1.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
2.
Amiens
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Amiens is a city and commune in northern France,120 km north of Paris and 100 km south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France, the city had a population of 136,105 according to the 2006 census. It has one of the biggest university hospitals in France with a capacity of 1,200 beds, Amiens Cathedral, the tallest of the large, classic, Gothic churches of the 13th century and the largest in France of its kind, is a World Heritage Site. The author Jules Verne lived in Amiens from 1871 until his death in 1905, during December, the town hosts the largest Christmas market in northern France. The first known settlement at this location was Samarobriva, the settlement of the Ambiani. The town was given the name Ambianum by the Romans, meaning settlement of the Ambiani people, the town has been much fought over, being attacked by barbarian tribes, and later by the Normans. In 1113 the city was recognized by King Louis VI of France, in 1597, Spanish soldiers held the city during the six-month Siege of Amiens, before Henry IV regained control. During the 18th and 19th century, the tradition of Amiens became famous for its velours. In 1789 the provinces of France were dismantled and the territory was organised into departments, much of Picardy became the newly created department of Somme, with Amiens as the departmental capital. During the industrial revolution the city walls were demolished, opening up space for large boulevards around the town centre, the Henriville neighbourhood in the south of the city was developed around this time. In 1848, the first railway arrived in Amiens, linking the city to Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the 1870 Battle of Amiens, when the Somme was invaded by Prussian forces, Amiens was occupied. The town was fought over during both the First and Second World Wars, suffering damage, and being occupied several times by both sides. The 1918 Battle of Amiens, was the phase of the Hundred Days Offensive. It was heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, the city was rebuilt according to Pierre Dufaus plans, with a focus on widening the streets to ease traffic congestion. These newer structures were built of brick, concrete and white stone with slate roofs. The architect Auguste Perret designed the Gare dAmiens train station and nearby Tour Perret, Amiens, the regional prefecture of Picardy, is also the prefecture of the Somme, one of the three departments in the region. Located in the Paris Basin, across the country the city benefits from a geographical position. At the crossroads of major European routes of movement, the city is also at the heart of a major rail star
3.
Aisne
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Aisne is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne, the department of Aisne is surrounded by the French departments of Nord, Somme, Oise, Ardennes, and Seine-et-Marne and borders Belgium to the northeast. The Aisne River crosses the area from east to west, where it joins the Oise River, the Marne forms part of the southern boundary of the department with the department of Seine-et-Marne. The southern part of the department is the region known as la Brie poilleuse. According to the 2003 census, the area of the department was 123,392 hectares. The landscape is dominated by masses of rock which often have steep flanks and these rocks appear all over the region, but the most impressive examples are at Laon and the Chemin des Dames ridge. The principal cities in Aisne are, Laon, pop,15,000 Condren Chauny Hirson Villers-Cotterêts La Fère Vervins Guise See also, List of the communes of the Aisne department and Brie. The Scheldt, the Aisne, the Marne, the Ourcq, the Vesle, the Somme, the Oise, in the south of the department, there is the Surmelin, the Verdonnelle, and the Dhuys. The department is crossed by numerous canals. In 1873, the department of Aisne had 10 railway companies with a length of 382 km. There is an average of 500 to 750 mm precipitation annually, weather Data for Saint Quentin - Roupy Aisne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the provinces of Île-de-France, Picardy. Most of the old growth forests in the area were destroyed during battles in World War I, the French offensive against the Chemin des Dames in spring 1917 is sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of the Aisne. Agriculture dominates the economy, especially cereal crops, beet sugar is one of the most important industrial crops of the area. Silk, cotton, and wool weaving flourish in Saint-Quentin and other towns, saint-Gobain is known for its production of mirrors, which started in the 17th century. Guise is the centre of the northern area of Aisne. The department is a mixture of rural areas and working-class towns, the smaller cities of the northern department such as Guise, Hirson, Vervins and the railway city of Tergnier are sources of support for left-wing parties. The President of the General Council is the Socialist Yves Daudigny, Aisne is divided into five arrondissements and 21 cantons
4.
Oise
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Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise, natives of the department are called Isariens. Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4,1790 and it was created from part of the province of Île-de-France and Picardy. After the coalition victory at Waterloo, the department was occupied by British troops between June 1815 and November 1818, Oise is part of the current region of Hauts-de-France and is situated 35 km north of Paris. It is surrounded by the departments of Somme, Aisne, Seine-et-Marne, Val-dOise, Eure, the major tourist attraction of the department is the Parc Astérix, which opened in 1989. Another very interesting site is Beauvais Cathedral, also to be seen is the Chateau de Pierrefonds, restored by Viollet-le-Duc. The art collection of the Château de Chantilly is one of the largest outside Paris, one of the villages along the river Oise is Auvers-sur-Oise, famous for having been visited by several impressionist artists. This is where Vincent van Gogh spent his last 70 days and it is his and his brother Theos resting place
5.
Calais
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Calais is a town and major ferry port in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The population of the area at the 2010 census was 126,395. Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km wide here, the White Cliffs of Dover can easily be seen on a clear day from Calais. Calais is a port for ferries between France and England, and since 1994, the Channel Tunnel has linked nearby Coquelles to Folkestone by rail. Due to its position, Calais since the Middle Ages has been a major port and it was annexed by Edward III of England in 1347 and grew into a thriving centre for wool production. The town came to be called the brightest jewel in the English crown owing to its importance as the gateway for the tin, lead, lace. Calais was a possession of England until its capture by France in 1558. In 1805 it was an area for Napoleons troops for several months during his planned invasion of the United Kingdom. The town was razed to the ground during World War II. During World War II, the Germans built massive bunkers along the coast in preparation for launching missiles on England, the old part of the town, Calais proper, is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. The modern part of the town, St-Pierre, lies to the south, south east of the Place is the church of Notre-Dame, built during the English occupancy of Calais. It is arguably the only built in the English perpendicular style in all of France. In this church former French President Charles de Gaulle married his wife Yvonne Vendroux, south of the Place and opposite the Parc St Pierre is the Hôtel-de-ville, and the belfry from the 16th and early 17th centuries. Today, Calais is visited by more than 10 million annually, although the early history of habitation in the area is limited, the Romans called the settlement Caletum. Julius Caesar mustered 800 to 1,000 sailing boats, five legions, as the pebble and sand ridge extended eastward from Calais, the haven behind it developed into fen, as the estuary progressively filled with silt and peat. Calais was improved by the Count of Flanders in 997 and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224, in 1189, Richard the Lionheart is documented to have landed at Calais on his journey to the Third Crusade. Angered, the English king demanded reprisals against the citizens for holding out for so long
6.
Francia
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The kingdom was founded by Clovis I, crowned first King of the Franks in 496. The tradition of dividing patrimonies among brothers meant that the Frankish realm was ruled, nominally, even so, sometimes the term was used as well to encompass Neustria north of the Loire and west of the Seine. Most Frankish Kings were buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis, modern France is still named Francia in Spanish and Italian. The Franks emerged in the 3rd century as a confederation of smaller Germanic tribes, such as the Sicambri, Bructeri, Ampsivarii, Chamavi and Chattuarii, in the area north and east of the Rhine. Some of these peoples, such as the Sicambri and Salians, already had lands in the Roman Empire, in 357 the Salian king entered the Roman Empire and made a permanent foothold there by a treaty granted by Julian the Apostate, who forced back the Chamavi to Hamaland. As Frankish territory expanded, the meaning of Francia expanded with it, after the fall of Arbogastes, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary countship at Trier and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III some Franks supported the usurper Jovinus. Jovinus was dead by 413, but the Romans found it difficult to manage the Franks within their borders. The Frankish king Theudemer was executed by the sword, in c, around 428 the Salian king Chlodio, whose kingdom included Toxandria and the civitatus Tungrorum, launched an attack on Roman territory and extended his realm as far as Camaracum and the Somme. The kingdom of Chlodio changed the borders and the meaning of the word Francia permanently, Francia was no longer barbaricum trans Rhenum, but a landed political power on both sides of the river, deeply involved in Roman politics. Chlodios family, the Merovingians, extended Francia even further south, the core territory of the Frankish kingdom later came to be known as Austrasia. Chlodios successors are obscure figures, but what can be certain is that Childeric I, possibly his grandson, Clovis converted to Christianity and put himself on good terms with the powerful Church and with his Gallo-Roman subjects. In a thirty-year reign Clovis defeated the Roman general Syagrius and conquered the Roman exclave of Soissons, defeated the Alemanni, Clovis defeated the Visigoths and conquered their entire kingdom with its capital at Toulouse, and conquered the Bretons and made them vassals of Francia. He conquered most or all of the neighbouring Frankish tribes along the Rhine, by the end of his life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul save the Gothic province of Septimania and the Burgundian kingdom in the southeast. The Merovingians were a hereditary monarchy, the Frankish kings adhered to the practice of partible inheritance, dividing their lands among their sons. Cloviss sons made their capitals near the Frankish heartland in northeastern Gaul, Theuderic I made his capital at Reims, Chlodomer at Orléans, Childebert I at Paris, and Chlothar I at Soissons. During their reigns, the Thuringii, Burgundes, and Saxons and Frisians were incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, the fraternal kings showed only intermittent signs of friendship and were often in rivalry. Theuderic died in 534, but his adult son Theudebert I was capable of defending his inheritance, which formed the largest of the Frankish subkingdoms and the kernel of the later kingdom of Austrasia. Theudebert interfered in the Gothic War on the side of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, receiving the provinces of Rhaetia, Noricum, and part of Venetia
7.
Montreuil, Pas-de-Calais
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Montreuil or Montreuil-sur-Mer is a sub-prefecture in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. It is located on the Canche river, not far from Étaples, the sea, however, is now some distance away. It is surrounded by ramparts, part of the reinforcement work of the famed French military engineer Vauban from his fortification of northern France in the 17th century. Population,2,688 inhabitants for the city,21,603 inhabitants for the canton and 99,288 inhabitants for the arrondissement, Montreuil was the headquarters of the British Army in France during the First World War from March 1916 until it closed in April 1919. The military academy providing excellent facilities for GHQ, Montreuil was chosen as G. H. Q. for a wide variety of reasons. It was on a road from London to Paris—the two chief centres of the campaign—though not on a main railway line, which would have been an inconvenience. It was not a town and so avoided the complications alike of noise. Haig staff member Sir Frank Fox OBE wrote a critically acclaimed account of the headquarters in 1916, originally published under the pseudonym GSO. His work in the QMGs Directorate in the offensive against the German Army resulted in his being awarded the OBE He was also Mentioned in Despatches. General Haig was quartered in the nearby Château de Beaurepaire, two miles SE of the town on the D138, there is a plaque on the château wall to commemorate the event. King George V, accompanied by Haig, made a triumphant passage through Montreuil on his way to Paris on 27 November 1918, a statue of Haig on horseback, commemorating his stay, can be seen outside the theatre on the Place Charles de Gaulle. During the German occupation of the town during the Second World War and it was never found and is thought to have been melted down. It was rebuilt in the 1950s, using the original mould. Lawrence Sterne visited the town in 1765 and he recounted his visit through the eyes of the narrator of his novel A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. Montreuil is the setting for part of Victor Hugos novel Les Misérables, hugo had spent several vacations in Montreuil
8.
Laon
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Laon is the capital city of the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France, northern France. As of 2012 its population was of 25,317, the holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. In the time of Julius Caesar there was a Gallic village named Bibrax where the Remis had to meet the onset of the confederated Belgae. Whatever may have been the locality of that battlefield, Laon was fortified by the Romans. At that time it was known as Alaudanum or Lugdunum Clavatum, archbishop Remigius of Reims, who baptised Clovis, was born in the Laonnais, and it was he who, at the end of the fifth century, instituted the bishopric of Laon. Thenceforward Laon was one of the towns of the kingdom of the Franks. Charles the Bald had enriched its church with the gift of very numerous domains, in about 847 the Irish philosopher John Scotus Eriugena appeared at the court of Charles the Bald, and was appointed head of the palace school. Eriugena spent the rest of his days in France, probably at Paris, early in the twelfth century the communes of France set about emancipating themselves, and the history of the commune of Laon is one of the richest and most varied. Anselm of Laons school for theology and exegesis rapidly became the most famous in Europe, the consequence was a revolt, in which the episcopal palace was burnt and the bishop and several of his partisans were put to death on 25 April 1112. The fire spread to the cathedral, and reduced it to ashes, uneasy at the result of their victory, the rioters went into hiding outside the town, which was anew pillaged by the people of the neighbourhood, eager to avenge the death of their bishop. The king alternately intervened in favour of the bishop and of the inhabitants till 1239, after that date the liberties of Laon were no more contested till 1331, when the commune was abolished. During the Hundred Years War it was attacked and taken by the Burgundians, under the League, Laon took the part of the Leaguers, and was taken by Henry IV. At the Revolution Laon permanently lost its rank as a bishopric, during the campaign of 1814, Napoleon tried in vain to dislodge Blücher and Bülow from it in the Battle of Laon. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, an engineer blew up the magazine of the citadel at the moment when the German troops were entering the town. Many lives were lost, and the cathedral and the old palace were damaged. It surrendered to a German force on 9 September 1870, in the fall of 1914, during World War I, German forces captured the town and held it until the Allied offensive in the summer of 1918. It is 55 km from Reims,131 km from Amiens, the city contains numerous medieval buildings, including the cathedral Notre-Dame of Laon, dating mostly from the 12th and 13th centuries. The chapter-house and the cloister contain specimens of early 13th century architecture, the old episcopal palace, contiguous to the cathedral, is now used as a court-house
9.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
10.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
France
