1.
Prefectures of France
–
There are 101 prefectures in France, one for each department. The official in charge is the prefect, the prefect represents the national government at the local level and as such exercises the powers that are constitutionally attributed to the national government. The prefect issues ordinances written for the application of law, to close a building that does not conform to safety codes. In the past, the prefect was head of the department, but since 1982, there is an exception in Paris and its three surrounding departments. These departments are administered by a prefecture for law enforcement and security purposes, called the Prefecture of Police. The power of law enforcement is usually invested in the mayor in other French communes, the departments are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The chef-lieu darrondissement is the subprefecture, the official in charge is the subprefect (French, sous-préfet. Cantons have relatively few competences, the most important one being the local organisation of elections, administrative divisions of France French National Police
Prefectures of France
–
Petite Couronne
2.
Communes of France
–
The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
Communes of France
–
Road sign marking the end of the village of
Y in the
Somme department of
Picardy
Communes of France
–
Map of the 36,569 communes of metropolitan France
Communes of France
–
Mittelhausbergen in
Alsace
Communes of France
–
Vacqueyras in
Provence, showing double French/
Provençal name
3.
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral
–
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral Basilica is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, France. The central porch is flanked by two towers, the 14th-century Tour Brieuc. Which is 92 feet high and the 15th-century Tour Marie, which is 108 feet in height and these towers have loop-holes and machicolations which would have allowed the use of a variety of defensive weapons and are supported by stout buttresses. The two arms of the transept jut far out and are protected by towers with pepper-pot roofs, although stripped of many of its treasures by the zealots of the French Revolution, it still holds many splendid artefacts and works of art. The Chapelle de lAnnonciation has, for example, a baroque altarpiece. The south arm of the transept is lit by 15th-century stained-glass windows and he stayed in Germains monastery until he reached the age of twenty-four when he was made a priest. He decided to travel to the Armorican peninsula and set off with a group of monks and he founded a monastery at what is now Tréguier but when called back to Wales because of a terrible plague there, he left his nephew Tugdual in charge. When he returned he found Tugdual totally in control and set off along the Léguer estuary, landed where Saint-Brieuc stands today, later he had the first cathedral built and took the role of bishop for himself. The first church or oratory on this site was built in wood in the 6th-century, nothing remains today of these two constructions. The 10th century saw many attacks on Saint-Brieuc by the Normans, Pierre had brought the Saint-Brieuc relics back to the town from Angers in October 1210. When he returned in 1231, he had a built on the south side of the building. His wish was to be buried in the chapel and this happened in 1234, the construction work was finished by Pinchons successor Philippe before his departure to the Holy Land in 1248. It was Bishop Philippe who moved to have Pinchon canonised on 12 April 1247, over one hundred years later the cathedral suffered much damage at the hands of the English during the destructive War of the Breton Succession and then by a fire at the end of 1353. After the fire, Bishop Guy de Montfort made the reconstruction a priority, now Bishop Guillaume Angier took charge of the reconstruction necessary and apart from the reconstruction of the choir, he finalised the long-awaited construction of the Tour Marie. Then Bishop Jean de Malestroit reconstructed the gable of the wing of the transept and had a magnificent window installed there. By the beginning of the 15th century, the cathedral was finished, finally, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw much restoration and important works including the repair of the vaulting and work on the window framing. As we have seen in this summary, the cathedral had to be rebuilt on many occasions this as a consequence of military attacks or natural disasters. The gisant on the dates to the 17th-century
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral
–
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
5.
France
–
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
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
6.
Regions of France
–
France is divided into 18 administrative regions, including 13 metropolitan regions and 5 overseas regions. The current legal concept of region was adopted in 1982, the term région was officially created by the Law of Decentralisation, which also gave regions their legal status. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. In 2016, the number of regions was reduced from 27 to 18 through amalgamation, in 2014, the French parliament passed a law reducing the number of metropolitan regions from 22 to 13 with effect from 1 January 2016. However, the region of Upper and Lower Normandy is simply called Normandy. Permanent names were to be proposed by the new regional councils by 1 July 2016, the legislation defining the new regions also allowed the Centre region to officially change its name to Centre-Val de Loire with effect from January 2015. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, opted to retain their interim names, between 1982 and 2015, there were 22 regions in Metropolitan France. Before 2011, there were four regions, in 2011 Mayotte became the fifth. Regions lack separate legislative authority and therefore cannot write their own statutory law and they levy their own taxes and, in return, receive a decreasing part of their budget from the central government, which gives them a portion of the taxes it levies. They also have considerable budgets managed by a council made up of representatives voted into office in regional elections. A regions primary responsibility is to build and furnish high schools, in March 2004, the French central government unveiled a controversial plan to transfer regulation of certain categories of non-teaching school staff to the regional authorities. Critics of this plan contended that tax revenue was insufficient to pay for the costs. In addition, regions have considerable power over infrastructural spending, e. g. education, public transit, universities and research. This has meant that the heads of regions such as Île-de-France or Rhône-Alpes can be high-profile positions. Number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1986, Overseas region is a recent designation, given to the overseas departments that have similar powers to those of the regions of metropolitan France. Radio France Internationale in English Overseas regions Ministère de lOutre-Mer some explanations about the past and current developments of DOMs and TOMs
Regions of France
7.
Brittany (administrative region)
–
Brittany is one of the 18 regions of France. It is named after the historic and geographic region of Brittany, the region of Brittany was created in 1941 on 80% of the territory of traditional Brittany. The remaining 20% is now called the Loire-Atlantique department which is included in the Pays de la Loire region, whose capital, part of the reason why Brittany was split between two present-day regions was to avoid the rivalry between Rennes and Nantes. Although Nantes was the capital of the Duchy of Brittany until the sixteenth century. Despite that, the Chambre des comptes had remained in Nantes until 1789, although there were previous plans to create Régions out of the Départements, like the Clémentel plan or the Vichy regionalisation programme, these plans had no effect or else were abolished in 1945. The current French Regions date from 1956 and were created by gathering Departements together, in Brittany, this led to the creation of the new Region of Brittany, which included only four out of the five historical Breton départements. The term region was created by the Law of Decentralisation. The first direct elections for representatives took place on 16 March 1986. See History of Brittany Brittany, lying in the northwest corner of France, is one of the historic provinces of France. The most Atlantic of Frances regions, Brittany is proud of its Celtic heritage and it enjoys a mild climate somewhat warmer though not necessarily drier than the climate of the southwest of England. Quimper, the capital of the Finistère, and St. Brieuc and it is also the venue for Brittanys annual Interceltiques music and culture festival. Despite its limited size, Brittany is quite a diverse region, the south coast, facing onto the Bay of Biscay, is flatter, much milder, and graced by a number of large sandy beaches. The sea here is warmer in summer, the backbone of Brittany is a granite ridge stretching from east to west, peaking in the Monts dArrée. But most of inland Brittany is gentle farming country, a famous for its milk and butter. In cultural terms, Brittany is very distinctive, with its own language and Celtic cultural tradition that set it apart from the rest of France. The Breton language, though not much used in life, and not understood by most of the modern population, has made a comeback in recent years. Celtic traditions are alive or recalled today in Breton folk music, its Celtic festivals, the name of Brittany derives from settlers from Great Britain, who fled that island in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England between the fifth and seventh centuries. Unlike the rest of France and Brittany, Lower Brittany has maintained a distinctly Celtic language, Breton and it was the dominant language in Lower, or western, Brittany until the mid-20th century
Brittany (administrative region)
–
Le Diben harbour -
Plougasnou (Brittany)
Brittany (administrative region)
–
Flag
Brittany (administrative region)
–
House in Brittany at the Channel Coast (north of Morlaix)
Brittany (administrative region)
–
Bilingual road signs in
Quimper (French on top)
8.
Departments of France
–
In the administrative divisions of France, the department is one of the three levels of government below the national level, between the administrative regions and the commune. There are 96 departments in metropolitan France and 5 overseas departments, each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council. From 1800 to April 2015, they were called general councils, the departments were created in 1791 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity, the title department is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after geographical features rather than after historical or cultural territories which could have their own loyalties. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1764 in the writings of dArgenson and they have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. Most French departments are assigned a number, the Official Geographical Code. Some overseas departments have a three-digit number, the number is used, for example, in the postal code, and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates. For example, inhabitants of Loiret might refer to their department as the 45 and this reform project has since been abandoned. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René dArgenson to serve as administrative areas purely for the Ponts et Chaussées infrastructure administration, before the French Revolution, France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the close of the Ancien Régime, it was organised into provinces, during the period of the Revolution, these were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. Their boundaries served two purposes, Boundaries were chosen to break up Frances historical regions in an attempt to erase cultural differences, Boundaries were set so that every settlement in the country was within a days ride of the capital of the department. This was a security measure, intended to keep the national territory under close control. This measure was directly inspired by the Great Terror, during which the government had lost control of rural areas far from any centre of government. The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments, most were named after an areas principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine, the number of departments, initially 83, was increased to 130 by 1809 with the territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire. Following Napoleons defeats in 1814-1815, the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size, in 1860, France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy, which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from the new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice, the 89 departments were given numbers based on their alphabetical order. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe, Moselle, Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871, following Frances defeat in the Franco-Prussian War
Departments of France
–
Geometrical proposition rejected
Departments of France
–
The 101 departments of France
Departments of France
–
The three Algerian departments in 1848
9.
Democratic Movement (France)
–
The Democratic Movement is a centrist political party in France, which is characterised by a strong pro-European stance. MoDem was founded by François Bayrou to succeed the Union for French Democracy and contest the 2007 legislative election, initially named the Democratic Party, the party was renamed Democratic Movement, because there was already a small Democratic Party in France. The MoDem traces its roots in the Union for French Democracy, traditionally, the UDF had always supported centre-right governments since its creation by Valéry Giscard dEstaing. However, during the term of Jacques Chirac, the UDF became increasingly independent from the UMP. On the initiative of its leader François Bayrou, it supported a censure motion along with the Socialist Party. During the 2007 presidential campaign, François Bayrou advocated a national unity government and he presented himself as a centrist and a social-liberal, proclaiming that if elected, he would govern beyond the left-right divide. Although eliminated in the first round, a number of voters supported him. Following the election, he founded the Democratic Movement on the 29 May to reinforce his strategy of political independence, MoDem was also supported by the Union of Radical Republicans. Some members of the UDF did not agree with this new strategy because the weighted French balloting system would hinder the Democratic Movement from obtaining seats in the legislative elections and these members created the New Centre, continuing their support for the newly elected president Nicolas Sarkozy. The MoDem won 7. 6% of the votes in the first round of the June 2007 legislative election, candidates ran under the UDF-MoDem banner, since the party had not yet been created officially. The party gained three seats in the National Assembly of France, thierry Benoit, one of the four MPs, has been vocally critical of the party, but he actually sits for the MoDem and defends the movements policies. He stated that he had been elected jointly by centre-right and left-wing citizens, the MoDem became an official political party on 1 December 2007 following its founding assembly in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the suburbs of Paris. The assembly elected Bayrou, who ran uncontested, as the party president, on 30 November 2007, the UDF effectively ceased to exist, and was fully integrated within MoDem. At the 2012 presidential election Bayrou won 9. 3% of the vote, a half of what he had obtained five years before. In the subsequent legislative election the party was reduced to 1. 8%, in the city counting more than 10,000 inhabitants, the party scored an average of 15%, winning over 50 cities. In an alliance with the Union of Democrats and Independents, also a successor of the Union for French Democracy, in 2004, François Bayrou launched the European Democratic Party along with Francesco Rutellis Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy. In 2005 the EDP created, along with the New Democrat Coalition of the United States Democratic Party, the Alliance of Democrats, a worldwide network of centrist and social liberal parties
Democratic Movement (France)
–
François Bayrou
10.
Demonym
–
A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
–
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
11.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
Daylight saving time
–
Ancient
water clock that lets hour lengths vary with season.
Daylight saving time
–
G. V. Hudson invented modern DST, proposing it first in 1895.
Daylight saving time
–
Retailers generally favor DST.
United Cigar Stores hailed a 1918 DST bill.
Daylight saving time
–
William Willett independently proposed DST in 1907 and advocated it tirelessly.
12.
Central European Summer Time
–
It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
Central European Summer Time
–
light blue
13.
Breton language
–
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
Breton language
–
Bilingual sign
Huelgoat,
Brittany
Breton language
–
Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg, the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the use of Breton
Breton language
–
Bilingual sign in
Vannes (Gwened)
Breton language
–
Sign in French and Breton in Rennes, outside a school with bilingual classes
14.
Gallo language
–
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
Gallo language
–
The town of
Loudéac displays its Gallo name, Loudia, on signage
Gallo language
–
The historical Gallo language area of
Upper Brittany
Gallo language
–
A Gallo sign in the
Rennes metro
Gallo language
–
Bilingual signage in the
Rennes metro
15.
Wales
–
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh
Wales
–
Bryn Celli Ddu, a late Neolithic chambered tomb on Anglesey
Wales
–
Flag
Wales
–
This article is about the country. For other uses, see
Wales (disambiguation).
Wales
–
Coin of
Magnus Maximus
16.
Saint Brioc
–
Saint Brioc was a 5th-century Welsh holy man who became the first abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is one of the seven saints of Brittany. Very little is known about Briocs early life, as his 9th century Acta is not altogether reliable and it states that he came from Ceredigion where, indeed, he has a church at Llandyfriog. He received his education in Ireland and then studied under Germanus of Auxerre and he is believed to have spent time at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, where a church was dedicated to him and his name was commemorated in the annual St. Bruix Fair. He most likely returned to France early in 431, accompanied by Saint Illtud, in 480, he settled in Armorica, and founded a monastery at Landebaeron. He then traveled to Upper Brittany where he established an oratory at St Brieuc-des-Vaux, authorities differ as to date of Saint Briocs death, but it was probably in 502, or in the early years of the sixth century. He died in his own monastery at St. Brieuc-des-Vaux and was interred in his cathedral church, Rothesay, Bute His Acta cites numerous miracles, especially his cure of Count Riguel, who gave the saint his own Palace of Champ-du-Rouvre as also the whole manorial estates. He is represented as treading on a dragon or presented with a column of fire as seen at his ordination. Saint Briocs relics were moved to the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus of Angers in 865, however, in 1210, a portion of the relics was restored to St. Brieuc Cathedral, where the saints ring is also preserved. The festival of Saint Brioc was celebrated on 1 May, but in 1804, churches in England, Ireland, and Scotland are dedicated to this early Celtic saint, including the parish church of St Breock in Cornwall. He is considered the saint of pursemakers
Saint Brioc
–
Saint Brioc
17.
French Revolution
–
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
French Revolution
–
The
August Insurrection in 1792 precipitated the last days of the monarchy.
French Revolution
–
The French government faced a fiscal crisis in the 1780s, and King Louis XVI was blamed for mishandling these affairs.
French Revolution
–
Caricature of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back.
French Revolution
–
The meeting of the Estates General on 5 May 1789 at Versailles.
18.
English Channel
–
The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the Channel is of geologically recent origins, having been dry land for most of the Pleistocene period. The first flood would have lasted for months, releasing as much as one million cubic metres of water per second. The flood started with large but localized waterfalls over the ridge, the flow eroded the retaining ridge, causing the rock dam to fail and releasing lake water into the English Channel. The erosion of the Lobourg Channel was probably the final opening of the Strait, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English
English Channel
–
English Channel
English Channel
–
Three French river mouths. Top to bottom: the
Somme, the
Authie and the
Canche
English Channel
–
The Hermitage of
St Helier lies in the bay off
Saint Helier and is accessible on foot at low tide.
English Channel
–
British radar facilities during the
Battle of Britain 1940
19.
Guingamp
–
Guingamp is a commune in the Côtes-dArmor department in Brittany in northwestern France. The Saint Loup festival – national competition of Brittanys dances and international festival – takes place every year around mid August and it always ends by the traditional dance, la Dérobée de Guingamp. The main guests are musicians from Asturias, Ireland, Galicia, Scotland, Wales, the Brittanys dance is omnipresent in other cultural manifestations and the cultural office also organizes a contemporary creative dance week. The city hosts a football team called En Avant de Guingamp that won the French Cup in the 2008–2009 season while it was still part of the 2nd league. The team has made its comeback in the 1st League for the 2013–2014 season, Guingamp won again the French Cup against Rennes in 2013–2014 and is qualified for the UEFA Europa League 2014-15 rounds. The clubs stadium has a higher capacity than Guingamps total population, inhabitants of Guingamp are called guingampais. The municipality launched a plan through Ya dar brezhoneg on 8 July 2008. In 2008,15. 89% of primary children attended bilingual schools. The Saint Loup dance festival is held every year in mid-August, then there is the annual pardon, which brings pilgrims to pay homage to the Black Virgin in the Basilica of Notre Dame de Bon Secours. Guingamp is home to the 2008-9 and 2013–14 Coupe de France holders En Avant de Guingamp, a team in Ligue 1. The town has the remains of three castles, razed to ground level by the order of Richelieu and they were reduced to three towers. Vincent de Bourbon, great grandson of Louis XIV, was Count of Guingamp from 1750 until his death in 1752
Guingamp
–
Guingamp's Town Hall
Guingamp
–
A view from one the Trieux's bridges
20.
Dinan
–
Dinan is a walled Breton town and a commune in the Côtes-dArmor department in northwestern France. Instead of nestling on the floor like Morlaix, most urban development has been on the hillside. The area alongside the River Rance is known as the port of Dinan and is connected to the town by the steep streets Rue Jerzual, in the centre of Dinan the Rance summer flows are typically in the range of 500 cubic feet per second. Inhabitants of Dinan are called dinannais and dinannaises, the medieval town on the hilltop has many fine old buildings, some of which date from the 13th century. The town retains a large section of the city walls, part of which can be walked round, major historical attractions include the Jacobins Theatre dating from 1224, the flamboyant Gothic St Malos Church, the Romanesque St Saviours Basilica, Duchess Annes Tower and the Château de Dinan. A major highlight in the calendar is Dinans Fête des Remparts, the town is transformed with decoration and many locals dress up in medieval garb for this two-day festival. The festival takes place over the weekend in July every even-numbered year. In 2008,4. 97% of primary children attended bilingual schools. His heart is buried in Dinan, the hospital in Dinan is named after him. Horace Tuck, English painter, visited Dinan for its picturesque vistas Roger Vercel, writer, winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1934, a college in the town is named after him
Dinan
–
Château de Dinan
Dinan
–
On the banks of the Rance River
Dinan
–
Basilica of St Saviour
Dinan
–
HIC MILITES WILLELMI DUCIS PUGNANT CONTRA DINANTES ("Here the knights of Duke William fight against the men of Dinan"). Scene from the
Bayeux Tapestry, c.1066, showing the early castle of Dinan
21.
Lannion
–
Lannion is a commune in the Côtes-dArmor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-dArmor, the capital of Trégor, inhabitants of Lannion are called lannionnais in French. Lannion takes its name from Lann Huon in Breton or Land of Huon in English, most of the area indeed used to belong to Lord Huon. The old quarter of Lannion attracts many tourists to the city, the old quarter contains old squares, a church called Brélévenez, half-timbered houses, chapels and frescoes. On 23 October 2006, the municipality launched a plan to promote the Breton language through the Ya dar brezhoneg charter, in 2008,11. 96% of the children attended bilingual schools in primary education. Lannion is a large research center in France with several firms such as Alcatel-Lucent, Orange. The presence of a large industry in the area has led to two institutes of technology in the area, IUT Lannion and a college of engineering, ENSSAT. Regular concerts are held in the square during the summer months known as Les Tardives. Lannion is also home to the Carré Magique, a well known theatre company in the area, Lannion is served by extensive transport links. The nearby Lannion – Côte de Granit Airport was recently expanded to accommodate larger flights arriving from Paris and it is a one-hour flight from Lannion to Paris. The station provides TGV services to Brest, St. Brieuc, Rennes, there is a bus service connecting the town centre to surrounding areas, TILT, with six lines. Line A Hospital/Airport via Quai dAiguillon Line B Kerbabu/Coppens via Quai dAiguillon Line C Alcatel/Kérilis Line Navéo small bus around the centre of the town Line F market day line
Lannion
–
Lannion Lannuon
Lannion
–
View from the church of Brélévénez
Lannion
–
Church of Lannion Église de la Trinité de Brélévenez
22.
Sea lettuce
–
The sea lettuces comprise the genus Ulva, a group of edible green algae that is widely distributed along the coasts of the worlds oceans. The type species within the genus Ulva is Ulva lactuca, lactuca being Latin for lettuce, the genus also includes the species previously classified under the genus Enteromorpha, the former members of which are known under the common name green nori. Individual blades of Ulva can grow to be more than 400 mm in size, a macroscopic alga light to dark green in colour, it is attached by disc holdfast. Sea lettuce is eaten by a number of different sea animals, including manatees, many species of sea lettuce are a food source for humans in Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, China, and Japan. Sea lettuce as a food for humans is eaten raw in salads and it is high in protein, soluble dietary fiber, and a variety of vitamins and minerals, especially iron. However contamination with heavy metals at certain sites where it could be collected makes it dangerous for human consumption. Sea lettuce species are found in the saltwater aquarium trade. Many reef aquarium keepers use sea lettuce species in refugia or grow it as a source for herbivorous fish. Sea lettuce is very easy to keep, tolerating a range of lighting. In the refugium, sea lettuce can be attached to rock or another surface. In August 2009, unprecedented amounts of these algae washed up on the beaches of Brittany, France, the rotting leaves produced large quantities of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas. Environmentalists blamed the phenomenon on excessive nitrogenous compounds washed out to sea from improper disposal of pig, seaweed Marine botany, Ulva C. Tanner & Robert Wilkes
Sea lettuce
–
Sea lettuce
Sea lettuce
–
Ulva intestinalis
23.
Algae
–
Algae is an informal term for a large, diverse group of photosynthetic organisms which are not necessarily closely related, and is thus polyphyletic. Included organisms range from unicellular genera, such as Chlorella and the diatoms, to forms, such as the giant kelp. Most are aquatic and autotrophic and lack many of the cell and tissue types, such as stomata, xylem, and phloem. No definition of algae is generally accepted, one definition is that algae have chlorophyll as their primary photosynthetic pigment and lack a sterile covering of cells around their reproductive cells. Some authors exclude all prokaryotes thus do not consider cyanobacteria as algae, Algae constitute a polyphyletic group since they do not include a common ancestor, and although their plastids seem to have a single origin, from cyanobacteria, they were acquired in different ways. Green algae are examples of algae that have primary chloroplasts derived from endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, diatoms and brown algae are examples of algae with secondary chloroplasts derived from an endosymbiotic red alga. Algae exhibit a range of reproductive strategies, from simple asexual cell division to complex forms of sexual reproduction. Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as the phyllids of bryophytes, rhizoids in nonvascular plants, and the roots, leaves, and other organs found in tracheophytes. Most are phototrophic, although some are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some other heterotrophic organisms, such as the apicomplexans, are derived from cells whose ancestors possessed plastids. Fossilized filamentous algae from the Vindhya basin have been dated back to 1.6 to 1.7 billion years ago, the singular alga is the Latin word for seaweed and retains that meaning in English. Although some speculate that it is related to Latin algēre, be cold, a more likely source is alliga, binding, entwining. The Ancient Greek word for seaweed was φῦκος, which could mean either the seaweed or a red dye derived from it, the Latinization, fūcus, meant primarily the cosmetic rouge. It could be any color, black, red, green, accordingly, the modern study of marine and freshwater algae is called either phycology or algology, depending on whether the Greek or Latin root is used. The name Fucus appears in a number of taxa, most algae contain chloroplasts that are similar in structure to cyanobacteria. Chloroplasts contain circular DNA like that in cyanobacteria and presumably represent reduced endosymbiotic cyanobacteria, however, the exact origin of the chloroplasts is different among separate lineages of algae, reflecting their acquisition during different endosymbiotic events. The table below describes the composition of the three groups of algae. Their lineage relationships are shown in the figure in the upper right, many of these groups contain some members that are no longer photosynthetic
Algae
–
A variety of algae growing on the sea bed in shallow waters
Algae
–
False-color
Scanning electron micrograph of the unicellular
coccolithophore Gephyrocapsa oceanica
Algae
–
The
kelp forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A three-dimensional, multicellular thallus
Algae
–
Rock lichens in Ireland
24.
Precipitation
–
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
Precipitation
–
A thunderstorm with heavy precipitation
Precipitation
–
Long-term mean precipitation by month
Precipitation
–
Late-summer
rainstorm in
Denmark
Precipitation
–
Lenticular cloud forming due to mountains over Wyoming
25.
Sunshine duration
–
It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
Sunshine duration
–
Campbell–Stokes recorder measures sunshine
26.
Jean Boucher (artist)
–
Jean Boucher was a French sculptor based in Brittany. He is best known for his public memorial sculptures which communicated his liberal politics and patriotic dedication to France, Boucher was born in Cesson-Sévigné near Rennes, Brittany. After his early schooling Boucher learned the trade of a blacksmith, pierre Lenoir, professor at the regional school of Rennes, taught the rudiments of fine art to him, and soon realised his young pupils aptitude. In the 1890s he worked on restorations for the cathedral of Saint Samson in Dol-de-Bretagne and he obtained a government grant to continue his studies in Paris where he met his mentors Alexandre Falguière at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu of the Académie Julian. Both gave him a respect for truth in sculpture, a product of the trend of Realism associated with Jules Dalou. In 1898 Boucher joined the Bleus de Bretagne, an organisation founded to promote liberal values in Brittany, Boucher was described by Armand Dayot as a Breton, Dreyfusard and freethinker. In this capacity he was commissioned to create a sculpture commemorating the skeptical thinker Ernest Renan in Renans home town of Tréguier. The sculpture, depicting Renan with the goddess Athena, was controversial, being interpreted as a challenge to Catholicism. Bouchers association with liberal and anti-clerical values led to a commission to depict the liberal hero Victor Hugo in exile on Guernsey, Hugo is depicted looking out from the island back to France, brooding over his exile, and standing on a rocky outcrop. In 1907 Boucher created a memorial to prominent Dreyfus supporter and human rights activist Ludovic Trarieux in Place Denfert-Rochereau. Another large marble in Paris is at the Place Saint-Ferdinand and it depicts Léon Serpollet in his land speed record winning steam car, surrounded by children enveloped by the steam. Boucher was also commissioned to create a sculpture representing the union of Brittany with France. This too created controversy, particularly among Breton nationalists, who resented the union and they complained that the portrayal of Anne of Brittany was demeaning, as she was shown kneeling to the French king. The Breton Nationalist Party was founded to protest its creation, and in 1932 the sculpture was bombed by Gwenn ha du, the date was designed to coincide with anniversary of Breton union with France in 1532. Fragments of the work have been preserved. Boucher also created uncontroversial memorial sculptures to distinguished cultural figures, such as Yves Guyot, Charles Le Goffic, Boucher did his duty as a soldier during World War I. Called to bear arms with the rank of sergeant, he ended the war as a lieutenant, winner of the Croix de guerre, and suffering the effects of gassing. Appointed Professor at the lécole des beaux-Arts, he continued to work on his art and he is the creator of the monuments dedicated to the Saint-Cyriens, to the marshal Joseph Gallieni of Verdun, to the American volunteers, to the aviator Èdouard Mounier and others
Jean Boucher (artist)
–
Jean Boucher in 1921, standing in front of his model for the
Monument to American Volunteers.
Jean Boucher (artist)
–
Early sculptures on Biblical topics,
Dol Cathedral.
Jean Boucher (artist)
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Ernest Renan, Tréguier.
Jean Boucher (artist)
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Victor Hugo in exile, Candie,
Saint Peter Port, Guernsey
27.
Armel Beaufils
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Émile Jean Armel-Beaufils was a French sculptor born in Rennes in 1882 and who died in Saint-Briac in 1952. Émile Jean Armel-Beaufils started his schooling in Fougères then at a lycée in Rennes and he studied law and then literature but attended evening classes at the Rennes Ếcole des Beaux-Arts. On leaving art school he began to exhibit his work at the Salon des artistes français and he was to be awarded a silver medal in 1921 and continued to exhibit every year until 1951. He was served with papers when war broke out in 1914. He also worked with the Henriot factory from 1929 onwards producing porcelain figures, marcharit Fulup was a Breton story teller. Émile Jean Armel-Beaufils main works are listed below and this art gallery holds the following Armel-Beaufils works, - La Fée des grèves. This bronze dates to around 1942, a marble bust dating to 1932. This statuette in wood dates to around 1942 and was purchased by the French State from the Éxposition dart régional breton held in Rennes from 17 October 15 November 1942 Le Procès de Jeanne d’Arc and this bronze statuette dates to 1942. This Armel-Beaufils marble work is held by the Rennes Hôtel de la préfecture dIlle-et-Vilaine There are many Armel Beaufils works in the hall at 18 rue de la Mairie in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer. This plaster model dating to 1930 is held in Quimpers Musée des beaux-arts, in his composition Armel-Beaufils presents us with three faces of the region of Finistère showing the different types of cap worn by the women of the region. The woman to the left wears the cap worn in Plougastel-Daoulas, the woman to the right the cap worn in Rosporden, the work was for a proposed monument for Quimper railway station. This statuette is held in the Perros-Guirec hôtel de ville, a woman in Breton costume carries a book in her left hand and a bunch of flowers. The work had been presented to the Perros-Guirec museum in 1936 and this 1948 monument with sculpture by Armel Beaufils stands on the old ramparts of Saint Malo, Chateaubriands birthplace. It was erected to celebrate the centenary of Chateaubriands death, Saint Malo is rich in sculpture and has works on public display by Francis Pellerin, André Bizette-Lindet, Eugène Dodeigne, Henri Chaumont, René Quillivic and many others. Armel-Beaufils had already of course worked on the Saint-Malo and Saint-Servan war memorials, the municipal library of Fougeres hold the 1948 plaster maquettes of the statues of Velleda and Cymodocée which were intended to decorate the Chateaubriand monument but never used. The Fougères municipal library hold plaster maquettes of the sculptures of Velleda, the front of the post office has a relief by Armel Beaufils. This 1949 Armel Beaufils work in granite is located in Saint-Cast-le-Guildo at the Pointe du Loup, the oratory of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde is dedicated to the people of Saint-Cast-le-Guildo who survived the bombings of August 1944 and the subsequent liberation. The statue of the Virgin Mary Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde on the top of the oratory is the work of Armel Beaufils, the monument to Aristide Briand, originally known as the Pierre du Souvenir, is located in Trébeurden
Armel Beaufils
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"Après le pardon"
Aberystwyth, Wales,[5]
United Kingdom
Agia Paraskevi, Greece
Alsdorf, Germany
Goražde, Bosnia and Herzegovina
