Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
The Netherlands has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956, has missed only four contests so far. The Netherlands hosted the contest in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980; the Netherlands has won the contest four times, with Corry Brokken in 1957, Teddy Scholten in 1959, Lenny Kuhr in a four-way tie in 1969 and Teach-In in 1975, finished last in 1958, 1962, 1963, 1968, last in the semifinal in 2011. The Netherlands finished fourth with Sandra & Andres, third with Mouth & MacNeal, fifth with Maggie MacNeal, fifth with Marcha and fourth with Edsilia Rombley. After the introduction of the semifinals in 2004, the Netherlands failed to reach the final for eight years in a row from 2005 to 2012, but have since reached five of the last six finals. By finishing second in 2014, The Common Linnets gave the Netherlands its tenth top five placement and best result since 1975; the Netherlands, presented in the contest as The Netherlands, has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries competing in the first contest in 1956.
It has missed only four contests so far. The preselection process was done through the Nationaal Songfestival, with the winner qualifying to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest; the Netherlands has won the contest four times. With four victories, the Netherlands ranks in the top 10 most successful Eurovision countries; the country's first two victories came in the 1950s, with Corry Brokken in 1957 and Teddy Scholten in 1959. The 1960s was a unsuccessful decade for the country, the exception was in 1969, when Lenny Kuhr won a third title for the Dutch with "De Troubadour", winning in a four-way tie with France and the UK. Sandra & Andres finished fourth in 1972 and Mouth & MacNeal were third in 1974, before Teach-In achieved the Netherlands fourth victory in 1975 with Ding-A-Dong; the Netherlands best result of the 1980s was fifth, achieved by both Maggie MacNeal in 1980 and Marcha in 1987. In the 1990s, Ruth Jacott, with sixth place in 1993 and Edsilia Rombley, with fourth in 1998, achieved the Netherlands best results of the decade.
The Netherlands have finished last in the contest final on four occasions, in 1958, 1962, 1963 and 1968. They finished last in the semi-final in 2011. Since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004, the Netherlands has reached the final on six occasions, failing to reach the final for eight years in a row, from 2005–2012. Opting for an internal selection has fared well for the Netherlands since 2013, when Anouk became the first Dutch entry in nine years to qualify for the final, where she finished ninth. In 2014, another internal selection proved to be a success, when country duo The Common Linnets, made up of members Ilse DeLange and Waylon, became the Netherlands' most successful entry since 1975, placing second; the Netherlands once again qualified for the final in 2016 and 2017, finishing 11th both times, in 2018, finishing 18th. The Netherlands has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest four times: in 1958, 1970, 1976 and 1980; the first three times were after winning the previous year, while the 1980 contest was staged in the Netherlands, after Israel declined to organise the event for a second consecutive year.
The Netherlands had declined the right to organise the 1960 contest, as they had hosted the event just two years previously. The Netherlands has missed only four contests in its Eurovision history; the first one was at the 1985 contest, held in Sweden. The contest, held on 4 May conflicted with the Dutch Remembrance of the Dead and therefore the Netherlands withdrew. In 1991 the contest was again held on 4 May, so the Netherlands withdrew for the same reason as six years earlier. There was no Dutch participation in the 1995 and 2002 contests, due to relegation as a result of the country's poor showings in the previous year; the Netherlands did compete in 2000. But at 22:00 on Saturday 13 May, the broadcast was cancelled because of the Enschede fireworks disaster which happened a few hours before; the points awarded by the Netherlands were taken from the back-up jury vote, as there was no televote after the program was cut short. Table key NOTE: The full results for the first contest are unknown, only the winner was announced.
The official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. As of 2018, Netherlands' voting history is as follows: Artistic Award Voted by previous winners Voted by commentators Composer Award Over the years NOS/TROS commentary has been provided by several experienced radio and television presenters, including Willem Duys, Ivo Niehe, Pim Jacobs, Ati Dijckmeester and Paul de Leeuw. Willem van Beusekom provided NOS TV commentary every year from 1987 until 2005. However, on November 7, 2005 it was announced that Van Beusekom would quit his role as Dutch commentator saying "It's good to step back", he was replaced by his co-commentator Cornald Maas who commentated on the contest from 2004 until 2010. On June 29, 2010 Maas was sacked as commentator after putting insults on Twitter about Sieneke, Joran van der Sloot and the Party for Freedom. After this, DJ Daniël Dekker, commentating next to Maas, took over together with Jan Smit. In 2014, Maas returned, now himself replacing Dekker, as commentator together with Smit.
^ Douwe Bob, Dutch representative in the 2016 Contest, was the second dual commentator for the second semi-final. All conductors are Dutch except those marked with a flag. Fernando Paggi Dolf van der Linden (musi
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, following Lordi's win at the 2006 contest in Athens, Greece with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah"; the contest was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May, staged by host broadcaster Yle. A budget of €13 million was presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from Espoo and Tampere; the hosts were Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and Finnish musician, stage performer and actor Mikko Leppilampi. Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, reported from the crowds at the Senate Square. A record number of 42 countries participated; the European Broadcasting Union put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme. The winner was Serbia. After Lordi scored the first Eurovision victory with a hard rock song, several countries sent rock songs to the Contest rather than the soft pop and schlager styles more associated with Eurovision.
This trend continued at the 2009 Contests. Cyprus and Latvia entered songs in languages other than English. Although this happened with the Belgium 2003 entry, this was the first time the contest featured countries doing this with actual languages as opposed to an imaginary one. On 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position; the heads of delegation chose the number they would take. In the semi-final, Andorra, Turkey and Latvia were able to choose their positions. In the final, Armenia and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the second half of both evenings. Shortly after the draw, the entries were approved by the EBU, ending the possibility of disqualification for the Israeli song; the United Kingdom chose their entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU.
The contest saw some minor changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice; the voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five minutes on the 2006 Contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany; the tour was held between 21 May. The event was sponsored by European communications group TeliaSonera, — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare. Apocalyptica were the interval act, played a medley of songs: Worlds Collide and Life Burns!, but without the usual lyrics. The official logo of the contest remained the same as 2006; the European Broadcasting Union and YLE announced that the theme for the 2007 contest would be "True Fantasy", which embraced Finland and "Finnishness" in terms of the polarities associated with the country.
The design agency Dog Design was responsible for the design of the visual theme of the contest which incorporated vibrant kaleidoscopic patterns formed from various symbols including exclamation marks and the letter F. The stage was in the shape of a traditional Finnish instrument. On 20 February 2007 a reworked official website for the contest was launched marking the first public exhibition of this year's theme. An official CD and DVD were released. An official fan book was released; the themes of the postcards were short stories happening in different Finnish places. Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU. 42 countries submitted preliminary applications. Although in previous years the maximum number of participating countries was 40, the EBU allowed all 42 to participate in 2007; the Czech Republic, Serbia and Georgia all entered the contest for the first time in 2007. Monaco announced its withdrawal on 12 December 2006, the EBU announced the final lineup of 42 countries on 15 December 2006.
Evridiki returned to represent Cyprus, having represented the nation in 1992 and 1994. Eiríkur Hauksson represented Iceland in 1986 as part of the vocal trio ICY and he represented Norway in 1991 as part of the group Just 4 Fun. Karolina Gočeva represented Macedonia in 2002. Edsilia Rombley represented the Netherlands in 1998; the semi-final was held on 10 May 2007 at 21:00. 28 countries performed and all 42 participants voted. Countries qualified. Notes 1.^ Contained some words in French and Spanish. 2.^ Although the song was performed in English, the title and sentence in the lyrics "Ven a bailar conmigo" is in Spanish. The finalists were: the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany and the United Kingdom; the final was won by Serbia. Notes 3.^ Contained some words in English. 4.^ Song is in english but the title is in Greek. All countries participating in the contest were required to use televoting and/or S
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since its debut at the 1964 contest. Since it has missed five contests; the contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Portugal hosted the 2018 contest in Lisbon. Portugal finished last on its debut in 1964 and again in 1974, before achieving its best result of the 20th century in 1996, with Lúcia Moniz finishing sixth; the country finished last for the third time in 1997. Having not appeared in the final since 2010 and as holders of the record for most appearances in the contest without a win, Portugal won at the 49th attempt, when Salvador Sobral won the 2017 contest with the song "Amar Pelos Dois", Portugal's first top five result in the contest; as hosts in 2018, the country finished last in the contest for the fourth time. Portugal's debut entry was António Calvário with "Oração", it was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since Portugal has come last on three further occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang "E depois do adeus", in 1997, when Célia Lawson performed "Antes do adeus" and in 2018 as a host country.
Despite its last-place finish in the contest, "E depois do adeus" gained notability for being used as the radio musical signal to begin the Carnation Revolution against the Estado Novo regime, being played at 22:55 on the 24th of April, 1974. Prior to their sixth-place finish for Lúcia Moniz, with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" in 1996, Portugal's best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980. Despite having some weak results, the 90s were the most successful decade for the country, reaching the top 10 four times. Portugal refused, its place was taken by Latvia both times. Since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song "Senhora do Mar," Portugal's best outcome since 1996; the country continued to be present in the final until 2010. In 2017, Portugal reached the finals with Salvador Sobral's entry, "Amar pelos dois", ending a 6-year non-appearance in the finals, as it did not participate in the contest in 2013 and 2016 and did not qualify for the finals in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 winning the contest for the first time earning 758 points, setting the record for the highest number of points in the history of the competition, topping both the televoting and jury voting for the first time since Austria's "Rise Like a Phoenix" in 2014.
It was the first winning song performed in a country's native language since Serbia's "Molitva" in 2007. In 2018, as a host country, Portugal came last for the fourth time in the contest, for the first time in a non-joint last position; this was the third instance of a host country coming in the bottom 5 since 2015. Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation; the country's first absence was in 1970, where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner. Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor average results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, was replaced by eventual winner Latvia; the fourth absence was in 2013. The fifth absence was in 2016. RTP mentioned that this break was needed, so that the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest had its contents renewed. In three of these five years when Portugal was absent, the contest was held in Sweden.
Festival da Canção is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, is held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods. A number of regional juries selected the winner, however the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009, 2010, 2017, 2018 and 2019 a 50-50 system between district juries and televote has been used. In the years when Portugal does not participate in the contest, the Festival da Canção was not held, except in two occasions: in 1970, when Portugal boycotted the contest, in 2000. Table key NOTES As of 2018, Portugal's voting history is as follows: Press Award Artistic Award Composer Award All conductors are Portuguese except those marked with a flag. In the late 1990s the English actor and comedian Steve Coogan created the character "Tony Ferrino" for his television comedy series. "Tony Ferrino" is a Portuguese singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. The BBC produced a one-off programme The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon in 1997.
Portugal in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – Junior version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Portugal in the Eurovision Dance Contest – Dance version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Portugal in the Eurovision Young Dancers – A competition organised by the EBU for younger dancers aged between 16 and 21. Portugal in the Eurovision Young Musicians – A competition organised by the EBU for musicians aged 18 years and younger. Points to and from Portugal eurovisioncovers.co.uk
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations starring unknown individuals rather than professional actors. Reality television came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global successes of the series Survivor and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen. Competition-based reality shows feature gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges or by the viewership of the show. Documentaries, television news, sports television, talk shows, traditional game shows are not classified as reality television; some genres of television programming that predate the reality television boom are retroactively labeled reality television, including hidden camera shows, talent-search shows, documentary series about ordinary people, high-concept game shows, home improvement shows, court shows featuring real-life cases.
Reality television has faced significant criticism since its rise in popularity. Critics argue reality television shows do not reflect reality, in ways both implicit, deceptive; some have been accused of underdog to win. Other criticisms of reality television shows include that they are intended to humiliate or exploit participants. Television formats portraying ordinary people in unscripted situations are as old as the television medium itself. Producer-host Allen Funt's Candid Camera, in which unsuspecting people were confronted with funny, unusual situations and filmed with hidden cameras, first aired in 1948, is seen as a prototype of reality television programming. Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the late 1940s. Queen for a Day was an early example of reality-based television; the 1946 television game show Carry sometimes featured contestants performing stunts. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera show Candid Camera broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks.
In 1948, talent search shows Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts featured amateur competitors and audience voting. In the 1950s, game shows Beat the Clock and Truth or Consequences involved contestants in wacky competitions and practical jokes. Confession was a crime/police show which aired from June 1958 to January 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds; the radio series Nightwatch tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers. The series You Asked for It incorporated audience involvement by basing episodes around requests sent in by postcard from viewers. "You're Another", a science fiction short story by American writer Damon Knight, first appeared in the June 1955 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and contains the earliest fictional depiction of what is now called reality television. First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television documentary Seven Up!, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary 7-year-olds from a broad cross-section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life.
Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled the Up Series, episodes include "7 Plus Seven", "21 Up", etc.. The program was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities; the first reality show in the modern sense may have been the series The American Sportsman, which ran from 1965 to 1986 on ABC in the United States. A typical episode featured one or more celebrities, sometimes their family members, being accompanied by a camera crew on an outdoor adventure, such as hunting, hiking, scuba diving, rock climbing, wildlife photography, horseback riding, race car driving, the like, with most of the resulting action and dialogue being unscripted, except for the narration. In the 1966 Direct Cinema film Chelsea Girls, Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given; the 12-part 1973 PBS series An American Family showed a nuclear family going through a divorce.
In 1974 a counterpart program, The Family, was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris: The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, The Gong Show, all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition; the 1976-1980 BBC series The Big Time showed, in each of its 15 episodes, a different amateur in some field trying to succeed professionally in that field, with help from notable experts. The series is credited with starting the career of Sheena Easton, selected to appear in the episode showing an aspiring pop singer trying to enter the music business. In 1978, Living in the Past recreated life in an
Gisela (singer)
Gisela Lladó Cánovas is a Spanish pop singer and a Spanish dub actress. She was born in El Bruc, in Catalonia and became famous after placing eighth in the first Spanish edition of Operación Triunfo. Before she was a journalism student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, she is known for representing Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, failing to reach the final. Her first album, Parte De Mí, came out in Spain in 2002; that year she performed at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn as a backing singer for her friend Rosa López. In 2003, she won the award for best voice in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival and she won the competition with the song Este Amor Es Tuyo, her second album in 2003, Más Allá has five singles, including Más Allá, the No.1 Sola and Amor Divino. In 2003, her version of Irene Cara's "What a Feeling" was included in an advert in the United Kingdom, her third album, Ni te lo imaginas, came out under a new record label. There were four singles off the album, the first and the third becoming Gisela's most successful so far in her career.
The first was Turu-Turu, a pop ballad reaching No.1 in Spain on its second week. Filmax released a Special Edition version of the album, including two new songs, the first called Mi mundo eres tú and the second, Viviré en tus sueños, she has performed regional voice roles for the Disney movies Peter Pan 2, Beauty and the Beast, the singing voice of Erika in Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, the singing voice of Giselle in Enchanted in both Castilian Spanish and Catalan, the singing voice of Elsa in Frozen in Castilian Spanish and Catalan. She was in The Hairy Tooth Fairy 1 and 2, the White Gorilla and Serie B, in Castilian Spanish. 2002-2003 - Peter Pan, el musical 2004-2006 - El diluvio que viene 2007-2008 - Boscos Endins 2008-2009 - Aloma 2009-2010 - Grease 2010-2011 - 40 Principales: El musical 2011-2013 - Érase una vez el musical / Un mundo mágico / El reino encantado 2012-2013 - Esta noche no estoy para nadie 2013-presente - Gisela y el libro mágico 2017 - La Bella Helena 2017 - Nit de musicals Gisela was confirmed as the Andorran representative to perform in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Casanova".
The song failed to reach the final. Official website
Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Poland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 21 times since its debut in 1994. Although Poland did not become a member of the European Broadcasting Union until 1993, earlier contests had been broadcast on Telewizja Polska, the Polish broadcaster. Poland's debut in the contest in 1994 remains its most successful entry, with Edyta Górniak finishing second; this remains Poland's only top five result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for the second time with Ich Troje finishing seventh in 2003. Poland failed to qualify from the semi-finals in six out of seven years between 2005 and 2011, before withdrawing from the contest in 2012 and 2013. Since returning in 2014, Poland had qualified for the final for four consecutive years, achieving a third top ten finish in 2016, with Michał Szpak finishing eighth; the country failed to qualify for the final for the seventh time in 2018. The first performance by Poland was at the 1994 contest: Edyta Górniak's song was by far the most successful for Poland to date, receiving 166 points and placing second.
Poland was disqualified that year though. Six national delegations formally petitioned for Poland to be disqualified; the Polish entry for the 1995 contest was again selected through internally was Justyna Steczkowska with "Sama". Steczkowska could not replicate Górniak's 2nd place, placing 18th; the 1996 entry was Kasia Kowalska with "Chcę znać swój grzech...". Song was placing 15th with 31 points. Poland competed in the 1997 competition with the song "Ale jestem", was the first uptempo Polish entry, performed by Anna Maria Jopek. At the close of voting, it had received 54 points, placing 11th in a field of 25. In 1998 Poland was represented by band Sixteen they performed the song "To Takie Proste" in the final of the competition, finishing 17th of 25 entrants. in 1999 Mietek Szcześniak represented Poland with the song "Przytul mnie mocno",he was the first man who represented his country. He placed 18th with 17 points. Poland returned to Eurovision following an enforced one-year absence 2002. For the 2003 contest Poland organized its first public selection for Eurovision entry.
This placing allowed Poland to skip the semi-final of the 2004 contest, automatically qualifying for the final. The Polish entry for the 2004 contest was again selected through National Final, the winner of Krajowe Eliminacje was Blue Café with "Love Song". Group could not replicate Ich Troje's 7th place, placing 17th. In 2005 TVP went back to an internal selection, picking "Czarna dziewczyna", a multilingual song performed in Polish and Russian. Poland competed first time at the semi-final; the song just missed out on a place in the final, coming 11th in the semi-final with 81 points only 4-point behind Latvia. Poland's 2006 entry with the comeback of the public vote on TVP, Ich Troje were chosen again in 2006 with song "Follow My Heart", but could not repeat their 7th place from 2003 failed to qualify for the final, coming 11th with 70 points in the semi-final only 5-point behind Macedonia. Poland's 2007 entry, "Time To Party", sung by The Jet Set, only finished 14th in the semi-final. Poland's only appearance in the final between 2005 and 2011, was in 2008.
Its song placed a lowly 24th. In the 2009, Poland selected Lidia Kopania and her song "I Don't Wanna Leave" performed in the second semi-final on 14 May 2009, however she failed to qualify finished 12th with 43 points; the 2010 entry for Poland was Marcin Mroziński with song "Legenda", country performed in the first semi-final on 25 May 2010 but he didn't qualify for the final, finishing 13th with 44 points. In 2011, Poland was represented by Magdalena Tul, the country's entry was sung in Polish, her song was called "Jestem", translated as "I'm", although a favorite with bookmakers, "Jestem" failed to qualify finished last 19th with 18 points in the first semi-final. This is the worst Polish result to date. Members of the Polish OGAE have said at their annual convention that they would like Edyta Górniak to represent Poland for a second time. For years it was unknown if Górniak would enter Eurovision again, until when in 2016 she made a second attempt at representing her country in the contest, placing third in the national final.
In December 2011, it was announced that Poland would not compete at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku. The Polish broadcaster stated that having to organize the European Football Championship 2012 was a major factor in their withdrawal. TVP informed esctoday.com that their decision to abstain does not hamper their chances of being back in 2013, thus leaving the door open for a return. However, Poland confirmed on 22 November 2012, that it will not be participating in 2013. TVP, the Polish national broadcaster has confirmed on 5 December 2013 that Poland will return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. On 25 February, it was announced that Donatan and Cleo would represent Poland with their song "My Słowianie", they qualified for the final placing 8th with 70 points, making it only the second time Poland has qualified for the final since 2008. Donatan and Cleo performed 9th in the final and ended up placing 14th out of 26 w
France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, 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 leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
For the most recent participation see
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
