1.
Culture of France
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The culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of culture since the 17th century, first in Europe. From the late 19th century, France has also played an important role in cinema, fashion, cuisine, the importance of French culture has waxed and waned over the centuries, depending on its economic, political and military importance. French culture today is marked both by regional and socioeconomic differences and strong unifying tendencies. Some action has taken by the government in order to promote French culture. For instance, they have established a system of subsidies and preferential loans for supporting French cinema, the Toubon law, from the name of the conservative culture minister who promoted it, makes it mandatory to use French in advertisements directed to the general public. France counts many regional languages, some of them being different from standard French, such as Breton. Some regional languages are Roman, like French, such as Occitan, many of these languages have enthusiastic advocates, however, the real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang and he announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools to support teaching these other languages. In French schools, pupils are expected to learn at least two languages, the first of which is typically German or English. A revision of the French constitution creating official recognition of languages was implemented by the Parliament in Congress at Versailles in July 2008. France is a country where freedom of thought and of religion is preserved, by virtue of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man. A2011 European poll found that a third of the French population does not believe there is any sort of spirit, in 2011, in a poll published by Institut français dopinion publique 65% of the French population describes itself as Christians, and 25% as not adhering any religion. According to Eurobarometer poll in 2012 Christianity is the largest religion in France accounting 60% of French citizens, Catholics are the largest Christian group in France, accounting for 50% of French citizens, while Protestants make up 8%, and other Christians make up 2%. Non believer/Agnostic account for 20%, Atheist 13%, and Muslim 6%, France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional right, and the government generally respects this right in practice. A long history of violent conflict between groups led the state to break its ties to the established Catholic Church early in the last century, the government adopted a strong commitment to maintaining a totally secular public sector. Long the established religion, the Roman Catholic Church has historically played a significant role in French culture. Kings were considered head of the church and state, most French people are Roman Catholic Christians, however, many of them are secular but still place high value on Catholicism
2.
History of France
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The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language, over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire, in the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VIs attempt to seize the Duchy of Aquitaine from its holder, Edward III of England. Despite early Plantagenet victories, including the capture and ransom of John II of France, among the notable figures of the war was Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who led French forces against the English, establishing herself as a national heroine. The war ended with a Valois victory in 1453, victory in the Hundred Years War had the effect of strengthening French nationalism and vastly increasing the power and reach of the French monarchy. During the period known as the Ancien Régime, France transformed into an absolute monarchy. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, Henry, King of Navarre, scion of the Bourbon family, would be victorious in the conflict and establish the French Bourbon dynasty. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire was established in the 16th century, French political power reached a zenith under the rule of Louis XIV, The Sun King, builder of Versailles Palace. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution, the country was governed for a period as a Republic, until the French Empire was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. France was one of the Triple Entente powers in World War I, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, the United States and smaller allies against Germany and the Central Powers. France was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, the Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by Germany while the south was controlled until 1942 by the collaborationist Vichy government. Living conditions were harsh as Germany drained away food and manpower, Charles de Gaulle led the Free France movement that one-by-one took over the colonial empire, and coordinated the wartime Resistance. Following liberation in summer 1944, a Fourth Republic was established, France slowly recovered economically, and enjoyed a baby boom that reversed its very low fertility rate. Long wars in Indochina and Algeria drained French resources and ended in political defeat, in the wake of the Algerian Crisis of 1958, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fifth Republic. Into the 1960s decolonization saw most of the French colonial empire become independent, while smaller parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments, since World War II France has been a permanent member in the UN Security Council and NATO. It played a role in the unification process after 1945 that led to the European Union
3.
France in the Middle Ages
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From the 13th century on, the state slowly regained control of a number of these lost powers. The crises of the 13th and 14th centuries led to the convening of an assembly, the Estates General. From the Middle Ages onward, French rulers believed their kingdoms had natural borders, the Pyrenees, the Alps and this was used as a pretext for an aggressive policy and repeated invasions. The belief, however, had little basis in reality for not all of territories were part of the Kingdom. France had important rivers that were used as waterways, the Loire, the Rhone and these rivers were settled earlier than the rest and important cities were founded on their banks but they were separated by large forests, marsh, and other rough terrains. Before the Romans conquered Gaul, the Gauls lived in villages organised in wider tribes, the Romans referred to the smallest of these groups as pagi and the widest ones as civitates. These pagi and civitates were often taken as a basis for the imperial administration and these religious provinces would survive until the French revolution. Discussion of the size of France in the Middle Ages is complicated by distinctions between lands personally held by the king and lands held in homage by another lord, the domaine royal of the Capetians was limited to the regions around Paris, Bourges and Sens. The great majority of French territory was part of Aquitaine, the Duchy of Normandy, the Duchy of Brittany, the Comté of Champagne, the Duchy of Burgundy, and other territories. Philip II Augustus undertook a massive French expansion in the 13th century, only in the 15th century would Charles VII and Louis XI gain control of most of modern-day France. The weather in France and Europe in the Middle Ages was significantly milder than during the preceding or following it. Historians refer to this as the Medieval Warm Period, lasting from about the 10th century to about the 14th century, part of the French population growth in this period is directly linked to this temperate weather and its effect on crops and livestock. At the end of the Middle Ages, France was the most populous region in Europe—having overtaken Spain, in the 14th century, before the arrival of the Black Death, the total population of the area covered by modern-day France has been estimated at around 17 million. The population of Paris is controversial, josiah Russell argued for about 80,000 in the early 14th century, although he noted that some other scholars suggested 200,000. The higher count would make it by far the largest city in western Europe, the Black Death killed an estimated one-third of the population from its appearance in 1348. The concurrent Hundred Years War slowed recovery and it would be the mid-16th century before the population recovered to mid-fourteenth century levels. The vast majority of the population spoke a variety of vernacular languages derived from vulgar Latin. Modern linguists typically add a group within France around Lyon
4.
Early modern France
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The Kingdom of France in the early modern period, from the Renaissance to the Revolution, was a monarchy ruled by the House of Bourbon. This corresponds to the so-called Ancien Régime, the territory of France during this period increased until it included essentially the extent of the modern country, and it also included the territories of the first French colonial empire overseas. In the mid 15th century, France was significantly smaller than it is today, in addition, certain provinces within France were ostensibly personal fiefdoms of noble families. The late 15th, 16th and 17th centuries would see France undergo a massive territorial expansion, France also embarked on exploration, colonisation, and mercantile exchanges with the Americas, India, the Indian Ocean, the Far East, and a few African trading posts. The administrative and legal system in France in this period is called the Ancien Régime. The Black Death had killed an estimated one-third of the population of France from its appearance in 1348, the concurrent Hundred Years War slowed recovery. It would be the early 16th century before the population recovered to mid-14th century levels and these demographic changes also led to a massive increase in urban populations, although on the whole France remained a profoundly rural country. Paris was one of the most populated cities in Europe, other major French cities include Lyon, Rouen, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Marseille. These centuries saw several periods of epidemics and crop failures due to wars, between 1693 and 1694, France lost 6% of its population. In the extremely harsh winter of 1709, France lost 3. 5% of its population, in the past 300 years, no period has been so proportionally deadly for the French, both World Wars included. Linguistically, the differences in France were extreme, before the Renaissance, the language spoken in the north of France was a collection of different dialects called Oïl languages whereas the written and administrative language remained Latin. Nevertheless, in 1790, only half of the spoke or understood standard French. The southern half of the continued to speak Occitan languages, and other inhabitants spoke Breton, Catalan, Basque, Dutch. In the north of France, regional dialects of the various langues doïl continued to be spoken in rural communities, during the French revolution, the teaching of French was promoted in all the schools. The French used would be that of the system, which differed from the French spoken in the courts of France before the revolution. Like the orators during the French revolution, the pronunciation of every syllable would become the new language, France would not become a linguistically unified country until the end of the 19th century. The Peace of Etaples marks, for some, the beginning of the modern period in France. The invasion of Italy by Charles VIII in 1494 began 62 years of war with the Habsburgs, in 1445, the first steps were made towards fashioning a regular army out of the poorly disciplined mercenary bands that French kings traditionally relied on
5.
French Wars of Religion
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Approximately 3,000,000 people perished as a result of violence, famine and disease in what is accounted as the second deadliest European religious war. Unlike all other wars at the time, the French wars retained their religious character without being confounded by dynastic considerations. At the conclusion of the conflict in 1598, Huguenots were granted rights and freedoms by the Edict of Nantes. The wars weakened the authority of the monarchy, already fragile under the rule of Francis II and then Charles IX, apart from previously mentioned names, the wars have been variously described as the Eight Wars of Religion, or simply the Wars of Religion. However, the Massacre of Vassy in 1562 is agreed to begin the French Wars of Religion, during this time, complex diplomatic negotiations and agreements of peace were followed by renewed conflict and power struggles. Humanism, until the late 1520s, served as a ground for the French Protestant Reformation. The spirit of the Renaissance interested Francis I and he encouraged the study of the classics by establishing royal professorships in Paris, equipping more people with the knowledge necessary to understand the classics. Francis I had no qualms with the religious order. Through the Concordat of Bologna, Pope Leo X increased the power of the king over the church, nomination of clergy depended upon the kings choice, in France, unlike in Germany, the nobles supported the policies and the status quo of their time. The establishment of the college and the spread of the printing press served the purposes of the Reformation. The printing press made mass production of inexpensive and fueled the spread of knowledge in all disciplines. Interest in the classics soared and literature was available to a wider audience. The accessibility coupled with romanticism for the knowledge from the past that built empires, precise language and eloquence were valued among scholars and true understanding of the classics meant studying them from the originals. Theological and religious thoughts were disseminated at an unprecedented pace, ideas about the Reformation were widespread in France by 1519. John Froben, a humanist printer, published a collection of Luther’s works, in one correspondence, he reported that 600 copies of such works were being shipped to France and Spain and were sold in Paris. The humanist perspective on understanding Scriptures had theological and ecclesiastical implications, studying Scriptures in the original flourished in the Renaissance period. This contrasted the heavy reliance of the church on the Vulgate - the Latin translation of the Bible. The Meaux Circle was formed by a group of humanists including Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Guillaume Briçonnet, bishop of Meaux, in the effort to reform preaching, the Meaux circle was joined by Vatable, a Hebraist and Guillaume Budé the classicist and librarian to the king
6.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
7.
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
8.
Napoleonic Wars
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The wars resulted from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars, which had raged on for years before concluding with the Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Napoleon became the First Consul of France in 1799, then Emperor five years later, inheriting the political and military struggles of the Revolution, he created a state with stable finances, a strong central bureaucracy, and a well-trained army. The British frequently financed the European coalitions intended to thwart French ambitions, by 1805, they had managed to convince the Austrians and the Russians to wage another war against France. At sea, the Royal Navy destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in October 1805, Prussian worries about increasing French power led to the formation of the Fourth Coalition in 1806. France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July, although Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, it did not bring a lasting peace for Europe. Hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia, the Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support. The Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, the Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia. Unwilling to bear the consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse and retreat of the Grand Army along with the destruction of Russian lands. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France, a lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814 and he was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again, the Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June. The Congress of Vienna, which started in 1814 and concluded in 1815, established the new borders of Europe and laid out the terms, Napoleon seized power in 1799, creating a de facto military dictatorship. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition, Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleons assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, for its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British quickly enforced a blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britains Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him, the so-called Continental System formed a league of armed neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France
9.
French Third Republic
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It came to an end on 10 July 1940. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, social upheaval, and the establishment of the Paris Commune. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but confusion as to the nature of that monarchy, thus, the Third Republic, which was originally intended as a provisional government, instead became the permanent government of France. The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 defined the composition of the Third Republic and it consisted of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate to form the legislative branch of government and a president to serve as head of state. The period from the start of World War I to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, Adolphe Thiers called republicanism in the 1870s the form of government that divides France least, however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood Reformist France, heir to the French Revolution, on the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church and the army. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the defeat of France, after Napoleons capture by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan, Parisian deputies led by Léon Gambetta established the Government of National Defence as a provisional government on 4 September 1870. The deputies then selected General Louis-Jules Trochu to serve as its president and this first government of the Third Republic ruled during the Siege of Paris. After the French surrender in January 1871, the provisional Government of National Defence disbanded, French territories occupied by Prussia at this time did not participate. The resulting conservative National Assembly elected Adolphe Thiers as head of a provisional government, due to the revolutionary and left-wing political climate that prevailed in the Parisian population, the right-wing government chose the royal palace of Versailles as its headquarters. The new government negotiated a settlement with the newly proclaimed German Empire. To prompt the Prussians to leave France, the government passed a variety of laws, such as the controversial Law of Maturities. The following repression of the communards would have consequences for the labor movement. The Orléanists supported a descendant of King Louis Philippe I, the cousin of Charles X who replaced him as the French monarch in 1830, his grandson Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris. The Bonapartists were marginalized due to the defeat of Napoléon III and were unable to advance the candidacy of any member of his family, the Bonaparte family. Legitimists and Orléanists came to a compromise, eventually, whereby the childless Comte de Chambord would be recognised as king, consequently, in 1871 the throne was offered to the Comte de Chambord. Chambord believed the monarchy had to eliminate all traces of the Revolution in order to restore the unity between the monarchy and the nation, which the revolution had sundered apart. Compromise on this was if the nation were to be made whole again
10.
France in the twentieth century
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Alsace-Lorraine would be restored at the end of World War I. Unlike other European countries France did not experience a population growth in the mid and late 19th century. From a population of around 39 million in 1880, France still had only a population of 40 million in 1945, the post-war years would bring a massive baby boom, and with immigration, France reached 50 million in 1968. This growth slowed down in 1974, since 1999, France has seen an unprecedented growth in population. In 2004, population growth was 0. 68%, almost reaching North American levels, France is now well ahead of all other European countries in population growth and in 2003, Frances natural population growth was responsible for almost all the natural growth in European population. Today, France, with a population of 62 and a million, or 65 million including overseas territories, is the third most populous country of Europe, behind Russia. Immigration in the 20th century differed significantly from that of the previous century, the 1920s saw great influxes from Italy and Poland, in the 1930-50s immigrants came from Spain and Portugal. Since the 1960s however, the greatest waves of immigrants have been from former French colonies, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Mali, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. Much of this recent immigration was initially economical, but many of these immigrants have remained in France, gained citizenship, estimates vary, but of the 60 million people living in France today, close to 4 million claim foreign origin. Eastern-European and North-African Jewish immigration to France largely began in the mid to late 19th century, in 1872, there was an estimated 86,000 Jews living in France, and by 1945 this would increase to 300,000. Many Jews integrated into French society, although French nationalism led to anti-Semitism in many quarters, since the 1960s, France has experienced a great deal of Jewish immigration from the Mediterranean and North Africa, and the Jewish population in France is estimated at around 600,000 today. By far the largest of these is Paris, at 2.1 million inhabitants, followed by Lille, Lyon, much of this urbanization takes place not in the traditional center of the cities, but in the suburbs that surround them. With immigration from countries, these cités have been the center of racial. Compounding the loss of regionalism is the role of the French capital, the post-war years saw the state take control of a number of French industries. The modern political climate has however been for increasing regional power, many French intellectuals welcomed the war to avenge the humiliation of defeat and loss of territory to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War of 1871. A pacifist, was assassinated at the start of the war, Prime Minister Rene Viviani called for unity—for a Union sacrée --Which was a wartime truce between the right and left factions that had been fighting bitterly. However, war-weariness was a factor by 1917, even reaching the army. The soldiers were reluctant to attack, Mutiny was a factor as soldiers said it was best to wait for the arrival of millions of Americans, the economy was hurt by the German invasion of major industrial areas in the northeast
11.
French people
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The French are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural, modern French society can be considered a melting pot. To be French, according to the first article of the French Constitution, is to be a citizen of France, regardless of origin, race. The debate concerning the integration of this view with the underlying the European Community remains open. A large number of foreigners have traditionally been permitted to live in France, indeed, the country has long valued its openness, tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries, the European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in the state sector. Seeing itself as a nation with universal values, France has always valued. However, the success of such assimilation has recently called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno-cultural enclaves, the 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration, the name France etymologically derives from the word Francia, the territory of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire, in the pre-Roman era, all of Gaul was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58-51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar, the area then became part of the Roman Empire. Over the next five centuries the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo-Roman culture, the Gaulish vernacular language disappeared step by step to be replaced everywhere by Vulgar Latin, which would later develop under Frankish influence into the French language in the North of France. With the decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture, the Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti, already during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present-day Netherlands, at the beginning, they served in the Roman army and reached high commands. Their language is spoken as a kind of Dutch in northern France. Another Germanic people immigrated massively to Alsace, the Alamans, which explains the Alemannic German spoken there and they were competitors of the Franks, thats why it became at the Renaissance time the word for German in French, Allemand. By the early 6th century the Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern-day France, the Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process
12.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
13.
Alsatian dialect
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Alsatian is a Low Alemannic German dialect spoken in most of Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control five times since 1681. A dialect of Alsatian German is spoken in the United States by so-called Swiss Amish, the approximately 7,000 speakers are mainly located in Allen County, Indiana but also in daughter settlements elsewhere. Alsatian is closely related to other nearby Alemannic dialects, such as Swiss German, Swabian and it is often confused with Lorraine Franconian, a more distantly related Franconian dialect spoken in the northwest corner of Alsace and in neighbouring Lorraine. Like other dialects and languages, Alsatian has also influenced by outside sources. Words of Yiddish origin can be found in Alsatian, and modern conversational Alsatian includes adaptations of French words and English words, many speakers of Alsatian could, if necessary, write in reasonable standard German. For most this would be rare and confined to those who have learned German at school or through work, as with other dialects, various factors determine when, where, and with whom one might converse in Alsatian. Some dialect speakers are unwilling to speak standard German, at times, to certain outsiders, some street names in Alsace may use Alsatian spellings. C, Q, and X are only used in loanwords, Y is also used in native words such as Dytschi, but is more common in loanwords. Alsatian, like some German dialects, has lenited all obstruents and its lenes are, however, voiceless as in all Southern German varieties. Therefore, they are here transcribed /b̥/, /d̥/, /ɡ̊/, the phoneme /ç/ has a velar allophone after back vowels, and palatal elsewhere. In southern dialects, there is a tendency to pronounce it /x/ in all positions, short vowels, /ʊ/, /o/, /ɒ/, /a/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /i/, /y/. Long vowels, /ʊː/, /oː/, /ɒː/, /aː/, /ɛː/, /eː/, /iː/, /yː/ Since 1992, however, Alsatian, along with other regional languages, is recognized by the French government in the official list of languages of France. France is a signatory to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages but has never ratified the law and has not given regional languages the support that would be required by the charter. The policies of the Paris government have had the effect of greatly weakening the prevalence of native languages in France that are not French. As a result, the Alsatian dialect of German has gone from being the prevalent language of the region to one in decline, a 1999 INSEE survey counted 548,000 adult speakers of Alsatian in France, making it the second most-spoken regional language in the country. Like all regional languages in France, however, the transmission of Alsatian is on the decline, while 43% of the adult population of Alsace speaks Alsatian, its use has been largely declining amongst the youngest generations. La dynamique des langues en France au fil du XXe siècle, lalsacien, deuxième langue régionale de France Insee, Chiffres pour lAlsace no. Le dialecte à la portée de tous La Nuée Bleue,1999, ISBN 2-7165-0464-4 Matzen, Raymond, and Léon Daul
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Breton language
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Breton /ˈbrɛtən/ is a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Brittany. Breton is most closely related to Cornish, both being Southwestern Brittonic languages, Welsh and the extinct Cumbric are the more distantly related Brittonic languages. The other regional language of Brittany, Gallo, is a langue doïl, Gallo is consequently close to French, although not mutually intelligible, and a Romance language descended from Latin. However, the number of children attending bilingual classes has risen 33% between 2006 and 2012 to 14,709, Breton is spoken in West Brittany, roughly to the west of a line linking Plouha and La Roche-Bernard. It comes from a Brittonic language community that extended from Great Britain to Armorica and had even established a toehold in Galicia. Old Breton is attested from the 9th century and it was the language of the upper classes until the 12th century, after which it became the language of commoners in Lower Brittany. The nobility, followed by the bourgeoisie, adopted French, the written language of the Duchy of Brittany was Latin, switching to French in the 15th century. There exists a tradition of Breton literature. Some Old Breton vocabulary remains in the present day as philosophical, during the French Revolution, the government introduced policies favouring French over the regional languages, which it pejoratively referred to as patois. The revolutionaries assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces preferred regional languages to try to keep the peasant masses underinformed, in 1794, Bertrand Barère submitted his report on the patois to the Committee of Public Safety in which he said that federalism and superstition speak Breton. Teachers humiliated students for using their regional languages, and such practices prevailed until the late 1960s, the majority of todays speakers are more than 60 years old, and Breton is now classified as an endangered language. At the beginning of the 20th century, half of the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton, by 1950, there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons, and this rapid decline has continued, with likely no monolingual speakers left today. A statistical survey in 1997 found around 300,000 speakers in Lower Brittany, few 15- to 19-year-olds spoke Breton. In 1925, Professor Roparz Hemon founded the Breton-language review Gwalarn, during its 19-year run, Gwalarn tried to raise the language to the level of a great international language. Its publication encouraged the creation of literature in all genres. In 1946, Al Liamm replaced Gwalarn, other Breton-language periodicals have been published, which established a fairly large body of literature for a minority language. In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion and they taught a few thousand young people from elementary school to high school. See the education section for more information, the Asterix comic series has been translated into Breton
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Catalan language
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Catalan is a Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin and named after the medieval Principality of Catalonia, in northeastern modern Spain and adjoining parts of France. It is the national and only language of Andorra, and a co-official language of the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands. It also has status in the commune of Alghero, situated on the northwestern coast of the island of Sardinia. All these territories are often called Catalan Countries. 4% with Catalan and 47. 5% only Spanish, in order to integrate newcomers, the Generalitat de Catalunya spends part of its annual budget on the promotion of the use of Catalan in Catalonia and in other territories. Catalan evolved from Vulgar Latin in the Middle Ages around the eastern Pyrenees, during the Low Middle Ages it saw a golden age as the literary and dominant language of the Crown of Aragon, and was widely used all over the Mediterranean. The union of Aragon with the territories of Spain in 1479 marked the start of the decline of the language. In 1659 Spain ceded Northern Catalonia to France, and Catalan was banned in both states in the early 18th century, 19th-century Spain saw a Catalan literary revival, which culminated in the 1913 orthographic standardization, and the official status of the language during the Second Spanish Republic. However, the Francoist dictatorship banned the use of Catalan in schools and in the public administration, there is no parallel in Europe for such a large, bilingual, non-state speech community. Catalan dialects are relatively uniform, and are mutually intelligible and they are divided into two blocks, Eastern and Western, differing mostly in pronunciation. The terms Catalan and Valencian are two varieties of the same language, there are two institutions regulating the two standard varieties, the Institute of Catalan Studies in Catalonia and the Valencian Academy of the Language in the Valencian Community. Catalan shares many traits with its neighboring Romance languages, thus, the similarities are naturally most notable with eastern Occitan. Nouns have two genders, and two numbers, pronouns additionally can have a neuter gender, and some are also inflected for case and politeness, and can be combined in very complex ways. Verbs are split in several paradigms and are inflected for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, in terms of pronunciation, Catalan has many words ending in a wide variety of consonants and some consonant clusters, in contrast with many other Romance languages. The word Catalan derives from the territory of Catalonia, itself of disputed etymology, in English, the term referring to a person first appears in the mid 14th century as Catelaner, followed in the 15th century as Catellain. It is attested a language name since at least 1652, Catalan can be pronounced as /ˈkætəlæn/, /kætəˈlæn/ or /ˈkætələn/. The endonym is pronounced /kə. təˈɫa/ in the Eastern Catalan dialects, in the Valencian Community, the term valencià is frequently used instead. The names Catalan and Valencian are two names for the same language, see also status of Valencian below. By the 9th century, Catalan had evolved from Vulgar Latin on both sides of the end of the Pyrenees, as well as the territories of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis to the south
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Corsican language
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Corsican is a Romance language within the Italo-Dalmatian subfamily. It is closely related to the Italian language and especially to its Tuscan branch and it is spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia. Over the next two centuries, the use of French grew to the extent that, by the Liberation in 1945, the 20th century saw a wholesale language shift, with islanders changing their language practices to the extent that there were no monolingual Corsican speakers left by the 1960s. By 1995, an estimated 65 percent of islanders had some degree of proficiency in Corsican, one of the main sources of confusion in popular classifications is the difference between a dialect and a language. Typically it is not possible to ascertain what an author means by these terms, one of the characteristics of Italian is the retention of the -re infinitive ending as in Latin mittere, send. Such infinitival ending is lost in Corsican as well as in Tuscan, the term gallicised Corsican refers to Corsican up to about the year 1950. The term distanciated Corsican refers to an idealized Corsican from which various agents have removed French or other elements, in 40 AD, the natives of Corsica did not speak Latin. The Roman exile, Seneca the Younger, reports that both coast and interior were occupied by natives whose language he did not understand, whatever language was spoken is still visible in the toponymy or in some words, for instance in the Gallurese dialect spoken in Sardinia zerru pig. A similar situation is valid for Sardinian and Sicilian, the occupation of the island by the Vandals around the year 469 marked the end of authoritative influence by Latin speakers. If the natives of that time spoke Latin, they must have acquired it during the late empire. The two most widely spoken forms of the Corsican language are Supranacciu or Cismonticu, spoken in the Bastia and Corte area, the dialect of Ajaccio has been described as in transition. The dialects spoken at Calvi and Bonifacio are closer to the Genoese dialect, whether the two should be included either in Corsican or in Sardinian as dialects or considered independent languages is still subject of debate. On Maddalena archipelago the local dialect was brought by fishermen and shepherds from Bonifacio during immigration in the 17th and 18th centuries, though influenced by Gallurese, it has maintained the original characteristics of Corsican. There are also words of Genoese and Ponzese origin. They are thus defined as different languages from Sardinian by the Sardinian government. Only a fraction of the population at either time spoke Corsican with any fluency, the use of Corsican language over French language has been declining. In 1980 about 70 percent of the population of the island had some command of the Corsican language, in 1990 out of a total population of about 254,000 the percentage had declined to 50 percent, with only 10 percent using it as a first language. The language appeared to be in decline when the French government reversed its unsupportive stand
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Gallo language
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Gallo is a regional language of France. It is not as commonly spoken as it once was, as the form of French now predominates. Gallo is classified as one of the Oïl languages, Gallo was originally spoken in the Marches of Neustria, which now corresponds to the border lands of Brittany and Normandy and its former heart in Le Mans, Maine. Gallo was the spoken language of the leaders of the Norman conquest of England, most of whom originated in Upper Brittany. Thus Gallo was a vehicle for the subsequent transformation of English, as an Oïl language, Gallo forms part of a dialect continuum which includes Norman, Picard and the Poitevin dialect, among others. One of the features that distinguishes it from Norman is the absence of Old Norse influence, there is some limited mutual intelligibility with adjacent varieties of the Norman language along the linguistic frontier and with Guernésiais and Jèrriais. However, as the dialect continuum shades towards Mayennais, there is a clear isogloss. The clearest isogloss is that distinguishing Gallo from Breton, a Brittonic Celtic language traditionally spoken in the territory of Brittany. In the west, the vocabulary of Gallo has been influenced by contact with Breton, the influence of Breton decreases eastwards across Gallo-speaking territory. The term gallo is sometimes spelled galo or gallot and it is also referred to as langue gallèse or britto-roman in Brittany. In south Lower Normandy and in the west of Pays de la Loire it is referred to as patois. Gallo comes from the Breton word gall, meaning “foreigner”, “French” or “non-Breton”, the Celts settled in Armorica toward the 8th century BC. Some of early groups mentioned in the records of the Greeks were the Redones. They spoke dialects of the Gaulish language and maintained important economic ties with the British Isles, julius Caesar’s invasion of Armorica in 56 BC led to a sort of Romanization of the population. Gaulish continued to be spoken in this region until the 6th century, especially in less populated, when the Bretons emigrated to Armorica around this time, they found a people who had retained their Celtic language and culture. The Bretons were therefore able to integrate easily, in contrast to Armorica’s western countryside, Nantes and Rennes were Roman cultural centres. Following the Migration Period, these two cities, as well as regions to the east of the Vilaine, including the town Vannes, fell under Frankish rule. Thus, during the Merovingian dynasty, the population of Armorica was diverse, consisting of Gaulish tribes with assimilated Bretons, as well as Romanized cities and Germanic tribes
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Languages of New Caledonia
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New Caledonia, a part of the French Republic, uses French as its official language, following the constitutional law 92-554. The thirty New Caledonian languages form a branch of the Southern Oceanic languages and their speakers are known as Kanaks. This language allowed them to communicate with shopkeepers or with the other Melanesian populations and those native languages have been favoured by some of the missionaries to evangelize the population, the Catholic missionaries preferred the usage of French. Thus, there were three languages used, French, English, and Bislama, New Caledonia is constituted of numerous populations, but the vast majority is represented by Kanaks or Europeans. Nowadays, there are about 30 Melanesian languages present, and also other languages peculiar to the immigrant populations and those populations have immigrated to New Caledonia during the nickel rush. The native languages of New Caledonia are part of the Austronesian family and this family extends from the island of Madagascar, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and covers almost all of the Pacific. Those languages have differences between them. English is also present in New Caledonia, as everywhere in the world, the forty native languages of New Caledonia form two branches of the Southern Oceanic languages, part of the Austronesian family, West Uvean is Polynesian. Their speakers are known as Kanaks, the most important are, Drehu, Nengone, Paicî, Ajië, and Xârâcùù. The other languages are spoken by a few hundred to couple thousand people and are endangered, many Kanaks do not know their native languages very well because of the wide usage of French. Thus, this is a “regional French”, which differs from standard French and these languages have to be taken into account too because of the numerous number of immigrants in New Caledonia. Nevertheless, these languages are a minority, mainly spoken in the capital, New Caledonia being a part of French Republic, its official language is French, following the constitutional law 92-554. This law is applicable to every field, at the level of legislation and justice, on some occasions they may have recourse to a Melanesian language. A series of decrees and clauses allow the usage of Melanesian languages in education in some cases, the more important law to that purpose is the “Loi d’orientation d’Outre-Mer” which stipulates that we have to respect these native languages which are a part of New Caledonian culture. Secondary school is under State authority, therefore, the language in application is French, some schools give optional native languages lessons, but it is still very rare. Nevertheless, four languages are proposed at the baccalaureate, Ajië, Drehu, Nengone, there has been controversy about the educational system, as it has been claimed, that the programs are not adjusted to the population. As a French overseas department New Caledonia is almost exclusively under the control of France at the educative level. Moreover, French is only a second language for significant minority of New Caledonians and this situation has been described as a major cause for the high rate of illiteracy and academic failure by New Caledonian students
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Occitan language
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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
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French cuisine
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French cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from France. In the 14th century Guillaume Tirel, a chef known as Taillevent, wrote Le Viandier. During that time, French cuisine was influenced by Italian cuisine. Cheese and wine are a part of the cuisine. They play different roles regionally and nationally, with many variations, gastro-tourism and the Guide Michelin helped to acquaint people with the rich bourgeois and peasant cuisine of the French countryside starting in the 20th century. Gascon cuisine has also had influence over the cuisine in the southwest of France. Many dishes that were once regional have proliferated in variations across the country, knowledge of French cooking has contributed significantly to Western cuisines. Its criteria are used widely in Western cookery school boards and culinary education, in November 2010, French gastronomy was added by the UNESCO to its lists of the worlds intangible cultural heritage. In French medieval cuisine, banquets were common among the aristocracy, multiple courses would be prepared, but served in a style called service en confusion, or all at once. Food was generally eaten by hand, meats being sliced off in large pieces held between the thumb and two fingers, the sauces were highly seasoned and thick, and heavily flavored mustards were used. Meals often ended with an issue de table, which changed into the modern dessert. The ingredients of the time varied according to the seasons and the church calendar, and many items were preserved with salt, spices, honey. Late spring, summer, and autumn afforded abundance, while winter meals were more sparse, livestock were slaughtered at the beginning of winter. Beef was often salted, while pork was salted and smoked, bacon and sausages would be smoked in the chimney, while the tongue and hams were brined and dried. Cucumbers were brined as well, while greens would be packed in jars with salt, fruits, nuts and root vegetables would be boiled in honey for preservation. Whale, dolphin and porpoise were considered fish, so during Lent, artificial freshwater ponds held carp, pike, tench, bream, eel, and other fish. Poultry was kept in yards, with pigeon and squab being reserved for the elite. Game was highly prized, but very rare, and included venison, wild boar, hare, rabbit, kitchen gardens provided herbs, including some, such as tansy, rue, pennyroyal, and hyssop, which are rarely used today
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Public holidays in France
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There are 11 official public holidays in France. The Alsace region and the Moselle department observe 2 additional days, most Asian countries and all North American countries observe between 2 and 10 more public holidays per year on weekdays. Public holidays in France are, See Fêtes et jours fériés en France, note, French law dictates that work should stop, but be paid, only for the Fête du Travail, except in industries where it is infeasible to stop working. The rest of the holidays are listed in statute law. In 2005, French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin removed Whit Mondays status as a public holiday, the decision was eventually overruled by French courts in 2008. Employers are free to decide whether to make Whit Monday a day off or not
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Religion in France
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France is a country where freedom of religion and freedom of thought are guaranteed by virtue of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Republic is based on the principle of laïcité enforced by the 1880s Jules Ferry laws and the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches, while millions in France continue to attend religious services regularly, the overall level of observance is considerably lower than in the past. This makes France one of the more atheistic countries in the world, France guarantees freedom of religion as a constitutional right and the government generally respects this right in practice. Catholicism is the religion in France. During the Ancien Régime, France had traditionally considered the Churchs eldest daughter. This led to conflicts, in particular during the Reformation between Catholics and Huguenots. A strong Protestant population resided in France, primarily of Reformed confession and it was persecuted by the state for most of the time, with temporary periods of relative toleration. These wars continued throughout the 16th century, with the 1572 St. Bartholomews Day massacre as its apex, for the first time, Huguenots were considered by the state as more than mere schismatics and heretics. The Edict of Nantes thus opened a path for secularism and tolerance, Religious conflicts resumed in the end of the 17th century, when Louis XIV, the Sun King, initiated the persecution of Huguenots by introducing the dragonnades in 1681. These wave of violence intimidated the Protestants into converting to Catholicism and he made this policy official with the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes. On 17 January 1686, Louis XIV himself claimed that out of a Huguenot population of 800,000 to 900,000, a Camisard rebellion broke out in 1702 in the Cevennes mountains. The experiment of religious toleration in Europe was effectively ended for the time being, in practice, the revocation caused France to suffer a brain drain, as it lost a large number of skilled craftsmen, including key designers such as Daniel Marot. Some rulers, such as Frederick Wilhelm of Brandenburg, who issued the Edict of Potsdam, encouraged the Protestants to flee, during the French Revolution, the Catholic Church lost its power and influence. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, passed in 1790, put the Catholic Church under state control, while the clergy was persecuted by the commune of Paris and some of the representatives on mission, new religions and philosophies were allowed to compete with Catholicism. Following the Thermidorian Reaction the persecutions ceased but the schism between the French government and the Catholic Church wouldnt end until the Concordat of 1801 by Napoleon. After the Bourbon Restoration and the coming to power of the Ultra-royalists in the Chambre introuvable, under Villèles ultra-royalist government, the Chamber voted in the extreme 1830 Anti-Sacrilege Act. A1905 law instituted the separation of Church and State and prohibited the government from recognising, salarying or subsidising any religion, however the Briand-Ceretti Agreement subsequently restored for a while a formal role for the state in the appointment of Catholic bishops. For similar historical reasons, Catholic priests in French Guiana are civil servants of the local government, Religious buildings built prior to 1905 at taxpayers expense are retained by the local or national government, and may be used at no expense by religious organizations
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French art
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French art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic, then left many megalithic monuments. With Merovingian art the story of French styles as a distinct, in France there are some 5,000 megalithics monuments, mainly in Brittany, where there is the largest concentration of these monuments. In this area there is variety of these monuments that have been well preserved, like menhirs, dolmen, cromlechs. The Cairn of Gavrinis in southern Brittany is an example of megalithic art. The great broken menhir of Er-Grah, now in four pieces was more than 20 meters high originally, France has also numerous painted stones, polished stone axes, and inscribed menhirs from this period. The Grand-Pressigny area was known for its precious silex blades and they were exported during the Neolithic. In France from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, one finds a variety of archaeological cultures, 4500–4000 BC, Beaker culture of c. 2800–1900 BC, Tumulus culture of c, 1600–1200 BC, Urnfield culture of c. 1300–800 BC, and, in a transition to the Iron Age, for more on Prehistoric sites in Western France, see Prehistory of Brittany. This art drew on native, classical and perhaps, the Mediterranean, the Celts of Gaul are known through numerous tombs and burial mounds found throughout France. The Celtic Vix grave in present-day Burgundy revealed the largest bronze crater of the Antiquity, the region of Gaul came under the rule of the Roman Empire from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Southern France, and especially Provence and Languedoc, is known for its many intact Gallo-Roman monuments, lugdunum, modern Lyon, was at the time of the Roman Empire the largest city outside Italy and gave birth to two Roman Emperors. The city still boasts some Roman remains including a Theater, Merovingian art is the art and architecture of the Merovingian dynasty of the Franks, which lasted from the fifth century to the eighth century in present-day France and Germany. The advent of the Merovingian dynasty in Gaul during the century led to important changes in the arts. In architecture, there was no longer the desire to build robust, sculpture regressed to being little more than a simple technique for the ornamentation of sarcophagi, altars, and ecclesiastical furniture. The unification of the Frankish kingdom under Clovis I and his successors, the plans for them probably were copied from Roman basilicas. Unfortunately, these structures have not survived because of destruction by fire
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French literature
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This article is a general introduction to French literature. For detailed information on French literature in specific periods, see the separate historical articles in the template to the right. Literature written in French language, by citizens of nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco. As of 2006, French writers have been awarded more Nobel Prizes in Literature than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country, France itself ranks first in the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country. French literature has been for French people an object of pride for centuries. The French language is a dialect derived from Latin and heavily influenced principally by Celtic. Today, French schools emphasize the study of novels, theater, the literary arts are heavily sponsored by the state and literary prizes are major news. The Académie française and the Institut de France are important linguistic and artistic institutions in France, Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in their sense of identity. As of 2006, French literary people have been awarded more Nobel Prizes in Literature than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country, a writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form. For most of the 20th century, French authors had more Literature Nobel Prizes than those of any other nation. M. G, le Clézio 2014 – Patrick Modiano Grand Prix de Littérature Policière – created in 1948, for crime and detective fiction. Grand Prix du roman de lAcadémie française – created 1918, Prix Décembre – created in 1989. Prix Femina – created 1904, decided each year by an exclusively female jury, Prix Goncourt – created 1903, given to the author of the best and most imaginative prose work of the year. Prix Goncourt des Lycéens – created in 1987, Prix Littéraire Valery Larbaud – created in 1957. Prix Médicis – created 1958, awarded to an author whose fame does not yet match their talent, Prix Renaudot – created in 1926. Prix Tour-Apollo Award – 1972–1990, given to the best science fiction published in French during the preceding year. Prix des Deux Magots – created in 1933, a short history of French literature Burgwinkle, William, Nicholas Hammond, and Emma Wilson, eds. The Cambridge history of French literature Cobb, Richard, Promenades, an appreciation of modern French literature Harvey, Paul. The Oxford companion to French literature Denis Hollier, ed, a New History of French Literature, Harvard University Press,1989,1150 pp. France, Peter
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Music of France
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The music of France reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of music, France has produced a number of prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson. The earliest known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, was patented in France by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, French music history dates back to organum in the 10th century, followed by the Notre Dame School, an organum composition style. By the end of the 12th century, a form of song called the motet arose, in the 14th century, France produced two notable styles of music, Ars Nova and Ars Subtilior. Burgundy, the mostly French-speaking area unified with the Kingdom of France in 1477 and this was followed by the rise of chansons and the Burgundian School. Influential composers included Louis Couperin, François Couperin and Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Jean Philippe Rameau, a prominent opera composer, wrote an influential treatise on musical theory, especially in the subject of harmony, he also introduced the clarinet into his orchestras. In the late Renaissance and early Baroque period, a type of secular vocal music called Air de cour spread throughout France. The first French opera may be Akébar roi du Mogol, first performed in Carpentras in 1646 and his first was Cadmus from 1673. Lullys forays into operatic tragedy were accompanied by the pinnacle of French theatrical tragedy, led by Corneille and Racine. Lully also developed the beat patterns used by conductors to this day. The French composer, Georges Bizet, composed Carmen, one of the most well known, Claude Balbastre was an organist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time, henri-Montan Berton, son of Pierre, is principally remembered as a composer of operas, most of which were first performed at the Opéra-Comique. Chélard earned his living for much of his career as a violist at the Paris Opera and his 1827 opera Macbeth was a flop in Paris, but a great success in Munich. Jeanne-Hippolyte Devismes married the director of the Paris Opéra and her only known works are a song, La Dame Jacinthe, and an opera, Praxitėle, which was a success and ran for 16 performances. Harpsichordist and composer Jacques Duphly contributed to Jean-Jacques Rousseau dictionary, for articles relating to the art of playing the harpsichord, one of the major French composers of the time, and one of the most innovative composers of the early Romantic era, was Hector Berlioz. In the late 19th century, pioneers such as Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, the last two had an enormous impact on 20th-century music - both in France and abroad - and influenced many major composers such as Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. Erik Satie was also a significant composer from that era
26.
Theatre of France
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Most historians place the origin of medieval drama in the churchs liturgical dialogues and tropes. In the 12th century one finds the earliest extant passages in French appearing as refrains inserted into liturgical dramas in Latin, such as a Saint Nicholas play, public performances were tightly controlled by a guild system. Another guild, the Enfants Sans-Souci was in charge of farces and soties, like the Confrères de la Passion, la Basoche came under political scrutiny, and they were finally suppressed in 1582. In 1597, they abandoned this privilege, alongside the numerous writers of these traditional works, Marguerite de Navarre also wrote a number of plays close to the traditional mystery and morality play. From 1550 on, one finds humanist theatre written in French, the influence of Seneca was particularly strong in humanist tragedy. The plots often had clear parallels to political and religious matters. Horace was translated in the 1540s, but had been throughout the Middle Ages. The fourth century grammarians Diomedes and Aelius Donatus were also a source of classical theory, the sixteenth century Italians played a central role in the publishing and interpretation of classical dramatic theory, and their works had a major effect on French theatre. Lodovico Castelvetros Aristote-based Art of Poetry was one of the first enunciations of the three unities, this work would inform Jean de la Tailles Art de la tragedie, Italian theatre and debates on decorum would also influence the French tradition. The Tragicomedy — a theatrical version of the novel, with lovers, knights, disguises. The most famous of these is Robert Garniers Bradamante, adapted from Ariostos Orlando furioso, the Pastoral — modeled on Giambattista Guarinis Pastor fido, Tassos Aminta and Antonio Ongaro Alceo. The first French pastorals were short plays performed before a tragedy, nicolas de Montreux wrote three pastorals, Athlette, Diane Arimène ou le berger désespéré. The Ballets de cour — an allegorical and fantastic mixture of dance, the most famous of these is the Ballet comique de la reine. By the end of the century, the most influential French playwright — by the range of his styles, all of these eclectic traditions would continue to evolve in the baroque theatre of the early 17th century, before French classicism would finally impose itself. In 1597, this guild abandoned its privilege which permitted other theatres, in addition to public theatres, plays were produced in private residences, before the court and in the university. In the first half of the century, the public, the humanist theatre of the colleges, for example, while the tragicomedy was fashionable at the court in the first decade, the public was more interested in tragedy. The early theatres in Paris were often placed in existing structures like tennis courts, their stages were extremely narrow, eventually, theatres would develop systems of elaborate machines and decors, fashionable for the chevaleresque flights of knights found in the tragicomedies of the first half of the century. In the early part of the century, the performances took place twice a week starting at two or three oclock
27.
Cinema of France
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Cinema of France refers to the film industry based in France. The French cinema comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad, France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its significant contributions to the art form and the film-making process itself. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle Vague, began in the country and it is noted for having a particularly strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the French government. Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has also been a spot for artists from across Europe. For this reason, French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations, Directors from nations such as Poland, Argentina, Russia, Austria, and Georgia are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in countries, such as Luc Besson, Jacques Tourneur. Philippe Binant realized, on 2 February 2000, the first digital cinema projection in Europe, with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments, in Paris. With 205.34 million tickets sold in 2015 and 212.71 million in 2016 and it is the most successful film industry in Europe in terms of number of films produced per annum, with a record-breaking 300 feature-length films produced in 2015. France is also one of the few countries where non-American productions have the biggest share and this is largely due to the commercial strength of domestic productions, which accounted for 44, 5% of admissions in 2014. Also, the French film industry is closer to being entirely self-sufficient than any country in Europe. In 2013, France was the 2nd largest exporter of films in the world after the United States, a study made in April 2014 shows the excellent image which French cinema maintains around the world, being the most appreciated cinema after American cinema. Les frères Lumière realized the first projection with the Cinematograph, in Paris on 28 December 1895, the French film industry in the late 19th century and early 20th century was among the worlds most important. Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinématographe and their LArrivée dun train en gare de La Ciotat in Paris in 1895 is considered by historians as the official birth of cinematography. The early days of the industry, from 1896 to 1902, saw the dominance of four firms, Pathé Frères, the Gaumont Film Company, the Georges Méliès company, and the Lumières. Méliès invented many of the techniques of cinematic grammar, and among his fantastic, in 1902 the Lumières abandoned everything but the production of film stock, leaving Méliès as the weakest player of the remaining three. From 1904 to 1911 the Pathé Frères company led the world in production and distribution. At Gaumont, pioneer Alice Guy-Blaché was made head of production and oversaw about 400 films, from her first, La Fée aux Choux, in 1896 and she then continued her career in the United States, as did Maurice Tourneur and Léonce Perret after World War I. After World War I, the French film industry suffered because of a lack of capital, when film studios in Europe began to fail, many European countries began to set import barriers
28.
Sport in France
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Sport in France plays an important role in French society, which is reflected in its popularity among the French people and strong sporting history. Various types of sports are played and followed in France, the most popular of which is association football, association football is the most popular sport in France, with 1,973,270 licensed players in the leagues. The sport was imported from England at the end of the 19th century, in its early days, the sport gained followers mainly in the Paris area and the Northern part of the country - Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Normandy were the first teams that were created outside Paris. In southern France, footballs competitor, rugby football, was favoured at the time. Established in 1919 from competing organizations, the Fédération française de football consists of 18,000 teams and it is also one of only nine teams to have won the UEFA European Championship. France was also the 1984 Olympic Champion and the 1998 World Cup winner, Ligue 1 is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Ligue 2, the most successful club in the French first division history is AS Saint-Étienne with 10 championships, followed by Olympique de Marseille with 9 titles and FC Nantes with 8 titles. As of 2016, the current champions are Paris Saint-Germain, the Coupe de France is the premier knock-out cup competition in French football. The Coupe de la Ligue is the major cup competition in France. The Trophée des champions is played each July as a match between the Coupe de France winners and the Ligue 1 champions. Only one French club, Olympique de Marseille, has won the UEFA Champions League in 1993, Stade de Reims, AS Saint-Étienne, and AS Monaco have been runners-up. SC Bastia, FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique de Marseille have also been runners-up in the UEFA Europa League, France womens national football team main international achievement has been fourth place at the 2011 FIFA Womens World Cup. Womens national professional competitions are supervised by the Fédération française de football, the first division is the Championnat de France de football féminin. Olympique Lyonnais is the most successful team in French first division history with 12 titles, in the UEFA Womens Champions League, OL have won twice and have been runners-up twice. Rugby union was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents, while football is much more popular nationally, rugby union is predominant in the southern half of the country, especially around Toulouse, the French Basque country and Catalonia. Elite French clubs participate in the club competition - the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and it is the seventh largest French team sport in the terms of licensed players with 457,018 licensed players
29.
Monument historique
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The term monument historique is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. Both public and privately owned structures may be listed in this way, as of 2012 there were 44,236 monuments listed. Buildings may be given the classification for both their exteriors or interiors, including a buildings décor, its furniture, a single room, or even a staircase. An example is the Monument Historique classification of the décor in the café Deux Garçons in Aix-en-Provence whose patrons once included Alphonse de Lamartine, Émile Zola, since the 1990s, a significant number of places have been given the designation because of their historical importance to science. The MH designation traces its roots to the French Revolution when the government appointed Alexandre Lenoir to specify, though the first classifications were given in the 19th century by the writer Prosper Mérimée, inspector-general of historical monuments, by a first list established in 1840. In 1851, Mérimée organized the Missions Héliographiques to document Frances medieval architecture, a monument historique may be marked by the official logo of the Union REMPART, a French historical restoration association. It consists of a representing the labyrinth that used to be in Reims Cathedral. Use of the logo is optional and these two levels of protection are determined after a thorough historical study by the préfet for the région, or by the Minister of Culture for the national level. They are aided by the advice of a commission named Commission régionale du patrimoine et des sites, many of the Châteaux of the Loire Valley carry the MH designation as do the renowned gardens at Château de Villandry. Prosper Mérimée 1803-1870 The monuments historiques inspector Prosper Mérimée established the first list of monuments classés in 1840, rules and regulations on monuments historiques Monumental parks and monuments historiques in need of work Les Monuments Historiques de la France, bulletin trimestriel. Paris, Caisse Nationale des Monuments Historiques
30.
Flag of France
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The national flag of France is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour, the royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the citys traditional colours. According to Lafayette, white, the ancient French colour, was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national and this cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, the only difference was that the 1790 flags colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794, the royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830, the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830. The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard dEstaing, which replaced a version of the flag. Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height and, initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30,33 and 37. Blue and red are the colours of Paris, used on the citys coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Saint Denis, at the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red cockades on their hats. White had long featured prominently on French flags and is described as the ancient French colour by Lafayette, white was added to the revolutionary colours of the militia cockade to nationalise the design, thus creating the tricolour cockade. Although Lafayette identified the white stripe with the nation, other accounts identify it with the monarchy, Lafayette denied that the flag contains any reference to the red-and-white livery of the Duc dOrléans. Despite this, Orléanists adopted the tricolour as their own, blue and red are associated with the Virgin Mary, the patroness of France, and were the colours of the oriflamme. The colours of the French flag may represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime. Blue, as the symbol of class, comes first and red, representing the nobility, both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order. Lafayettes tricolour cockade was adopted in July 1789, a moment of unity that soon faded. Royalists began wearing white cockades and flying flags, while the Jacobins. The tricolour, which combines royalist white with red, came to be seen as a symbol of moderation
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National emblem of France
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The French Republic currently uses two emblems. One has been a symbol of France since 1912, although it not have any legal status as an official coat of arms. In 1953, France received a request from the United Nations for a copy of a coat of arms to be displayed alongside the coats of arms of other member states in its assembly chamber. An interministerial commission requested Robert Louis, heraldic artist, to produce a version of the Chaplain design and this did not, however, constitute an adoption of an official coat of arms by the Republic. It consists of, A wide shield with, on the one end a lion-head and on the other an eagle-head, an oak branch symbolises perennity or wisdom. The fasces, an associated with the exercise of justice. This use of the fasces predates the adoption of this symbol by Benito Mussolini as the emblem of Italian Fascism, the historical coat of arms of France were the golden fleurs-de-lys on a blue field, used continuously for nearly six centuries. They were first shown as semé, that is to say without any number and staggered. With this decision, King Charles V intended to place the kingdom under the invocation of the Virgin. The traditional supporters of the French royal arms are two angels, sometimes wearing a heraldic dalmatic, great Seal of France Media related to Coats of arms of France at Wikimedia Commons
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Economy of France
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France has the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal figures and the tenth largest economy by PPP figures. It has the third-largest economy in Europe with Germany in 1st, the OECD is headquartered in Paris, the nations financial capital. The chemical industry is a key sector for France, helping to develop other manufacturing activities, Frances tourism industry is a major component of the economy, as France is the most visited destination in the world. Sophia Antipolis is the technology hub for the economy of France. According to the IMF, in 2013, France was the worlds 20th country by GDP per capita with $44,099 per inhabitant, in 2013, France was listed on the United Nationss Human Development Index with 0.884 and 25th on the Corruption Perceptions Index. Frances economy entered the recession of the late 2000s later and appeared to leave it earlier than most affected economies, with 31 of the 500 biggest companies of the world in 2015, France ranks 4th in the Fortune Global 500, behind the USA, China and Japan. Several French corporations rank amongst the largest in their industries such as AXA in insurance, luxury and consumer good are particularly relevant, with LOreal being the worlds largest cosmetic company while LVMH and PPR are the worlds two largest luxury product companies. France embarked on an ambitious and very successful programme of modernization under state coordination, the 1981 election of president François Mitterrand saw a short-lived increase in governmental control of the economy, nationalising many industries and private banks. This form of increased dirigisme, was criticised as early as 1982, by 1983, the government decided to renounce dirigisme and start an era of rigueur or corporatization. As a result, the government largely retreated from economic intervention, dirigisme has now essentially receded, the French economy grew and changed under government direction and planning much more than in other European countries. Labour conditions and wages are highly regulated, the government continues to own shares in corporations in a range of sectors, including banking, energy production and distribution, automobiles, transportation, and telecommunications. These differ from such as the US or UK where most of these companies have been privatized. In April and May 2012, France held an election in which the winner François Hollande had opposed austerity measures. French government bond interest rates fell 30% to record lows, less than 50 basis points above German government bond rates, the French government has run a budget deficit each year since the early 1970s. In mid-2012, French government debt levels reached €1,833 billion and this debt level was the equivalent of 91% of French GDP. In 2012 France was downgraded by ratings agencies Moodys, Standard&Poors, in December 2014 Frances credit rating was further downgraded by Fitch to the AA credit rating. Research and development spending is high in France at 2. 26% of GDP. Nuclear waste is stored on site at reprocessing facilities, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power, France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the seven most industrialized countries in the world
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French Ministry for the Economy and Finance
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The exact name of the ministry has changed over time, and has included the terms economy, industry, finances, or employment through history. By delegation of the Prime Minister, he also the Public Services. He is responsible with their colleagues for Health, Youth and Sport and for Labour, Labour Relations, see, http, //www. minefi. gouv. fr/directions_services/sircom/ministere/organigramme_mbcpfp. htm The Ministry of Finance is situated in Bercy, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris. The building extends to the Seine River, where there is an embarcadero with fast river boats for faster liaisons to other government agencies and that is why the French media often refer to it as simply Bercy. The sentence the Bercy Fortress refers to the Ministry as a department with obtuse civil servants. That is emphasized by the look of the building. For evident practical reasons, the two share the building and some common services that were under the former ministry of Economy, Finances
34.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
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Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister and he achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Historians note that, despite Colberts efforts, France actually became increasingly impoverished because of the Kings excessive spending on wars, Colbert worked to create a favourable balance of trade and increase Frances colonial holdings. He also founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais, Colbert worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and by encouraging major public works projects. Colbert also worked to ensure that the French East India Company had access to markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper. In addition, Colbert founded the French merchant marine, Colbert issued more than 150 edicts to regulate the guilds. One such law had the intention of improving the quality of cloth, the edict declared that if the authorities found a merchants cloth unsatisfactory on three separate occasions, they were to tie him to a post with the cloth attached to him. Colberts father and grandfather operated as merchants in his birthplace of Reims and he claimed to have Scottish ancestry. A general belief exists that he spent his youth at a Jesuit college, working for a Parisian banker. Before the age of 20, Colbert had a post in the war office, Colbert spent some time as an inspector of troops, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Le Tellier. In 1647, through means, Colbert acquired the confiscated goods of an uncle. In 1648, he and his wife Marie Charron, received 40,000 crowns from an unknown source, in 1657, he purchased the Barony of Seignelay. Colbert was recommended to King Louis XIV by Mazarin, while Cardinal Mazarin was in exile, Louis trust in Colbert grew. In 1652 Colbert was asked to manage the affairs of the Cardinal while he was away and this new responsibility would detach Colbert from his other responsibility as commissaire des guerres. Although Colbert was not a supporter of Mazarin in principle, he would defend the cardinals interests with unflagging devotion. Colberts earliest recorded attempt at tax reform came in the form of a mémoire to Mazarin, showing that of the taxes paid by the people, the paper also contained an attack upon the Superintendent Fouquet. The postmaster of Paris, a spy of Fouquets, read the letter, in 1661, Mazarin died and Colbert made sure of the Kings favour by revealing the location of some of Mazarins hidden wealth. In short, Colbert acquired power in every department except that of war, a great financial and fiscal reform at once claimed all his energies
35.
Haute couture
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Haute couture is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. A haute couture garment is made for a client, tailored specifically for the wearers measurements. Considering the amount of time, money, and skill allotted to each completed piece, haute couture garments are described as having no price tag. The term originally referred to Englishman Charles Frederick Worths work, produced in Paris in the mid-nineteenth century, in modern France, haute couture is a protected name that may not be used except by firms that meet certain well-defined standards. However, the term is used loosely to describe all high-fashion custom-fitted clothing whether it is produced in Paris or in other fashion capitals such as London, Milan. In either case, the term can refer to the houses or fashion designers that create exclusive. In France, the haute couture is protected by law and is defined by the Chambre de commerce et dindustrie de Paris based in Paris. The chambre syndicale de la haute couture is defined as the commission that determines which fashion houses are eligible to be true haute couture houses. Formation of the organization was brought about by Charles Frederick Worth, an affiliated school was organized in 1930 called LEcole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. The school helps bring new designers to help the couture houses that are present today. Since 1975, this organization has worked within the Federation Francaise, de couture, more rigorous criteria for haute couture were established in 1945. g. With that of prêt-à-porter in the public perception, almost every haute couture house also markets prêt-à-porter collections, which typically deliver a higher return on investment than their custom clothing. Falling revenues have forced a few houses to abandon their less profitable haute couture division. These houses are no longer considered haute couture houses by the original, legal usage of the term. Many top designer fashion houses such as Chanel use the word for some of their special collections, as well, the term haute couture has taken on further popular meanings referring to non-dressmaking activities, such as production of fine art, music, etc. Haute couture can be referenced back as early as the 17th Century, rose Bertin, the French fashion designer to Queen Marie Antoinette, can be credited for bringing fashion and haute couture to French culture. Visitors to Paris brought back clothing that was copied by local dressmakers. Stylish women also ordered fashion d dressed in the latest Parisian fashion to serve as models, as railroads and steamships made European travel easier, it was increasingly common for wealthy women to travel to Paris to shop for clothing and accessories
36.
Ready-to-wear
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Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items other than clothing such as handbags. Ready-to-wear has rather different connotations in the spheres of fashion and classic clothing, in the fashion industry, designers produce ready-to-wear clothing, intended to be worn without significant alteration because clothing made to standard sizes fits most people. They use standard patterns, factory equipment, and faster construction techniques to keep costs low, some fashion houses and fashion designers produce mass-produced and industrially manufactured ready-to-wear lines but others offer garments that are not unique but are produced in limited numbers. The Bread & Butter in Berlin is considered to be the worlds most important trade fair for ready-to-wear fashion, due to technological advances, military uniforms were the first ready-to-wear garments to be mass-produced during the War of 1812. Before, women would alter their previously styled clothing in order to stay up to date with fashion trends, the widespread adoption of ready-to wear clothing reflected a variety of factors including economic disparities, a desire for an independent fashion industry, and an increase in media attention. Another significant factor created by the industry was the US development of a style independent from Europe. Ready-to-wear also sparked new interests in health, beauty, and diet as manufactured clothing set specific, women of larger sizes had difficulties finding apparel in department stores, as most manufacturers maintained and sold the limited sizes across the nation. Overall ready-to-wear fashion exposed women to the newest styles and fashion trends, the ready-to-wear fashion revolution led to an expansion of the US fashion industry that made fashionable apparel accessible, cost effective, and commensurable. The construction of clothing is also held to a different standard than that of haute couture due to its industrial nature. High-end ready-to-wear lines are based upon a famous gown or other pattern that is then duplicated and advertised to raise the visibility of the designer. In high-end fashion, ready-to-wear collections are presented by fashion houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. Smaller lines including the Cruise and Pre-Fall collections, which add to the value of a brand, are presented separately at the fashion designers discretion. Ready-to-wear fashion weeks occur separately and earlier than those of haute couture
37.
Mass media
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The mass media is a diversified collection of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information electronically, via such media as film, radio, recorded music, digital media comprises both Internet and mobile mass communication. Internet media comprise such services as email, social sites, websites. Print media transmit information via physical objects, such as books, comics, magazines, newspapers, event organizing and public speaking can also be considered forms of mass media. The organizations that control these technologies, such as studios, publishing companies. In the late 20th century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries, books, the Internet, magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, recordings, and television. The explosion of digital technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries made prominent the question. For example, it is whether to include cell phones, computer games. In the 2000s, a called the seven mass media became popular. For example, the Internet includes blogs, podcasts, web sites, the sixth and seventh media, Internet and mobile phones, are often referred to collectively as digital media, and the fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast media. Some argue that video games have developed into a mass form of media. While a telephone is a communication device, mass media communicates to a large group. In addition, the telephone has transformed into a phone which is equipped with Internet access. A question arises whether this makes cell phones a mass medium or simply a device used to access a mass medium. There is currently a system by which marketers and advertisers are able to tap into satellites and this transmission of mass advertising to millions of people is another form of mass communication. Video games may also be evolving into a mass medium, video games provide a common gaming experience to millions of users across the globe and convey the same messages and ideologies to all their users. Users sometimes share the experience with one another by playing online, excluding the Internet however, it is questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience when they play the game individually
38.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
39.
Chanel
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Chanel S. A. is a French, privately held company owned by Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of the couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Chanel S. A. is a fashion house that specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods. In her youth, Gabrielle Chanel gained the nickname Coco from her time as a chanteuse, the House of Chanel is known for the little black dress, the perfume No.5 de Chanel, and the Chanel Suit. Chanel’s use of jersey fabric produced garments that were comfortable and affordable, Chanel used colors traditionally associated with masculinity in Europe, such as grey and navy blue, to denote feminine boldness of character. An example of haute couture techniques is the woolen Chanel suit — a knee-length skirt. The complementary accessories were two-tone pump shoes and jewellry, usually a necklace of pearls, Coco Chanel thus could sell to them the hats she designed and made, she thus earned a living, independent of her financial sponsor, the socialite Balsan. Despite that social circumstance, Boy Capel perceived the businesswoman innate to Coco Chanel, because that locale already housed a dress shop, the business-lease limited Chanel to selling only millinery products, not couture. The First World War affected European fashion through scarcity of materials, in 1915 and in 1917, Harper’s Bazaar magazine reported that the garments of the House of Chanel were on the list of every buyer for the clothing factories of Europe. After the First World War, the House of Chanel, following the trends of the 1920s, produced beaded dresses. Originally, a bottle of No.5 de Chanel was a gift to clients of Chanel, the popularity of the perfume prompted the House of Chanel to offer it for retail sale in 1922. In 1923, to explain the success of her clothes, Coco Chanel told Harper’s Bazaar magazine that design simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance, business partners — late 1920s The success of the No. To that end, the businessman Théophile Bader introduced the venture capitalist Pierre Wertheimer to Coco Chanel, moreover, by 1937, the House of Chanel had expanded the range of its clothes to more women, and presented prêt-à-porter clothes designed and cut for the petite woman. Among fashion designers only the clothes created by Elsa Schiaparelli could compete with the clothes of Chanel. A. at 31 rue Cambon, meanwhile, because of the Nazi occupation’s official anti-Semitism, Pierre Wertheimer and family, had fled France to the U. S. in mid-1940. Later, in 1941, Coco Chanel attempted to assume control of Parfums Chanel. Occupied France abounded with rumours that Coco Chanel was a Nazi collaborator, her identity was secret agent 7124 of the Abwehr. At War’s end, upon the Allied liberation of France, Chanel was arrested for having collaborated with the Nazis, in Switzerland, the news revived Coco Chanel’s resentment at having been exploited by her business partner, for only ten per cent of the money. So she established a rival Swiss parfumerie to create, produce, in exchange Gabrielle Chanel closed her Swiss parfumerie enterprise, and sold to Parfums Chanel the full rights to the name Coco Chanel. As a post–War fashion that used some 20 yards of fabric, having decided to do business with Coco Chanel, Wertheimer’s negotiations to fund the resurgence of the House of Chanel, granted him commercial rights to all Chanel-brand products
40.
Louis Vuitton
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Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton, or shortened to LV, is a house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The labels LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, sunglasses, for six consecutive years, Louis Vuitton was named the worlds most valuable luxury brand. Its 2012 valuation was US$25.9 billion, the 2013 valuation of the brand was US$28.4 billion with revenue of US$9.4 billion. The company operates in 50 countries with more than 460 stores worldwide, the Louis Vuitton label was founded by Vuitton in 1854 on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris, France. Louis Vuitton had observed that the HJ Cave Osilite trunk could be stacked and in 1858, Vuitton introduced his flat-bottom trunks with trianon canvas. Before the introduction of Vuittons trunks, rounded-top trunks were used, generally to promote water run off and it was Vuittons gray Trianon canvas flat trunk that allowed the ability to stack with ease for voyages. Many other luggagemakers imitated LVs style and design, the company participated in the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. To protect against the duplication of his look, Vuitton changed the Trianon design to a beige, by 1885, the company opened its first store in London on Oxford Street. In 1892, Louis Vuitton died, and the management passed to his son. After the death of his father, Georges Vuitton began a campaign to build the company into a worldwide corporation, in 1896, the company launched the signature Monogram Canvas and made the worldwide patents on it. Its graphic symbols, including quatrefoils and flowers, were based on the trend of using Japanese Mon designs in the late Victorian era, the patents later proved to be successful in stopping counterfeiting. In this same year, Georges traveled to the United States, where he toured cities such as New York, Philadelphia, in 1901, the Louis Vuitton Company introduced the Steamer Bag, a smaller piece of luggage designed to be kept inside Vuitton luggage trunks. By 1913, the Louis Vuitton Building opened on the Champs-Elysees and it was the largest travel-goods store in the world at the time. Stores also opened in New York, Bombay, Washington, London, Alexandria, afterwards, in 1930, the Keepall bag was introduced. During 1932, LV introduced the Noé bag and this bag was originally made for champagne vintners to transport bottles. Soon thereafter, the Louis Vuitton Speedy bag was introduced, in 1936 Georges Vuitton died, and his son, Gaston-Louis Vuitton, assumed control of the company. During World War II, Louis Vuitton collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation of France, the family set up a factory dedicated to producing artifacts glorifying Pétain, including more than 2,500 busts. Caroline Babulle, a spokeswoman for the publisher, Fayard, said, They have not contested anything in the book, responding to the books release in 2004, a spokesman for LVMH said, This is ancient history
41.
Givenchy
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Givenchy is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture clothing, accessories and Parfums Givenchy, perfumes, the house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter. It is owned by luxury group LVMH and in 1993 achieved a total worth of $176 million. In 1952, Hubert de Givenchy founded his own house and launched a new collection Les Séparables with some floaty skirts. Givenchy achieved critical acclaim with Vogue magazine praising his wonderful first collection14, the collection included the Bettina Blouse a white shirt named in honour of Bettina Graziani, which was then immortablized by one of Gruau’s paintings. Famous models such as- Suzy Parker, Ivy Nicholson, and Dorian Leigh became muses of the house, in terms of innovation, he used ‘shirting’, a raw cotton similar to pattern paper, to create his chic and casual collections. In 1954, Hubert de Givenchy presented the first shirt dress and he was the first high fashion designer to create a luxury ready-to-wear clothing line, called Givenchy Université, which was produced in Paris using machinery imported from the United States. Before he was able to sign for this new collection, Hubert de Givenchy bought all the shares of his house back from Louis Fontaine. In 1956, both Cristóbal Balenciaga and Hubert de Givenchy presented their collection in New York during a charity gala in aid of the American hospital in Paris, in 1957, the House of Balenciaga introduced the sack dress for the first time. In 1958, Cristóbal Balenciaga launched the ‘Baby Doll’ line, along with the coats line ‘Ballon’, in 1959, the Givenchy studio moved to number 3, Avenue George V in Paris, opposite Balenciaga’s. The same year, Givenchy and Balenciaga announced that their respective collections would be shown to the one month after their presentation to the buyers. In 1969, Hubert de Givenchy launched his line for men « Gentleman Givenchy ». The boutique was opened in November on Avenue George V. Hubert de Givenchy later introduced short dress, on the advice of Cristóbal Balenciaga, Givenchy developed his licences in the seventies, in order to protect the heart of the fashion house, the Haute Couture collections. In 1971, he designed a collection of embroidered coats in honour of Georges Braque, during this period, the House of Givenchy diversified its activities to create shoes, jewellery, ties, tableware, upholstery and kimonos. Hubert de Givenchy was chosen to design the interior of Hilton hotels around the world, in 1976, Givenchy Inc. arrived on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Later, Hubert de Givenchy was elected the personality of the year 1979, in 1982, a retrospective presided by Audrey Hepburn was organized by the Fashion Institute of Technology of New York. In 1988, Givenchy joined LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, few years later, in 1991, a retrospective celebrated at the Galliera Palace the forty years of the fashion house. Hubert de Givenchy left the company in 1995 and he was succeeded by some British young creators such as, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Julien MacDonald
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