metropolitan France
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Overseas France
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Overseas France consists of all the French-administered territories outside of the European continent. Their citizens have French nationality and vote for the president of France and they have the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament. From a legal and administrative standpoint, overseas regions are different from overseas collectivities. Overseas regions have exactly the same status as mainland Frances regions, in the French overseas regions, laws cannot be adapted whereas the overseas collectivities are empowered to make their own laws, except in certain areas. The overseas collectivities are governed by elected assemblies and by the French Parliament. Overseas France has an economic zone of 9,821,231 km². Guadeloupe French Guiana Martinique Réunion Mayotte 1976–2003, sui generis overseas territory, 2001–2003, with the designation departmental community, 2003–2011, in the 2009 Mahoran status referendum, Mahorans voted to become an overseas department in 2011, which occurred on March 31,2011. The category of overseas collectivity was created by Frances constitutional reform of March 28,2003, each overseas collectivity has its own statutory laws. French Polynesia In 2004 it was given the designation of overseas country, despite being given the political status of overseas collectivity, Saint Pierre et Miquelon is called collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, literally territorial collectivity. It is still referred to as a territoire. Saint Martin, In 2003, the populations of St. Martin, on February 7,2007, the French Parliament passed a bill granting COM status to both jurisdictions. The new status took effect on February 22,2007 when the law was published in the Journal Officiel and they remain part of the European Union, as stated in the Treaty of Lisbon. It is currently the only overseas territory, according to law 2007-224 of February 21,2007, the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean constitute the 5th district of TAAF. New Caledonia was classified as an overseas territory beginning in 1946, a New Caledonian citizenship was established, and a gradual transfer of power from the French state to New Caledonia itself was begun, to last from 15 to 20 years. Clipperton Island is a 9 km2 coral atoll located 1,280 km south-west of Acapulco, Mexico and it is held as state private property under the direct authority of the French government, and is administered by Frances Overseas Minister. With 2,691,000 inhabitants in 2013, Overseas France account for 4. 1% of the population of the French Republic and they enjoy a corresponding representation in the two chambers of the French Parliament. In the 13th Legislature, Overseas France is represented by 27 députés in the French National Assembly,2004, Official website Overseas France at DMOZ
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1995 enlargement of the European Union
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The 1995 enlargement of the European Union saw Austria, Finland and Sweden accede to the European Union. This was the EUs fourth enlargement and came into effect on the 1 January of that year, all these states were previous members of the European Free Trade Association and had traditionally been less interested in joining the EU than other European countries. Norway had negotiated to join alongside the three but following the signing of the treaty, membership was turned down by the Norwegian electorate in the 1994 national referendum. Switzerland also applied for membership on 26 May 1992, but withdrew it after a referendum result on 6 December 1992. After the 1970s Europe experienced a downturn led to leaders launching of the Single European Act which set to create a single market by 1992. The effect of this was that EFTA states found it harder to export to the EEC, EFTA states began to discuss closer links with the EEC despite its domestic unpopularity. Finally, Austria, Finland and Sweden were neutral in the Cold War so membership of an organisation developing a common foreign, as that obstacle was removed, the desire to pursue membership grew stronger. However membership was still unpopular and the then-EEC was also uninterested in another enlargement. The EEC had begun working on the creation of a common currency, commission President Jacques Delors proposed the European Economic Area to give EFTA access to the EUs internal market without full membership. While they would not have a say in the creation of EU law, however businesses did not accept that the EEA members would be equal members of the single market and investment flows did not return to normal. The large manufacturers in Sweden were instrumental in pushing government policy further towards membership rather than remaining with the EEA, the economic pressures overcame long standing opposition from the social democrat governments which saw the EU as too neo-liberal and a danger to Nordic capitalism. Firms were only kept within Sweden by devaluations of the Swedish krona, the EEA was damaged further with the Swiss electorate voted against it. Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden all applied for membership of the EU. On 30 March 1994, accession negotiations concluded with Austria, Sweden, Finland and their accession treaties were signed on 25 June of that year. Sweden held their elections to the European Parliament for its MEPs later that year on 17 September, the following year, Austria held its elections on 13 October and Finland on 20 October. The impact of the 1995 enlargement was smaller than most as the members were wealthy, as net contributors to the EU budget, they also increased the voice for budgetary reform. Before the 1995 enlargement, the EU had ten treaty languages, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese, however, due to the 1995 enlargement, two new official languages were added, Swedish and Finnish. This resulted in the increase in the minority in the Council
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Pied-Noir
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French Algeria began in 1827 with the blockade of Algiers by the French navy and lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an part of France. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest of French North Africa, was never considered part of France, one of Frances longest-held overseas territories, Algeria became a destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants, known as colons and later, as pieds-noirs. However, indigenous Muslims remained a majority of the population throughout its history. Gradually, dissatisfaction among the Muslim population with its lack of political and economic status fueled calls for political autonomy. Tensions between the two groups came to a head in 1954, when the first violent events of what was later called the Algerian War began. The war concluded in 1962, when Algeria gained complete independence following the March 1962 Evian agreements, since the 1516 capture of Algiers by the Ottoman admirals, the brothers Oruç and Hayreddin Barbarossa, Algeria had been a base for conflict and piracy in the Mediterranean. In 1681, Louis XIV asked Admiral Abraham Duquesne to fight the Berber pirates, again, dEstrées bombarded Tripoli and Algiers from 1685 to 1688. An ambassador from Algiers visited the Court in Versailles, and a Treaty was signed in 1690 that provided peace throughout the 18th century, however, Bonaparte refused to pay the bill back, claiming it was excessive. In 1820, Louis XVIII paid back half of the Directorys debts, the dey, who had loaned to the Bacri 250,000 francs, requested from France the rest of the money. The Dey of Algiers himself was politically, economically. Algeria was then part of the Barbary States, along with todays Tunisia – which depended on the Ottoman Empire then led by Mahmud II —, the Barbary Coast was then the stronghold of the Berber pirates, which carried out raids against European and American ships. Conflicts between the Barbary States and the newly independent United States of America culminated in the First, an Anglo-Dutch force, led by Admiral Lord Exmouth, carried out a punitive expedition, the August 1816 bombardment of Algiers. The Dey was forced to sign the Barbary treaties, while the advance of U. S. British. The name of Algeria itself came from the French and his intention was to bolster patriotic sentiment, and distract attention from ineptly handled domestic policies by skirmishing against the dey. In the 1790s, France had contracted to purchase wheat for the French army from two merchants in Algiers, Messrs, Bacri and Boushnak, and was in arrears paying them. These merchants, Bacri and Boushnak who had debts to the dey, devals nephew Alexandre, the consul in Bône, further angered the dey by fortifying French storehouses in Bône and La Calle against the terms of prior agreements. After a contentious meeting in which Deval refused to provide answers on 29 April 1827
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Maghreb
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The Maghreb, or the Greater Maghreb, is usually defined as much or most of the region of western North Africa or Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. Historical terms for the region or various portions of the Maghreb include Mauretania, Numidia, Libya, the term maghrib is Arabic for west, from the verb gharaba. In the strict sense, the definite form al-maghrib denotes the country of Morocco in particular and it identified the westernmost territories that fell to the Islamic conquests of the 7th century. Today, it is a noun for the present region of the Maghreb. The Berber languages alternative term for the region, Tamazgha, has been popularized by Berber activists since the second half of the 20th century. As recently as the late 19th century it was used to refer to the Western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general, and to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in particular. The region was unified as an independent political entity during the rule of the Berber kingdom of Numidia. The most enduring rule was that of the local Berber empires of the Almoravids, Almohads, Hammadids, Zirids, Marinids, Saadi, the Ottoman Turks ruled the region as well. Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya established the Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and it was envisioned initially by Muammar Gaddafi as a superstate. The union included Western Sahara implicitly under Moroccos membership, putting Moroccos long cold war with Algeria to a rest, however, this progress was short-lived, and the union is now frozen. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged strongly, reinforced by the unsolved borderline issue between the two countries and these two main conflicts have hindered progress on the unions joint goals and practically made it inactive as a whole. Around 3,500 BC a tilt in the Earths orbit created a rapid desertification of the Sahara, the Maghreb or western North Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since from at least 10,000 BC. Maghreb coast ports were predominantly occupied or constructed by the Phoenicians, the main Phoenician settlements centered in the Gulf of Tunis along the North African littoral between the Pillars of Hercules and the Libyan coast east of ancient Cyrenaica. They dominated the trade and intercourse of the Western Mediterranean for centuries, Rome was greatly helped by the defection of King Massinissa and Carthaginians eastern Numidian Massylii client-allies. A century later, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent a force under General Belisarius that succeeded in destroying the Vandal kingdom, the Berbers contested outside-the-area control although after the 640s-700 AD period the Arabs controlled the entire region. The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times, Arab expansion and the spread of Islam pushed the development of trans-Saharan trade. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable, commodities traded included such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak, various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia, were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favour of their own interpretation of Islam
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SNCF
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SNCF is Frances national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the national rail services, including the TGV. Its functions include operation of services for passengers and freight. SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe, the railway network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km are high-speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily, since July 2013, SNCF headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2, place aux Étoiles,93200 Saint Denis. In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list and it is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had €27.2 billion of sales in 120 countries. The chairman of the SNCF group is Guillaume Pépy, SNCF operates almost all of Frances railway system, including the TGV, In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the worlds fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, today, SNCF operates 1,850 km of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year, TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.8 km/h. SNCF has a safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has experienced one fatal accident. SNCF also owns the tracks and the stations, since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services, SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, Voyages SNCF. SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting and those projects include, Israel, Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of operations including projects to upgrade the networks general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division, SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members, on behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre
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Ministry of Justice (France)
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The Ministry of Justice is controlled by the French Minister of Justice - Keeper of the Seals, a top-level cabinet position in the French Government. The current Minister of Justice is Jean-Jacques Urvoas, the ministry is headquartered in Paris. The Minister of Justice also holds the office of Keeper of the Seals and. This symbolic role is shown in the order of words of the ministers official designation, Keeper of Seals
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Agency for French Education Abroad
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The AEFE has 470 schools in its worldwide network, with French as the primary language of instruction in most schools. The AEFE head office is in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, schools are either directly managed, contracted or accredited. The schools provide an education leading to a baccalauréat, and students have access to all other French schools at their own educational level, in addition, the schools have a curriculum linked to the individual countries in which they are established. The Lycée Français La Pérouse and the International School of the Peninsula in San Francisco, for example, includes American History and English Literature in its program. Students from this school are qualified to enter an American school at or above their grade level, schools are located throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Most of their pupils are children of French expatriates but they include many regular pupils attracted by the quality of schooling provided. In any given year, around 160,000 students study in these schools. While there are no guidelines for naming schools in the AEFE network. A school that follows the French curriculum through secondary school is named a Lycée Français. Schools that combine the local and French curricula are often called French-American or Franco-Mexicain schools, schools that offer the International Baccalaureate are often called International School or Lycée International. R. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010, archived from the original on 2007-01-17. CS1 maint, BOT, original-url status unknown
14th arrondissement travel guide from Wikivoyage