1.
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
2.
Prefectures in France
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There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
3.
Marseille
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Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice
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
7.
Subprefectures in France
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In France, a subprefecture is the administrative center of a departmental arrondissement that does not contain the prefecture for its department. The term also applies to the building houses the administrative headquarters for an arrondissement. The civil servant in charge of a subprefecture is the subprefect, between May 1982 and February 1988, subprefects were known instead by the title commissaire adjoint de la République. Where the administration of an arrondissement is carried out from a prefecture, the municipal arrondissements of Paris, Lyon, and Marseille) are divisions of the city rather than the prefecture, and so are not arrondissements in the same sense
8.
Aix-en-Provence
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Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a city-commune in the south of France, about 30 km north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, the population of Aix numbers approximately 143,000. Its inhabitants are called Aixois or, less commonly, Aquisextains, Aix was founded in 123 BC by the Roman consul Sextius Calvinus, who gave his name to its springs, following the destruction of the nearby Gallic oppidum at Entremont. In the 4th century AD it became the metropolis of Narbonensis Secunda and it was occupied by the Visigoths in 477. In the succeeding century, the town was plundered by the Franks and Lombards. Aix passed to the crown of France with the rest of Provence in 1487, and in 1501 Louis XII established there the parliament of Provence, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the town was the seat of the Intendance of Provence. Current archeological excavations in the Ville des Tours, a suburb of Aix, have unearthed the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. The city slopes gently north to south and the Montagne Sainte-Victoire can easily be seen to the east. Aixs position in the south of France gives it a warm climate and it has an average January temperature of 5 °C and a July average of 23 °C. It has an average of 300 days of sunshine and only 91 days of rain, while it is partially protected from the Mistral, Aix still occasionally experiences the cooler and gusty conditions it brings. Unlike most of France which has a climate, Aix-en-Provence has a Mediterranean climate. The Cours Mirabeau is a thoroughfare, planted with double rows of plane-trees, bordered by fine houses. It follows the line of the old city wall and divides the town into two sections. The new town extends to the south and west, the old town, with its narrow, along this avenue, which is lined on one side with banks and on the other with cafés, is the Deux Garçons, the most famous brasserie in Aix. Built in 1792, it has been frequented by the likes of Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola, the Cathedral of the Holy Saviour is situated to the north in the medieval part of Aix. The archbishops palace and a Romanesque cloister adjoin the cathedral on its south side, the Archbishopric of Aix is now shared with Arles. Among its other public institutions, Aix also has the second most important Appeal Court outside of Paris, the Hôtel de Ville, a building in the classical style of the middle of the 17th century, looks onto a picturesque square. It contains some fine woodwork and tapestries, at its side rises a handsome clock-tower erected in 1510
9.
Arles
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Arles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence. A large part of the Camargue is located on the territory of the commune, the city has a long history, and was of considerable importance in the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis. The Roman and Romanesque Monuments of Arles were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1981, the Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh lived in Arles from 1888 to 1889 and produced over 300 paintings and drawings during his time there. An international photography festival has held in the city since 1970. The river Rhône forks into two branches just upstream of Arles, forming the Camargue delta and its area is 758.93 km2, which is more than seven times the area of Paris. Arles has a Mediterranean climate with an annual temperature of 14.6 °C. The summers are warm and moderately dry, with averages between 22 °C and 24 °C, and mild winters with a mean temperature of about 7 °C. The city is constantly, but especially in the months, subject to the influence of the mistral. Rainfall is fairly evenly distributed from September to May, with the summer drought being less marked than in other Mediterranean areas, the Ligurians were in this area from about 800 BC. Later, Celtic influences have been discovered, the city became an important Phoenician trading port, before being taken by the Romans. The Romans took the town in 123 BC and expanded it into an important city, however, it struggled to escape the shadow of Massalia further along the coast. Its chance came when it sided with Julius Caesar against Pompey, Massalia backed Pompey, when Caesar emerged victorious, Massalia was stripped of its possessions, which were transferred to Arelate as a reward. The town was established as a colony for veterans of the Roman legion Legio VI Ferrata. Its full title as a colony was Colonia Iulia Paterna Arelatensium Sextanorum, Arelate was a city of considerable importance in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. It covered an area of some 99 acres and possessed a number of monuments, including an amphitheatre, triumphal arch, Roman circus, theatre, ancient Arles was closer to the sea than it is now and served as a major port. It also had the southernmost bridge on the Rhône, very unusually, the Roman bridge was not fixed but consisted of a pontoon-style bridge of boats, with towers and drawbridges at each end. The boats were secured in place by anchors and were tethered to twin towers built just upstream of the bridge and this unusual design was a way of coping with the rivers frequent violent floods, which would have made short work of a conventional bridge. Nothing remains of the Roman bridge, which has replaced by a more modern bridge near the same spot
10.
Istres
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Istres is a commune in southern France, some 60 km northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department and its inhabitants are called Istréens and Istréennes. Istres is adjacent to the étang de Berre lagoon and the étang de lOlivier lagoon and it is located some 60 km north-west of Marseille,20 km south-west of Salon-de-Provence,10 km north of Martigues and 45 km south-east of Arles. Istres is also adjacent to the de la Crau and the Camargue national park. Istres has a Mediterranean climate characterised by mild, humid winters and hot, january and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 7 °C. July and August are the hottest months, the mean summer temperature is around 24 °C with an average maximum temperature around 32°C. The amount of precipitation is around 566 mm per year, the Mistral, a cold and often violent wind, blows through the city mostly in winter and spring. The city has sports facilities and exactly 102 clubs. Each year a race is organized around the Etang de lOlivier, the towns main football club is FC Istres. Istres is the home of the Le Tubé Air Base and this air base was one of 3 utilized by NASA as a contingency landing site for the Space Shuttle in the case of a Transoceanic Abort Landing. Istres shared this responsibility with Zaragoza, Spain and Moron, Spain, communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department FC Istres INSEE Official website Satellite view with Wikimapia
11.
The Republicans (France)
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The Republicans is a centre-right political party in France. The party was formed on 30 May 2015 by renaming the Union for a Popular Movement party, the party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Socialist Party. The Republicans are a member of the European Peoples Party, Centrist Democrat International, with the name already chosen, vice-president of the UMP Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet presented Sarkozy and the partys political bureau the proposed new statutes. The new name was adopted by the party bureau on 5 May 2015, the new party statutes were adopted by 96. 3% of voters and the composition of the new political bureau by 94. 8%. The change to the name The Republicans was confirmed at the founding congress on 30 May 2015 at the Paris Event Centre in Paris. Angela Merkel, chairwoman of the conservative CDU, sent a message to the congress. The Republicans thus became the successor of the UMP and the leading centre-right party in France. The organisation has been declared in the préfecture de Saône-et-Loire on 9 April 2015 and this party foundation was published in the Journal officiel de la République française on 25 April 2015. On 3 July 2016, Sarkozy announced that he would resign as leader that year in order to compete to be the candidate in the 2017 presidential election. On 27 November 2016, Francois Fillon, the former Prime Minister of France, politics of France List of political parties in France Official web site of Les Républicains
12.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
13.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
14.
Communes in 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
15.
Estuary
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An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a zone between river environments and maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The inflows of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea began to rise about 10. Estuaries are typically classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, the banks of many estuaries are amongst the most heavily populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the worlds population living along estuaries and the coast. The word estuary is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, there have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary. However, this definition excludes a number of water bodies such as coastal lagoons. This broad definition also includes fjords, lagoons, river mouths, an estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides. The sea water entering the estuary is diluted by the water flowing from rivers. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of water, the tidal range. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border, the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is typically large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths rarely exceed 30 m, examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, and Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. They are relatively common in tropical and subtropical locations and these estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches partially encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters, bar-built estuaries typically develop on gently sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts. They are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments, barrier beaches form in shallow water and are generally parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries
16.
Occitan
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Occitan, also known as lenga dòc by its native speakers, is a Romance language. It is spoken in southern France, Italys Occitan Valleys, Monaco, and Spains Val dAran, collectively, Occitan is also spoken in the linguistic enclave of Guardia Piemontese. However, there is controversy about the unity of the language, others include Catalan in this family, as the distance between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance among different Occitan dialects. In fact, Catalan was considered an Occitan dialect until the end of the 19th century, today, Occitan is an official language in Catalonia, where a subdialect of Gascon known as Aranese is spoken in the Val dAran. Since September 2010, the Parliament of Catalonia has considered Aranese Occitan to be the preferred language for use in the Val dAran. Unlike other Romance languages such as French or Spanish, there is no written standard language called Occitan. Instead, there are competing norms for writing Occitan, some of which attempt to be pan-dialectal, There are also significant lexical differences, where some dialects have words cognate with French, and others have Catalan and Spanish cognates. Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of mutual intelligibility, the long-term survival of Occitan is in grave doubt. According to the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, four of the six dialects of Occitan are considered severely endangered. The name Occitan comes from lenga dòc, òc being the Occitan word for yes and this was not, of course, the only defining characteristic of each group. The word òc came from Vulgar Latin hoc, while oïl originated from Latin hoc illud, Old Catalan, and now the Catalan of Northern Catalonia also have hoc. Other Romance languages derive their word for yes from the Latin sic, thus, etc. such as Spanish sí, Eastern Lombard sé, Sicilian and Italian sì, or Portuguese sim. French uses si to answer yes in response to questions that are asked in the negative sense, the name Occitan is sometimes considered a neologism, however, it was attested around 1300 as occitanus, a crossing of oc and aquitanus. For many centuries, the Occitan dialects were referred to as Limousin or Provençal, after Frédéric Mistrals Félibrige movement in the 19th century, Provençal achieved the greatest literary recognition and so became the most popular term for Occitan. The term first came into fashion in Italy, currently, linguists use the terms Provençal and Limousin strictly to refer to specific varieties within Occitania, keeping the name Occitan for the language as a whole. Many non-specialists, however, continue to refer to the language as Provençal, NO·L LI TOLRÀ NO·L LI DEVEDARÀ NI NO LEN DECEBRÀ. Nec societatem non AURÀ, si per castellum recuperare NON O FA, et si recuperare potuerit in potestate Froterio et Raimundo LO TORNARÀ, carolingian litanies, both written and sung in Latin, were answered to in Old Occitan by the audience. Occitan was the vehicle for the poetry of the medieval troubadours and trobairises, At that time
17.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
18.
Provinces of France
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The Kingdom of France was organized into provinces until March 4,1790, when the establishment of the department system superseded provinces. The provinces of France were roughly equivalent to the counties of England. In some cases, several regions or departments share names with the historic provinces. The list below shows the provinces of France at the time of their dissolution during the French Revolution. Capital cities are shown in parentheses, bold indicates a city that was also the seat of a judicial and quasi-legislative body called either a parlement or a conseil souverain. In some cases, this body met in a different city than the capital, comtat Venaissin, a Papal fief 36. Imperial Free City of Mulhouse 37, montbéliard, a fief of Württemberg Partial display of historical provincial arms, Ancien Régime in France Gallery of French coats of arms Coat of arms Heraldry
19.
Provence
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The largest city of the region is Marseille. The Romans made the region into the first Roman province beyond the Alps and called it Provincia Romana and it was ruled by the Counts of Provence from their capital in Aix-en-Provence until 1481, when it became a province of the Kings of France. While it has been part of France for more than five hundred years, it retains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity. The coast of Provence has some of the earliest known sites of habitation in Europe. Primitive stone tools dated to 1 to 1.05 million years BC were found in the Grotte du Vallonnet near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, tools dating to the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic were discovered in the Observatory Cave, in the Jardin Exotique of Monaco. The Paleolithic period in Provence saw great changes in the climate, with the arrival, at the beginning of the Paleolithic period, the sea level in western Provence was 150 meters higher than it is today. By the end of the Paleolithic, it had dropped 100 to 150 metres lower than sea level. The cave dwellings of the inhabitants of Provence were regularly inundated by the rising sea or left far from the sea. The changes in the sea led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of signs of early man in Provence. In 1985, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, the entrance led to a cave above sea level. Inside, the walls of the Cosquer Cave are decorated with drawings of bison, seals, auks, horses and outlines of human hands, dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC. The end of the Paleolithic and beginning of the Neolithic period saw the sea settle at its present level, a warming of the climate and the retreat of the forests. The disappearance of the forests and the deer and other easily hunted game meant that the inhabitants of Provence had to survive on rabbits, snails, since they were settled in one place they were able to develop new industries. Inspired by the pottery from the eastern Mediterranean, in about 6000 BC they created the first pottery to be made in France. Around 6000 BC, a wave of new settlers from the east and they were farmers and warriors, and gradually displaced the earlier pastoral people from their lands. They were followed in about 2500 BC by another wave of people, also farmers, known as the Courronniens, traces of these early civilisations can be found in many parts of Provence. A Neolithic site dating to about 6,000 BC was discovered in Marseille near the Saint-Charles railway station, and a dolmen from the Bronze Age can be found near Draguignan. Between the 10th and 4th century BC the Ligures were found in Provence from Massilia as far as modern day Liguria and they were of uncertain origin, they may have been the descendants of the indigenous neolithic peoples
20.
Orange, Vaucluse
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Orange is a commune in the Vaucluse Department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France, about 21 km north of Avignon. It has an agricultural economy. The name was unrelated to that of the orange fruit. Arausio covered an area of some 170 acres and was endowed with civic monuments, in addition to the theatre and arch, it had a monumental temple complex. It was the capital of an area of northern Provence. It is found in both the Tabula Peutingeriana and Le cadastre dOrange maps, the town prospered, but was sacked by the Visigoths in 412. It had, by then, become largely Christianized, and from the end of the third century constituted the Ancient Diocese of Orange, no longer a residential bishopric, Arausio, as it is called in Latin, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. It hosted two important synods, in 441 and 529, the Second Council of Orange was of importance in condemning what later came to be called Semipelagianism. The sovereign Carolingian counts of Orange had their origin in the eighth century, from the 12th century, Orange was raised to a minor principality, the Principality of Orange, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. During this period, the town and the principality of Orange belonged to the administration and this pitched it into the Protestant side in the Wars of Religion, during which the town was badly damaged. In 1568, the Eighty Years War began with William as stadtholder leading the bid for independence from Spain, William the Silent was assassinated in Delft in 1584. His son, Maurice of Nassau, with the help of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the United Provinces survived to become the Netherlands, which is still ruled by the House of Orange-Nassau. William, Prince of Orange, ruled England as William III of England, Orange gave its name to other Dutch-influenced parts of the world, such as the Oranges in New Jersey, USA, and the Orange Free State in South Africa. Following the French Revolution of 1789, Orange was absorbed into the French département of Drôme, then Bouches-du-Rhône, however, the title remained with the Dutch princes of Orange. Orange attracted international attention in 1995, when it elected a member of Front National, Jacques Bompard, Bompard left the FN in 2005 and became a member of the conservative Movement for France until 2010. Orange was also home to the French Foreign Legions armored First Foreign Cavalry Regiment, the regiment officially moved to Carpiagne on July 10,2014. The city of Orange is the 3rd largest town of Vaucluse by population after Avignon, in 2013, the municipality had 29,193 residents. The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known throughout the population censuses carried out in the town since 1793, the fine Triumphal Arch of Orange is often said to date from the time of Augustus or Tiberius, but is probably much later, perhaps Severan
21.
Martigues
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Martigues is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region on the end of the Canal de Caronte. The charm of its canals, its docks and bridges made it The Venice of Provence, Martigues possesses also its cooperative winery La Venise provençale, Coteaux dAix en Provence, rosé, red and white wines, fruit juices and natural oils in the region. Main varietals, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Clairette, Martigues was founded by Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Provence in 1232 on the likely site of the Roman camp Maritima Avaticorum. Gaby Charroux is the current deputy Mayor of the City of Martigues, the Gare de Martigues railway station is served by regional trains between Miramas and Marseille
22.
Lambesc
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Lambesc is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southern France. Lambesc is located in the heart of Provence at the foot of the Côtes mountain range, the special character of the village and its beautiful environs attracts many tourists. Lambesc is located on a hillside in the Massif de la Trévaresse,1.5 km from the Canal de Marseille, another settlement was discovered in 1995 in a nearby valley. Traces of occupation from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age have been found, the site was reoccupied until the Bronze Age IIIb before being finally abandoned in the Iron Age. Lambesc has evidence of a Celtic-Ligurian settlement Salyens and of the Tritolii, there is also evidence of many trade partners, including the Etruscans, the Greeks of Massilia in particular, the other tribes of the federation Salyens or even of Liguria and Rome. Archaeologists have found that Lambesc was already occupied in the Bronze Age, there are also many hill forts and open institutions, which show the diversity of cultivated soils and development of metallurgical activities. They have also founded a market which took the name Oppidum Amboliacense, in 124 BC, Romans of Flaccus Flaccus occupied the whole territory, including the province of Gaul Narbonne. What remained of the army of Salyens Toutomotulus, its king and its leaders, fled, the last Salyens revolt in the region was in 90 BC. After the peace, Rome distributed lands and settlements to the veterans of the legions for use with the Salyens who survived the war and they founded an establishment vicus, on the site of a temple to Mercury. It remains as Saint-Estève, the remains of a Gallo-Roman rural settlement as well as another institution, the latter is divided into a pars urbana, a go fructuria. This site has been occupied since the 1st century AD, there are agricultural settlements, villas, and cemeteries, and the site index includes deposits of amphorae, dolia, and ceramics. We know from the Gallo-Roman population of Lambesc that they revered a local deity, near an ancient spring. One of them is that of an M Amoena, freed man of Pompeii, another from Sextus Pompeius Theophilus, a prepaid Proculus, and the last of Decimus Ratius Bassus, prepaid Decimus. An inscription was found, to the god Mercury, on an altar of limestone to the east of the town, in the same area, a dedication to the tutelary deities was discovered, Sextus has fulfilled his vow against Suleviae willingly and rightfully. In the Middle Ages, in the valley of the Concernade, previously the local castrum, or fort, sat on this promontory. Local toponymy suggests the neighborhood villains lived there, which was the poorest part of the Lambesc castrum, towards the end of 15C and early 16C, as the first suburbs were created outside the old city walls, inns and other taverns developed. East of Lambesc, in the district of Saint-Peyre, remains Podium Amboliacense, the chapel of St. Peter was built on the ruins of the temple of Mercury in 810, by Eldrad son of Ardrad, the first Lord Lambesc. San-Peyre was sacked by Ramon Berenguer IV in 1222, in the 12th century, the Abbey of Saint-André of Villeneuve-les-Avignon owned the church of St. John in the valley Valbonette, which enabled it to raise revenues
23.
Apt, Vaucluse
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Apt is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in southeastern France. It lies on the bank of the Calavon,41 miles east of Avignon. It is the town of the Luberon mountains. Apt lies north of Aix-en-Provence and the river Durance, in the valley of the river Calavon, the original type locality is in the vicinity of Apt. The Aptian was introduced in literature by French palaeontologist Alcide dOrbigny in 1840. Early 5th-century bishop Saint Castor of Apt is mentioned in contemporary liturgical documents, the diocese appears in documents of the same century as a suffragan of Aix. No longer a residential bishopric, Apta is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, important manuscripts were found in Apt concerning music in the 12th/13th centuries. They are known as the Apt Manuscript and the Ivrea Codex and they contain Motets and Mass Movements, all of which are polyphonic. Nine out of fourteen Motets by Philippe de Vitry are recorded in the Ivrea Codex and it is purported to have been derived from the repertoire used in the Papal Palace at Avignon, since it is so close and offers a sampling of music from the Ars Nova movement. According to documentation, Jews lived in Apt as early as the half of the 14th century. The earliest documentation of Jews in Apt is dated back to the half of the 13th century. Columbia University Library owns a twelve documents collection of notarial written money lending transactions between Jews and Christians in Apt, one of them describes a transaction between a local Jew called Gartus Bonafossi and a Christian named Iohannes Raymundi. A synagogue was documented as soon as 1416, and around 15 Jewish families were listed by the tax register by 1420, by then, Apt became the fourth largest Jewish community of Provence. The Jewish quarter was situated by the nowadays Place du Postel, the council of Apt was held on 14 May 1365 in the cathedral of that city by the archbishops and bishops of the provinces of Arles, Embrun and Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. The town was surrounded by massive ancient walls, but these have now been for the most part replaced by boulevards, many of its streets are narrow. Many Roman remains have been found in and near the town, a fine bridge, the Pont Julien, spanning the Coulon below the town, dates from 2 BC. A tribunal of first instance and a college are the chief public institutions. Côtes du Luberon AOC Communes of the Vaucluse department This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
24.
Vaucluse
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The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse. The name Vaucluse derives from the Latin Vallis Clausa as the valley ends in a cliff face from which emanates a spring whose origin is so far in. Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, the then rural department was, like the nearby city of Lyon, a hotbed of the French Resistance in World War II. Vaucluse is bordered by the Rhône to the west and the River Durance to the south, mountains occupy a significant proportion of the eastern half of the department, with Mont Ventoux, also known as the Giant of Provence, dominating the landscape. Other important mountain ranges include the Dentelles de Montmirail, the Monts de Vaucluse, fruit and vegetables are cultivated in great quantities in the lower-lying parts of the department, on one of the most fertile plains in southern France. The Vaucluse département has a large exclave within the Drôme department. Vaucluse is also known for its karst, including the karst spring Fontaine de Vaucluse after which Vauclusian Risings are named, important urban centres include Avignon, Orange, Carpentras, Cavaillon, and Apt
25.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
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The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that caused the immediate subordination of the Catholic Church in France to the French government. Earlier legislation had already arranged the confiscation of the Catholic Churchs French land holdings and this new law completed the destruction of the monastic orders, outlawing all regular and secular chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in commendam, for either sex, etc. It also sought to settle the chaos caused by the confiscation of Church lands. Additionally, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy regulated the current dioceses so that they could become more uniform and it emphasised that officials of the church could not provide commitment to anything outside of France, specifically the Pope which was outside of France. Lastly, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy made Bishops and Priest elected, the measure was opposed, but ultimately acquiesced to, by King Louis XVI. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy document had 4 tittles with different articles, the document began with an introduction that introduced why the document was written. Title I focused on the dioceses and how they were to be administered, Title II focused on the administration of the dioceses and how elections were to take place. Title III focused on payment because the Clergy was an employee of the State. Title IV focused on the requirements for bishops, parish priests. Even before the Revolution and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, even prior to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, On 11 August 1789 tithes were abolished. On 2 November 1789, Catholic Church property that was held for purposes of church revenue was nationalized, on 13 February 1790, monastic vows were forbidden and all ecclesiastical orders and congregations were dissolved, excepting those devoted to teaching children and nursing the sick. On 19 April 1790, administration of all remaining property was transferred to the State. The Church owned about six percent of the land in France, in addition the Church collected tithes. Owing, in part, to abuses of this system, there was resentment of the Church, taking the various forms of atheism, anticlericalism. Many of the revolutionaries viewed the Catholic Church as a retrograde force, at the same time, there was enough support for a basically Catholic form of Christianity that some means had to be found to fund the Church in France. On 6 February 1790, one week before banning monastic vows, the Civil Constitution of the Clergy came before the Assembly on 29 May 1790. François de Bonal, Bishop of Clermont, and some members of the Right requested that the project should be submitted to a council or to the Pope. Joining them in their opposition to the legislation was Abbé Sieyès, one of the political theorists of the French Revolution
26.
French Communist Party
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The French Communist Party is a communist party in France. Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains an influence in French politics. In 2012, the PCF claimed 138,000 members including 70,000 who have paid their membership fees and this would make it the third largest party in France in terms of membership after the Republicans and the Socialist Party. It was also once the largest French left-wing party in a number of elections, from 1945 to 1960. The PCF has lost further ground to the Socialists since that time, since 2009 the PCF has been a leading member of the Left Front, alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchons Left Party. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, the new SFIC defined itself as revolutionary and democratic centralist. The 1920s saw a number of splits within the party over relations with other left-wing parties, the party entered the French parliament, but also promoted strike action and opposed colonialism. Pierre Sémard, leader from 1924 to 1928, sought party unity and alliances with other parties, with the rise of Fascism after 1934 the PCF supported the Popular Front, which came to power under Léon Blum in 1936. The party supported the Spanish Republicans, and opposed the 1938 Munich agreement with Hitler, PCFs Members of Parliament vote declaration of war against Germany in 1939. But the party was banned after German–Soviet Non-aggression Pact by the government of Édouard Daladier, the leadership, threatened with execution, fled abroad. After the German invasion of 1940 the party began to organise opposition to the occupation, at the same time the PCF began to work with de Gaulles Free France government in exile, and later took part in the National Council of the Resistance. By the time the German occupation ended in 1944, the party had become a force in many parts of France. It was among the parties in elections in 1945 and 1946, and entered into the governing Tripartite alliance. However, amid concerns within France and abroad over the extent of communist influence, under pressure from Moscow, the PCF thereafter distanced itself from other parties and focussed on agitation within its trade union base. For the rest of the Fourth Republic period the PCF, led by Thorez and Jacques Duclos, remained isolated, still taking a Stalinist line. Although the PCF opposed de Gaulles formation of the Fifth Republic in 1958, the years saw a rapprochement with other left-wing forces. With Waldeck Rochet as its new secretary-general, the party supported François Mitterrands unsuccessful presidential bid in 1965, during the student riots and strikes of May 1968, the party supported the strikes while denouncing the revolutionary student movements. Under the Common Programme, however, the PCF steadily lost ground to the PS, initially allotted a minor share in Mitterrands government, the PCF resigned in 1984 as the government turned towards fiscal orthodoxy
27.
Julius Caesar
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Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
28.
Gaul
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It covered an area of 190,800 sq mi. According to the testimony of Julius Caesar, Gaul was divided into three parts, Gallia Celtica, Belgica and Aquitania, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, Gaul fell under Roman rule, Gallia Cisalpina was conquered in 203 BC and Gallia Narbonensis in 123 BC. Gaul was invaded after 120 BC by the Cimbri and the Teutons, Gallia remains a name of France in modern Greek and modern Latin. The Greek and Latin names Galatia, and Gallia are ultimately derived from a Celtic ethnic term or clan Gal-to-. Galli of Gallia Celtica were reported to refer to themselves as Celtae by Caesar. Hellenistic folk etymology connected the name of the Galatians to the supposedly milk-white skin of the Gauls, modern researchers say it is related to Welsh gallu, Cornish galloes, capacity, power, thus meaning powerful people. The English Gaul is from French Gaule and is unrelated to Latin Gallia, as adjectives, English has the two variants, Gaulish and Gallic. The two adjectives are used synonymously, as pertaining to Gaul or the Gauls, although the Celtic language or languages spoken in Gaul is predominantly known as Gaulish. The Germanic w- is regularly rendered as gu- / g- in French, also unrelated in spite of superficial similarity is the name Gael. The Irish word gall did originally mean a Gaul, i. e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to foreigner, to describe the Vikings, and later still the Normans. The dichotomic words gael and gall are sometimes used together for contrast, by 500 BC, there is strong Hallstatt influence throughout most of France. By the late 5th century BC, La Tène influence spreads rapidly across the territory of Gaul. The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age in France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, southwest Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, farther north extended the contemporary pre-Roman Iron Age culture of northern Germany and Scandinavia. By the 2nd century BC, the Romans described Gallia Transalpina as distinct from Gallia Cisalpina, while some scholars believe the Belgae south of the Somme were a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements, their ethnic affiliations have not been definitively resolved. One of the reasons is political interference upon the French historical interpretation during the 19th century, in addition to the Gauls, there were other peoples living in Gaul, such as the Greeks and Phoenicians who had established outposts such as Massilia along the Mediterranean coast. Also, along the southeastern Mediterranean coast, the Ligures had merged with the Celts to form a Celto-Ligurian culture, the prosperity of Mediterranean Gaul encouraged Rome to respond to pleas for assistance from the inhabitants of Massilia, who were under attack by a coalition of Ligures and Gauls. The Romans intervened in Gaul in 154 BC and again in 125 BC, whereas on the first occasion they came and went, on the second they stayed. Massilia was allowed to keep its lands, but Rome added to its territories the lands of the conquered tribes. The direct result of conquests was that by now, Rome controlled an area extending from the Pyrenees to the lower Rhône river
29.
Camille Roqueplan
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Camille Joseph Etienne Roqueplan was a French Romantic painter of landscapes, genre and historical scenes. From an early age, he displayed an aptitude for drawing, around the age of eighteen, he began to take painting lessons. Oddly enough, when his father encouraged him to take up art as a profession, Camille hesitated because he wanted it to remain a pleasant pastime, soon, the lessons he felt forced to take caused him disgust and he took up the study of medicine. He got as far as the classes, which he found unappealing. He then became a clerk in the Ministry of Finance, where his father worked and he decided to return to painting, studying landscape and figure drawing with some local artists. Following their advice, he found a position in the studios of Abel de Pujol at the École des Beaux-arts. One day, however, Pujol showed him a painting that he admired so much he despaired of ever being able to do as well and it was only with great difficulty that his friends convinced him to continue. After competing for the Prix de Rome, he decided to out on his own. At that time, he concentrated on painting, which inspired him to take a trip to the Dauphiné. Many of his works are set there, upon his return to Paris, he held his first exhibit at the Salon in 1822, eventually winning a gold medal there. Despite his bad experiences as a student, he became a teacher at the École himself, among his best-known students were Charles-Théodore Frère, Prosper Marilhat, Marie-Alexandre Alophe, Eugène Lami, Constant Troyon and Marie-Élisabeth Blavot. Later, in the 1830s, he produced historical paintings inspired by the novels of Walter Scott, in 1841, he created decorations for the ceiling of the library at the Palais du Luxembourg. From 1843, he returned to painting and lived in the Pyrenees for several years for health reasons. His brother Nestor was a writer and theatrical director, germain Hédiard, Camille Roqueplan, LArtiste My Daily Art Display, Detailed biographical information which may include original research. Camille Roqueplan @ the Base Joconde Théophile Gautier, Camille Roqueplan, G. Charpentier et Cie, libraires-editeures,1874 Online
30.
Nestor Roqueplan
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Louis-Victor-Nestor Roqueplan was a French writer, journalist, and theatre director. Nestor Roqueplan was born near Montréal, Aude, and was the brother of the Romantic painter Camille Roqueplan. Roqueplan was considered a dandy, and witty and caustic as a writer and he was an amateur magician, and in about 1830 invented the silk braid trim on trouser seams, which became highly fashionable. He wrote as a critic, and in 1833 he fought a duel with a Colonel Gallois, Roqueplan also served as a theatre director at the Théâtre du Panthéon, the Théâtre des Nouveautés, and from 1841 to 1847 at the Théâtre des Variétés. Roqueplan and Henri Duponchel joined Léon Pillet as co-directors of the Paris Opera on 1 August 1847, Roqueplan continued as sole director until 11 November 1854, when he was replaced by François-Louis Crosnier. The two most notable premieres at the Opera during his period as director were Verdis Jérusalem in 1847, which was not particularly successful, later, in 1851, he mounted Gounods first opera, Sapho, as a favor to Viardot, who sang the title role. About this time he published two books, the first in 1853 about life in Paris titled Regain – La vie parisienne, and the second in 1855 consisting of theatre gossip called Coulisses de lOpéra. On 20 November 1857 Roqueplan succeeded Émile Perrin as director of the Opéra-Comique, and held the position until 19 June 1860, the first new work to be presented under Roqueplan was Ambroise Thomass 3-act Le carnaval de Venise on 9 December. At the beginning of 1859 Roqueplan brought suit against Le Figaro for harassment regarding his directorship, not long thereafter came the triumphant premiere of Meyerbeers Le pardon de Ploërmel, but despite its success, his financial difficulties increased. Eventually the constant money problems caused him to retire from opera management and he wrote as a columnist for Constitutionnel and in 1868 published two booklets, one about Rossini and another about Baron James de Rothschild. The same year he published a book of literary sketches of Paris as Parisine. Roqueplan remained unmarried and died in Paris, suzanne Lagier Notes Sources Fauser, Annegret, Everist, Mark, editors. Music, Theater, and Cultural Transfer, Paris, 1830–1914, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. Biographie universelle des musiciens, supplement, vol, Viardot, Pauline in Sadie 1992, vol. Thomas, Ambroise in Sadie 1992, vol, the Urbanization of Opera, Music theatre in Paris in the Nineteenth Century, translated from French to English by Mary Whittall. London Society, An Illustrated Magazine, vol, Roqueplan, Nestor in Sadie 1992, vol. Fromental Halévy, His Life and Music, 1799–1862, grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle. Appendix, A Documentary Overview of Musical Theaters in Paris, 1830–1900 in Fauser and Everist 2009, the History of Dueling Including Narratives of the Most Remarkable Encounters
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Gard
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Gard is a department in southern France in the Occitanie region. The department is named after the River Gardon, and the Occitan name of the river has been replacing the French name of the department in recent decades, see also, History of Gard The Gard area was settled by the Romans in classical times. It was crossed by the Via Domitia, which was constructed in 118 BC, Gard is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790. It was created from the ancient province of Languedoc, in return, Gard received from Hérault the fishing port of Aigues Mortes which gave the department its own outlet to the Gulf of Lion. Gard is part of the region of Occitanie and is surrounded by the departments of Hérault, Lozère, Aveyron, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vaucluse, the highest point in the department is the Mont Aigoual. Serious flooding has occurred in the department in recent years, the President of the General Council is Denis Bouad of the Socialist Party. The incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement party received 24. 86% of the vote, the inhabitants of Gard are called Gardois. There are important Roman architectural remains in Nîmes, as well as the famous Roman aqueduct, Gard is also home to the source of Perrier, a carbonated mineral water sold both in France and internationally on a large scale. The spring and facility are located just south-east of the commune of Vergèze, prefecture website General Council website Welcome to the Gard Welcome to the Gard The Regordane Way or St Gilles Trail Map of the department Guide Gard
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Var (department)
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The Var is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur region in Provence in southeastern France. It takes its name from the river Var, which used to flow along its eastern boundary, Toulon is the largest city and administrative capital of the Var. Other important towns in the Var include Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Draguignan, Brignoles, Hyères, the Department of the Var was created at the time of the French Revolution, on March 4,1790, from a portion of the former Royal province of Provence. Its capital was originally Toulon, but this was moved to Grasse in 1793 to punish the Toulonnais for having handed the town to the British in 1793, subsequently the capital was moved to Brignoles in 1795, then to Draguignan in 1797. It was not returned to Toulon until 1974,1815 - Following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo the department was occupied by Austrian troops until November 1818. 1854 – The first railroad reaches Toulon and this move also shifted the Var River, which had given the department its name, to the new Department. 1884 – A cholera epidemic struck Toulon, the leader of the fight against the epidemic was Georges Clemenceau, a doctor and a member of the National Assembly for the Seine region. He was elected Deputy from the Var from 1888 to 1893 and Senator from 1902 to 1920, 1914–1918 – The First World War stimulates growth in shipyards and military industries in the region, but weakens the agricultural and food industry. 1942 – The German Army moves from Occupied France into the Unoccupied Zone, the French Fleet is sabotaged in Toulon Harbor to keep it from falling into German hands. The Maquis Vallier, a group of resistance fighters, is active. August 15,1944 – American and Free French forces land at Cap Nègre, at Trayas, at Saint-Tropez, at Sainte-Maxime, the Free French fleet arrived at Toulon on September 13. 1960s – About one hundred thousand French citizens were repatriated from Algeria following the Algerian War of Independence, the Department of the Var has a surface area of 6,032 km2, and 420 km of coastline, including the offshore islands. 56% of the Var is covered with forest and its geological formations are divided into two regions, one composed of limestone to the north-west of a line between Toulon and Draguignan, and of crystalline rock to the south-east. The department is in the foothills of the Alps and is largely mountainous, the major mountains include, Massif des Maures and Massif de lEsterel, along the coast, are made of quartz rock. The Sainte-Baume mountain ridge, which lies in the west, mountain of Lachens, in the northwest of the department, and the highest point in the Var. The Plateau of Canjuers is located in the northeast of the Var, in the south and west there are several plateaus, such as the plateau of Siou Blanc to the north of Toulon, which rise from 400 to 700 metres in altitude. The Canyon du Verdon, the gorges of the Verdon River, is a place for hikers, kayakers. The Îles dHyères is a group of three islands off Hyères The islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros, and Île du Levant, together, they make up an area of 26 km2
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Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
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River delta
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A river delta is a landform that forms from deposition of sediment carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and enters slower-moving or standing water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, River deltas are ecologically important as they provide coastline defense, are home to many species, and can impact drinking water supply. The tidal currents also cannot be too strong, as sediment would wash out into the body faster than the river deposits it. Of course, the river must carry enough sediment to layer into deltas over time, the rivers velocity decreases rapidly, causing it to deposit the majority, if not all, of its load. This alluvium builds up to form the river delta, when the flow enters the standing water, it is no longer confined to its channel and expands in width. This flow expansion results in a decrease in the flow velocity, as a result, sediment drops out of the flow and deposits. Over time, this single channel builds a deltaic lobe, pushing its mouth into the standing water, as the deltaic lobe advances, the gradient of the river channel becomes lower because the river channel is longer but has the same change in elevation. As the slope of the channel decreases, it becomes unstable for two reasons. First, gravity makes the flow in the most direct course down slope. If the river breaches its natural levees, it out onto a new course with a shorter route to the ocean. Second, as its slope gets lower, the amount of stress on the bed decreases, which results in deposition of sediment within the channel. This makes it easier for the river to breach its levees, often when the channel does this, some of its flow remains in the abandoned channel. When these channel-switching events occur, a mature delta develops a distributary network, another way these distributary networks form is from deposition of mouth bars. When this mid-channel bar is deposited at the mouth of a river and this results in additional deposition on the upstream end of the mouth-bar, which splits the river into two distributary channels. A good example of the result of this process is the Wax Lake Delta, in both of these cases, depositional processes force redistribution of deposition from areas of high deposition to areas of low deposition. This results in the smoothing of the shape of the delta as the channels move across its surface. Because the sediment is laid down in fashion, the shape of these deltas approximates a fan. The more often the flow changes course, the shape develops as closer to an ideal fan, the Mississippi and Ural River deltas, with their birds-feet, are examples of rivers that do not avulse often enough to form a symmetrical fan shape
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Wetland
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A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants. Wetlands play a number of roles in the environment, principally water purification, flood control, carbon sink, Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Wetlands occur naturally on every continent except Antarctica, the largest including the Amazon River basin, the West Siberian Plain, the water found in wetlands can be freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. The main wetland types include swamps, marshes, bogs, and fens, and sub-types include mangrove, carr, pocosin, the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment determined that environmental degradation is more prominent within wetland systems than any other ecosystem on Earth. International conservation efforts are being used in conjunction with the development of rapid assessment tools to people about wetland issues. Constructed wetlands can be used to treat municipal and industrial wastewater as well as stormwater runoff and they may also play a role in water-sensitive urban design. A patch of land that develops pools of water after a storm would not be considered a wetland. Wetlands have unique characteristics, they are distinguished from other water bodies or landforms based on their water level. Specifically, wetlands are characterized as having a table that stands at or near the land surface for a long enough period each year to support aquatic plants. A more concise definition is a community composed of hydric soil, Wetlands have also been described as ecotones, providing a transition between dry land and water bodies. In environmental decision-making, there are subsets of definitions that are agreed upon to make regulatory and policy decisions. A wetland is an ecosystem that arises when inundation by water produces soils dominated by anaerobic processes, There are four main kinds of wetlands – marsh, swamp, bog and fen. Some experts also recognize wet meadows and aquatic ecosystems as additional wetland types, the largest wetlands in the world include the swamp forests of the Amazon and the peatlands of Siberia. Under the Ramsar international wetland conservation treaty, wetlands are defined as follows, Article 2.1, may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands. Although the general definition given above applies around the world, each county, Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. This definition has been used in the enforcement of the Clean Water Act, some US states, such as Massachusetts and New York, have separate definitions that may differ from the federal governments. It is not uncommon for a wetland to be dry for long portions of the growing season, the most important factor producing wetlands is flooding
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Camargue
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The Camargue is a natural region located south of Arles, France, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône River delta. The eastern arm is called the Grand Rhône, the one is the Petit Rhône. A further expanse of plain, the Petite Camargue, just to the west of the Petit Rhône, is in the département of Gard. Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a Wetland of International Importance on 1 December 1986, with an area of over 930 km2, the Camargue is western Europes largest river delta. It is a vast plain comprising large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and these are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland, the central area around the shoreline of the Étang de Vaccarès has been protected as a regional park since 1927, in recognition of its great importance as a haven for wild birds. In 2008, it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue, the Camargue is home to more than 400 species of birds and has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. Its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo, the marshes are also a prime habitat for many species of insects, notably some of the most ferocious mosquitos to be found anywhere in France. Camargue horses roam the extensive marshlands, along with Camargue cattle, the native flora of the Camargue have adapted to the saline conditions. Sea lavender and glasswort flourish, along with tamarisks and reeds, officially established as a regional park and nature reserve in 1970, the Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue covers 820 km². This territory is some of the most natural and most protected in all of Europe, a roadside museum provides background on flora, fauna, and the history of the area. Humans have lived in the Camargue for millennia, greatly affecting it with drainage schemes, dykes, rice paddies, much of the outer Camargue has been drained for agricultural purposes. The Camargue has a horse breed, the famous white Camarguais. Camargue horses are ridden by the gardians, who rear the cattle for fighting bulls for export to Spain. Many of these animals are raised in semi-feral conditions, allowed to roam through the Camargue within a manade and they are periodically rounded up for culling, medical treatment, or other events. Few towns of any size have developed in the Camargue and its capital is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the destination of the annual Romani pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah, the Camargue was exploited in the Middle-Ages by Cistercian and Benedictine monks. In the 16th-17th centuries, big estates, known locally as mas, were founded by rich landlords from Arles, at the end of the 18th century, they had the Rhône diked to protect the town and their properties from flooding
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