France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
Maria Pia Bridge
The Maria Pia Bridge is a railway bridge built in 1877, attributed to Gustave Eiffel, situated over the Portuguese northern municipalities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. Part of the Linha Norte system of the national railway, the wrought iron, double-hinged, crescent arch spans 353 m, 60 m over the Douro River. At the time of its construction, it was the longest single-arch span in the world, it is confused with the D. Luís Bridge, built nine years and is located 1 kilometre to the west, but resembles the structure, albeit with two decks. In 1875, the Royal Portuguese Railway Company announced a competition for a bridge to carry the Lisbon to Porto railway across the river Douro; this was technically demanding: the river was fast-flowing, its depth could be as much as 20 m during times of flooding and the riverbed was made up of a deep layer of gravel. These factors ruled out the construction of piers in the river, so that the bridge would have to have a central span of 160m At the time the longest bridge span was the 158.5m of the bridge built by James B.
Eads over the Mississippi at St Louis. When the project was approved, João Crisóstomo de Abreu e Sousa, member of the Junta Consultiva das Obras Públicas considered that the deck should have two lanes. Gustave Eiffel's design proposal, priced at 965,000 French francs, was the least expensive of the four designs considered, around two thirds of the cost of the nearest competitor. Since the company was inexperienced, a commission was appointed to report on their suitability to undertake the work, their report was favorable, although it did emphasise the difficulty of the project: "The complete study of a structure of this size presents great difficulties. The methods of calculation known up until now can only be applied in practise with the aid of hypotheses which depart from established fact to a greater or lesser extent, thus render the projected results uncertain." Responsibility for the actual design is difficult to attribute, but it is probable that a large part was played by Théophile Seyrig, Eiffel's business partner, who presented a paper on the bridge to the Société des Ingénieurs Civils in 1878.
Eiffel, in his account of the bridge, which accompanied the 1:50 scale model exhibited at the 1878 World's Fair, credited Seyrig, along with Henry de Dion, with work on the calculations and drawings. Construction started on 5 January 1876, work on the abutments and approach decking was complete by September. Work paused due to winter flooding, the erection of the central arch span was not re-started until March 1877. Construction was completed on 1 October 1877. By 28 October 1877, the platform was mounted and concluded, with the work on the 1,500 tonnes bridge executed using a complement of 150 workers finishing on 30 October 1878. Tests were performed between 1 and 2 November, leading to the 4 November inauguration by King D. Louis I and Queen Maria Pia of Savoy. Between 1897 and 1898 there was some concern by technicians about the integrity of the bridge. In 1890, in Ovar, the Oficina de Obras Metálicas existed to support the work to reinforce and repair those structures; as a consequence, restrictions were placed on transit over the structure between 1900 and 1906: weight limited to 14 tons per lane and velocity to 10 kilometres per hour.
Alterations to the deck of the bridge were performed under the initiatives of Xavier Cordeiro in 1900. These were followed between 1901 and 1906 by improvements to the triangular beams were performed by the Ofina of Ovar. Consulting with a specialist in metallic structures in 1907, the Oficina concluded that the arch and the works performed on the bridge were sufficient to allow circulation. But, this did not impede further work on the fore- and aft-structural members to make the bridge more accessible and to reinforce the main pillars. In 1916, a commission was created to study the possibility of a secondary transit between Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto. By 1928, the bridge was an obstacle to transit. In 1948, engineer João de Lemos executed a several studies to evaluate the bridge's condition: study of the deck; the analysis of the stability of the bridge was handled by the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, that resulted in the injection of cement and repair of the masonry joints and pillars, that connected with metallic structures.
At the same time, flaking paint was removed from the structure and issues with corrosion were treated during the work, that included repainting with new metallic paint. These projects resulted from the need to improve the structure for the beginning of CP service across the bridge with improved Series 070 locomotives on 1 November 1950. Following a decade of service, an analytic study in 1966 began to analyze upgrading service to electrical locomotives, leading to the end of the electrification of the Linha Norte. Verification, in loco, determined stressed tests for the structure in 1969. In 1998, there was a plan to rehabilitate and illuminate the bridge, resulting in the establishment of a tourist train attraction between the Museu dos Transportes and the area that included the wine cellars of Porto, a route that included 1.8 kilometres, using a tunnel closed under
Dom Luís I Bridge
The Dom Luís I Bridge, or Luís I Bridge, is a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the River Douro between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. At its construction, its 172 metres span was the longest of its type in the world, it has been confused with the nearby Maria Pia Bridge, a railway bridge, built 9 years earlier, similar in aspect to the Luís I bridge. In 1879, Gustave Eiffel presented a project to construct a new bridge over the Douro, with a single deck in order to facilitate navigation; this project was rejected due to dramatic growth of the urban population, which required a re-thinking of the limits of a single-deck platform. A competition was initiated in November 1880, in order to construct a double-deck metal bridge, which included projects by Compagnie de Fives-Lille, Cail & C. Schneider & Co. Gustave Eiffel, Lecoq & Co. Société de Braine-le-Comte, Société des Batignolles, Andrew Handyside & Co. Société de Construction de Willebroek and John Dixon, it was in January of the following year that deliberations by the committee supported the project of Société de Willebroek, a design that cost 369 000$000 réis, provided better conditions.
On 21 November 1881, the public work was adjudicated to the Belgian society Société de Willebreok, from Brussels, for 402 contos, administrated by Théophile Seyrig, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel, author of the project. The design resembled that of the D. Maria bridge. Construction began on the Ponte Luís I, along the flanks of the towers of Ponte Pênsil, but were disassembled. By 26 May 1886, the first weight experiments began, with the transport of a 2,000 kilograms per metre. On 30 October construction of the main arch and upper deck were concluded, resulting in its inauguration the next day. On 1 November, a toll system began to operate under the administration of the winning company, equal to 4 reís per person; the following year the lower deck was inaugurated. During its ceremonies, the bridge was blessed by Bishop D. Américo. By the turn of the century electric carriages were installed in the city centre, extending to the bridge. On 1 January 1944, the toll system was extinguished and the bridge began to function as an infrastructure of the municipal authority of Porto.
And for more than a century, the bridge carried road traffic on both decks. Along with other vehicles, electric trams crossed the upper deck from 1908 until May 1959, trolleybuses crossed both decks from May 1959 until 1993. By 1954, there were public works initiated on the bridge, under the direction of engineer Edgar Cardoso, who extended the decks and removed the electrification of the deck. In 1982, the bridge was designated a cultural heritage Imóvel de Interesse Público by national agency IGESPAR, the Portuguese Institute for the Management of Architectural and Archaeological Heritage. On 27 June 2003, transit was closed the upper deck to motor traffic, in order to adapt the structure for the metro system; the new "D Line" was inaugurated on 18 September 2005, opened to the metro trams and pedestrian traffic. With more traffic and demographic growth, in March 2006, a project to enlarge the lower deck, was elaborated by architect Virgínio Moutinho and engineers António and José António Campos e Matos.
The municipal council of Porto solicited that the Direção-Geral do Património Cultural not pronounce on the project, as it was being rethought. The bridge is situated in an isolated, urban area over the River Douro between the granite banks, where the Cathedral of Porto and the escarpment of the Serra do Pilar, forming a box valley, it is 1 kilometre from the bridge of D. Maria Pia and, farther along, the Arrábida Bridge. On the Porto side, the lower deck connects the Cais da Ribeira and the upper Avenida Vímara Peres, while the bank of Vila Nova de Gaia to the Avenida Diogo Leite and Avenida da República, respectively. Access to the Porto side is located along the Pillars of Ponte Pênsil, while the Guindais Funicular, the Church and Shelter of Ferro, the Fernandina Walls and the Monastery of Serra do Pilar; the iron bridge has two decks, of differing heights and widths, between which develop a large 172.5 metres diameter, central arch supporting these upper and lower decks. Both decks are moored to the riverbanks by means of masonry piers.
Those in the upper deck, are rectangular with a trimmed cornice finish, consisting of two staggered registers separated by cornice and interlacing struts. The lower deck is based on large foundations supporting molded cornices and wedges linked together by a felled arch, framed by interlacing beams. At the base of the arches, facing the riverbanks, are large marble plaques with inscriptions "PONTE LUIZ I", on the upstream face are stones representing royal coat-of-arms, with a shield framed by garlands. At the base of the lower deck, are iron-pillared, pyramidal-truncated pillars, erected in three sections, that attach to the upper deck; the bridge has an asphalt pavement for vehicular traffic, separated by cast iron guards, that limit the pedestrian sidewalks, that develop laterally. The central arch emerges from the bollards at the foundations and decreasing thickness towards the center; the upper deck paved in asphalt and flanked by pedestrian walkways in stonework protected with cast iron guards.
From this deck are lamps used for illumination and connected, forming decorative circles at the angles. Under the guard is cut-out-like lambrequin decorated with phytomorphic elements. Almeida, Pedro Vieira da.
Marvejols
Marvejols, is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. Its inhabitants are known as Marvejolais; the commune is located in the Massif central. The Colagne flows crosses the town. A medieval city exemplifying the Occitan culture, Marvejols was strengthened during the Hundred Years War against the English. Following the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the town walls were reinforced to protect the Huguenot population during the French Wars of Religion, Protestant Capt. Matthieu Merle based himself at Marvejols during his conquest of the Gévaudan. But, having sided with the Protestant Henri of Navarre, the future King Henry IV of France, the town was besieged and burned to the ground by the Catholics. Henry had it rebuilt in 1601 in recognition of the town's support for him. La porte du Soubeyran, a town gateway dating from the fourteenth century. Two other medieval gates survive, La Porte de Chanelles to the south and the smaller Porte du Therond, to the east. Despite some 17th-century repairs, they still keep their medieval charm.
Notre Dame de la Carce dating from the end of the 13th century, becoming collegiate in 1310. Two large bronze sculptures by Emmanuel Auricoste can be seen at two of the entrances to Marvejols. One represents the mythical Beast of Gévaudan, the other, that of Henry IV of France, inscribed "exécuté à Marvejols en 1954", which refers, of course, to the date of the sculpture, not the King's demise; the wolf park of Gévaudan: Over 100 wolves live in a semi-natural state in an area of hills above Marvejols, once renowned for the animals. Espoir Oc is an association founded about twenty years ago, to promote and develop the Occitan language and culture. Based in Marvejols, they organize, on the first weekend of July, a festival based on the theme of the Middle Ages. Two big events take place. Rock band Subway is made up of four women, all from Marvejols. Gilbert de Chambrun, mayor. Armand Blanquet du Chayla, French admiral. Samuel Darchy, footballer The latter part of the story in the movie Betty Blue takes place in Marvejols.
Colombo, Sri Lanka Cockermouth, UK Communes of the Lozère département Marvejols en Lozère. Site officiel de la ville de Marvejols Espoir Oc Un cop era la Lausera
Porto
Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal after Lisbon and one of the major urban areas of the Iberian Peninsula. The city proper has a population of 287,591 and the metropolitan area of Porto, which extends beyond the administrative limits of the city, has a population of 2.3 million in an area of 2,395 km2, making it the second-largest urban area in Portugal. It is recognized as a gamma-level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group, the only Portuguese city besides Lisbon to be recognised as a global city. Located along the Douro River estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centres, its historical core was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996; the western part of its urban area extends to the coastline of the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement dates back many centuries, its combined Celtic-Latin name, Portus Cale, has been referred to as the origin of the name "Portugal", based on transliteration and oral evolution from Latin. In Portuguese, the name of the city includes a definite article: o Porto.
Its English name, evolved from a misinterpretation of the Portuguese pronunciation. Port wine, one of Portugal's most famous exports, is named after Porto, since the metropolitan area, in particular the cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia, were responsible for the packaging and export of fortified wine. In 2014 and 2017, Porto was elected The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency. Porto is on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago; the history of Porto dates back to around 300 BC with Proto-Celtic and Celtic people being the first known inhabitants. Ruins of that period have been discovered in several areas. During the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula, the city developed as an important commercial port in the trade between Olissipona and Bracara Augusta. Porto was important during the Suebian and Visigothic times, a centre for the expansion of Christianity during that period. Porto fell under the control of the Moors during the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711.
In 868, Vímara Peres, an Asturian count from Gallaecia, a vassal of the King of Asturias, Léon and Galicia, Alfonso III, was sent to reconquer and secure the lands back into Christian hands. This included the area from the Minho to the Douro River: the settlement of Portus Cale and the area, known as Vila Nova de Gaia. Portus Cale referred to as Portucale, was the origin for the modern name of Portugal. In 868, Count Vímara Peres established the County of Portugal, or known as Condado Portucalense after reconquering the region north of Douro. In 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; the Portuguese-English alliance is the world's oldest recorded military alliance. In the 14th and the 15th centuries, Porto's shipyards contributed to the development of Portuguese shipbuilding. From the port of Porto, in 1415, Prince Henry the Navigator embarked on the conquest of the Moorish port of Ceuta, in northern Morocco; this expedition by the king and his fleet, which counted among others, Prince Henry, was followed by navigation and exploration along the western coast of Africa, initiating the Portuguese Age of Discovery.
The nickname given to the people of Porto began in those days. Wine, produced in the Douro valley, was in the 13th century transported to Porto in barcos rabelos. In 1703, the Methuen Treaty established the trade relations between England. In 1717, a first English trading post was established in Porto; the production of port wine gradually passed into the hands of a few English firms. To counter this English dominance, Prime Minister Marquis of Pombal established a Portuguese firm receiving the monopoly of the wines from the Douro valley, he demarcated the region for production of port. The small winegrowers revolted against his strict policies on Shrove Tuesday, burning down the buildings of this firm; the revolt was called Revolta dos Borrachos. Between 1732 and 1763, Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni designed a baroque church with a tower that became its architectural and visual icon: the Torre dos Clérigos. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the city became an important industrial centre and had its size and population increase.
The invasion of the Napoleonic troops in Portugal under Marshal Soult brought war to the city of Porto. On 29 March 1809, as the population fled from the advancing French troops and tried to cross the river Douro over the Ponte das Barcas, the bridge collapsed under the weight; this event is still remembered by a plate at the Ponte D. Luis I; the French army was rooted out of Porto by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, when his Anglo-Portuguese Army crossed the Douro River from the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar in a brilliant daylight coup de main, using wine barges to transport the troops, so outflanking the Fr
Corail (train)
Corail is the name given to a class of passenger rail cars of the SNCF that first entered commercial service in 1975. When introduced Corail carriages improved passenger comfort, featured air-conditioning, superior levels of comfort and sound-proofing compared with previous InterCity carriages; the acquisition of the Corail coaches was huge investment for SNCF with more than 3,000 carriages ordered, represented leap in quality of service for French rail passengers. The name Corail, used as a designation of service for trains made up of these carriages, derives from combination of'comfort' and'rail'; the carriages were built by the Société Franco-Belge in Raismes, northern France, by Alstom's La Rochelle factory in Aytré. When introduced, Corail carriages were painted in two tones of grey with a sharp flash of orange on the doors. Corail carriages were used throughout France on non-TGV locomotive-hauled services, their use was reduced with the development and introduction of the TGV, as the TGV network has expanded, Corail trains were cascaded down onto regional services.
The SNCF responded by beginning to modernise the fleet in 1996. A new livery and refurbished interior was introduced as part of the "Corail Plus" programme; the orange doors become green for second red for first. These refurbishments of mainline Corail trains were soon considered to be insufficient, in 2003 three refurbished and re-fitted cars were revealed in Paris as the new Téoz, featuring multicoloured exterior colour schemes and modernised interiors. Buffet coaches do not operate anymore, however a mobile catering service using trolleys is offered on some Téoz services. On night services, a vending machine is located in the so-called "voiture service". Lunéa night trains operate on a number of domestic routes, offering a first and second class couchette service. Passengers travel in compartments of four or six bunks, are provided with a pillow, lightweight bedsheet and blanket. Most Lunéa services convey reclining seats cars. Between 2004 and 2008 Alstom rebuilt some 2nd class cars with baggage compartments into new B5uxh cab-cars.
Most of the vehicles were still in service in 2008. Surplus carriages were sold to regional councils to be used for TER regional services. Certain regions use Corail coaches geared for 200 km/h operation to operate fast regional services known as TER 200. Aqualys Sorefame Pictures of Lunéa services, categorized into separate folders for first class and two types of second class coaches. Facilities in Lunéa trains, from seat61.com
Virtual International Authority File
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. Discussion about having a common international authority started in the late 1990s. After a series of failed attempts to come up with a unique common authority file, the new idea was to link existing national authorities; this would present all the benefits of a common file without requiring a large investment of time and expense in the process. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library and the OCLC on August 6, 2003; the Bibliothèque nationale de France joined the project on October 5, 2007. The project transitioned to being a service of the OCLC on April 4, 2012; the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together. A VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary "see" and "see also" records from the original records, refers to the original authority records.
The data are available for research and data exchange and sharing. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol; the file numbers are being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAF's clustering algorithm is run every month; as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records. Authority control Faceted Application of Subject Terminology Integrated Authority File International Standard Authority Data Number International Standard Name Identifier Wikipedia's authority control template for articles Official website VIAF at OCLC
