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.
Haute-Savoie
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Haute-Savoie is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-eastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. To the north is Lake Geneva and Switzerland, to the south and southeast are the Mont Blanc, the French entrance to the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy is in Haute-Savoie. It is noted for winter sports, the first Winter Olympic Games were held at Chamonix in 1924, before 1860, the territory occupied by modern Haute-Savoie and the adjoining department of Savoie had been part of the Kingdom of Sardinia since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Annexation of the region by France was formalized in the Treaty of Turin on March 24,1860, from November 1942 to September 1943, Haute-Savoie was subjected to military occupation by Fascist Italy. The Maquis des Glières operated from Haute-Savoie, Haute-Savoie comprises four arrondissements, divided into 294 communes and 17 cantons. Haute-Savoie has the largest range of elevations of all the departments in France, the lowest point is 250 metres in the Rhône River Valley, some of the worlds best-known ski resorts are in Haute-Savoie. Its mountainous terrain makes mountain passes important to trade and economic life, some of the most important are the Col de la Forclaz and the Mont Blanc Tunnel, linking Chamonix to Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley. As of 1996,178,624 hectares of Haute-Savoie is forested, compared to 34.4 percent for the Rhone-Alpes region and 27.1 percent for France as a whole. Of the forested area 141,063 hectares is managed for timber and other forest products, national nature reserves are designated by the French government as areas where an outstanding natural heritage is present in both rare and typical areas in terms of species and geology. Management is charged to local organizations, with direction and evaluation focusing on protection for future generations. Lake Annecy is an attraction, along with the town of Évian-les-Bains, perhaps the best-known town on the French shore of Lake Geneva. Haute-Savoie is entirely within the watershed of the Rhone, there were 4,450 farmers in 1999,4,800 farmers and over 1,700 full-time farm employees at the end of 2006. In 1999, crop production was valued at €71.5 million, dairy production is a large part of the Haute-Savoie economy, earning €117.2 million in 2006 and representing 74 percent of the net animal-product worth. The average expenditure per capita in 2006 was €21,706, with the 2004–2007 rise of the euro, Swiss customer traffic decreased five or six percent. At the end of 2006, traditional small businesses represented 84 percent of businesses and 40 percent of retail space,4,301 companies were established in 2004 in Haute-Savoie, nearly 80 percent in the service sector, with a high percentage offering service to individuals. This accounted for 21.6 percent of new businesses, the most active sectors were real estate, construction, business services and the food industry. In 1999, Haute-Savoie had 2,779 industrial companies producing 13.60 percent of all business income. T, firms engaged in screw-cutting are major employers in the department. While the automotive industry is the client, firms also service the electronics, household-appliance
3.
Union for a Popular Movement
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The Union for a Popular Movement was a centre-right political party in France that was one of the two major contemporary political parties in France along with the centre-left Socialist Party. The UMP was formed in 2002 as a merger of several parties under the leadership of President Jacques Chirac. In May 2015, the party was renamed and succeeded by the Republicans, Nicolas Sarkozy, then the president of the UMP, was elected President of France in the 2007 presidential election, but was defeated by PS candidate François Hollande in a run-off five years later. After the November 2012 party congress, the UMP experienced internal fractioning and was plagued by scandals which forced its president, Jean-François Copé. After his re-election as UMP president in November 2014, Sarkozy put forward an amendment to change the name of the party into The Republicans, since the 1980s, the political groups of the parliamentary right have joined forces around the values of economic liberalism and the building of Europe. Their rivalries had contributed to their defeat in the 1981 and 1988 legislative elections, before the 1993 legislative election, the Gaullist Rally for the Republic and the centrist Union for French Democracy formed an electoral alliance, the Union for France. However, in the 1995 presidential campaign they were divided between followers of Jacques Chirac, who was eventually elected, and supporters of Prime Minister Edouard Balladur. After their defeat in the 1997 legislative election, the RPR, before the 2002 presidential campaign, the supporters of President Jacques Chirac, divided in three centre-right parliamentary parties, founded an association named Union on the Move. After Chiracs re-election, in order to contest the election jointly. It was renamed Union for a Popular Movement and as established as a permanent organisation. In the UMP four major French political families were represented, Gaullism, republicanism, Christian democracy. Chiracs close ally Alain Juppé became the partys first president at the founding congress at the Bourget in November 2002. Juppé won 79. 42% of the vote, defeating Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, the leader of the partys Eurosceptic Arise the Republic faction, and three other candidates. During the partys earlier years, it was marked by tensions, in the 2004 European Parliament election on 13 June 2004, the UMP also suffered another heavy blow, winning 16. 6% of the vote, far behind the Socialist Party, and only 16 seats. Juppé resigned the presidency on 15 July 2004 after being found guilty in a corruption scandal in January of the same year. Nicolas Sarkozy rapidly announced that he would take over the presidency of the UMP and resign his position as finance minister, ending months of speculation. On 28 November 2004, Sarkozy was elected to the presidency with 85. 09% of the votes against 9. 1% for Dupont-Aignan and 5. 82% for Christine Boutin. Having gained control of what had been Chiracs party, Sarkozy focused the party machinery, however, during this time, the UMP under Sarkozy gained a record number of new members and rejuvenated itself in preparation of the 2007 election
4.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
5.
Eberbach (Baden)
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Eberbach is a town in Germany, in northern Baden-Württemberg, located 33 km east of Heidelberg. Its sister cities are Ephrata, United States and Thonon-les-Bains, France, Eberbach lies at the foot of the Katzenbuckel, at 626 m the highest elevation in the Odenwald, in the Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald, on the romantic Burgenstraße along the river Neckar. Eberbach includes the boroughs of Neckarwimmersbach, Brombach, Friedrichsdorf, Lindach, Rockenau, Badisch Igelsbach, Gaimühle, the border with Hesse runs through the borough of Igelsbach. Therefore, only the northeast half, called Badisch Igelsbach, of the borough belongs to Eberbach, the southwest half, called Hessisch Igelsbach, belongs to the Hessian municipality of Hirschhorn. The same is true for the borough Schöllenbach, the larger part of Schöllenbach belongs to the municipality of Hesseneck. Eberbach is a former Imperial Free City, founded soon after 1227 – when the castle was first mentioned – by German King Henry VII of the House of Hohenstaufen. After his pledge to the Counts Palatine in 1330, the old Free City belonged to the Electorate of the Palatinate, in 1803 it passed to the Principality of Leiningen, and since 1806 it has belonged to Baden. Until 1924 it was the seat of the authority office, in 1977 the town celebrated its 750-year jubilee. The historic old town, which is a precinct, with its four well maintained towers, many well kept timber-frame houses. Eberbach also lies on the Burgenstraße, which leads from Mannheim all the way to Prague, the Ohrsberg is a peak in Eberbach. It shapes the town and is 229 m high, the 2014 election was as follows, The mayor is directly elected for eight years. Description, Eberbachs coat of arms is described thus, Argent on lowered fess wavy azure a boar striding sable. This makes the coat of arms a rebus of the towns name – a canting coat of arms – since it shows a boar, Eberbachs flag is blue and white. As an Imperial City, Eberbach would have had leave originally to have its arms bear the Imperial eagle, the Imperial eagle was once to be found in the town wall at the upper gate. A photograph taken of it in 1909, along with the stone itself, are today kept in the Town Museum. The current coat of arms has been established to be from a seal impression dating back to 1387, the boars appearance, however, in todays arms, adopted in 1976, is clearly unlike the original. The name traces back to an old traditional story. According to the tale, an Eberbacher in an inn in Neckarwimmersbach was served a cuckoo and this he then proceeded to consume
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Mercer Island, Washington
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Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle Metropolitan Area, with Seattle located to its west, Mercer Island is connected to the mainland on either side via bridges carrying Interstate 90. Mercer Island is located closer to Bellevue than it is to Seattle, the population was 22,699 at the 2010 census. The population was 22,720 at 2013 Estimate from Office of Financial Management and this makes Mercer Island the most populated island in a lake within the United States. The ZIP code 98040 is unique to Mercer Island, Mercer Island has the fifth highest per-capita income in the state of Washington. Mercer Island, named for the Mercer family of Seattle, was first settled between 1870 and 1880, the Mercer brothers often rowed between the island and Seattle to pick berries, hunt, and fish. Those brothers, Thomas Mercer and Asa Shinn Mercer, were members of the Mercer family of Virginia, the first large settlement, East Seattle, was toward the northwest side of the island—near the McGilvra neighborhood. During 1889, a C C Calkins built a large and gilded resort, the hotel was reached via steamboat between Madison Park, Leschi Park, and the Eastside. Guests included President Benjamin Harrison, of 1901, amongst other dignitaries from Seattle to the Eastcoast of the USA. Burnt by a fire, the hotel was razed during 1908. The Calkins Landing continued service and presumedly aided location of a permanent population. A denser urban community with business district developed toward the northern island between the McGilvra neighborhood and Luther Burbank Park. This community now composes the majority of the islands crest through the Middle Island neighborhood, in 1928, the East Channel Bridge was built to connect the island with Bellevue, Washington. In 1930, George W Lightfoot requested a bridge between Mercer Island and Seattle, the Lacey V Murrow Memorial Bridge, currently the second longest floating bridge on Earth, was built and opened in 1940. In 1989, a bridge, the Homer M Hadley Memorial Bridge, was built parallel to the Lacey V Murrow Memorial Bridge. The East Channel Bridge, Lacey V Murrow Memorial Bridge, and Homer M Hadley Memorial Bridge, carry Interstate 90 from Seattle, through Mercer Island, and into Bellevue. The City of Mercer Island was incorporated from East Seattle on July 5,1960, just over one month later, August 9, the Town of Mercer Island was incorporated from that business district. The two aforementioned municipalities merged as the City of Mercer Island May 19,1970, Mercer Island City Hall is located at 47°34′39″N 122°12′43. 2″W
8.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
9.
Annecy
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Annecy is the largest city of Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It lies on the tip of Lake Annecy,35 kilometers south of Geneva. Nicknamed the Pearl of French Alps in Raoul Blanchards monograph describing its location between lake and mountains, the city controls the northern entrance to the lake gorge. Due to the lack of land, its resident population has remained stagnant. However, its area, with 221,000 inhabitants, is on the 5th regional position, just behind the Geneva-Annemasse urban area. Its role increased in 1536, during the Calvinist Reformation of Geneva, st Francis de Sales gave Annecy its role of advanced citadel of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. The annexation of Savoy will link the city to France in 1860, the city experienced an industrial development in the 19th century with silk manufacturing. Some of its legacy remains today within the head offices of NTN-SNR bearings, Salomon, Entremont. The municipal environmental policy managed to keep 40. 3% of green spaces, since 1960 Annecy has been the organiser of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, hosted at the Bonlieu Cultural Centre. It has also been an educational center since the establishment of the University of Savoy in 1973. The Fier forms part of the northwestern border. The mountains around the town of Annecy are Mont Veyrier, Le Semnoz, La Tournette, nearby Annecy le Vieux was a settlement from the time of the Romans. Annecy was the court of the counts of Geneva or Genevois from the 10th century and it passed to the counts of Savoy in 1401. In 1444, it became the capital of the provinces of Genevois, Faucigny. With the advance of Calvinism, Annecy became a center for the Counter-Reformation, Francis of Sales was born in Sales, France in 1567 and served as bishop of Annecy from 1602 to 1622, his relics are preserved in the cathedral. During the French Revolution, the Savoy region was conquered by France, Annecy became attached to the department of Mont Blanc, whose capital was Chambéry. The Catholic diocese was suppressed in 1801, after the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, Annecy was returned to the King of Sardinia and the Catholic diocese restored in 1822. When Savoy was sold to France in 1860, it became the capital of the new department of Haute-Savoie, Annecy was the site of the second round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks in 1949
10.
Annemasse
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Annemasse is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is a chef-lieu de canton and part of a transborder agglomeration known as Grand Genève and it lies on the border with Switzerland, approximately 8 kilometres east of Geneva. It is the second largest city in the Haute-Savoie department with an estimated at 33,166 in 2012. Annemasse is part of the area of Geneva,2 km from the Swiss border, and 45 km from Annecy. The city is surrounded by the Mont Salève and the Arve River on the West, the Voirons on the East, the climate is temperate with influences from the Alps and the Leman Lake. The coldest months are January and February, and the hottest are in July, there is an annual average of 80 days with below zero temperatures. The minimum average is -1 °C and the average is 26 °C. Annual rain is 975,7 mm with 118 rainy days a year, the main activity is commerce, due to the current foreign exchange situation, a lot of Swiss residents come to Annemasse to purchase food and other commodities. A large proportion of the work in Geneva, Switzerland. Annemasse has 1,898 company locations on its territory, a share of it being shops. The three main companies operating in Annemasse are Parker Hannifin, Siegwerk and the Giant Casino Annemasse and it is the last exit of the French motorway A40 before the border and is thus well connected with the other cities of the region. It is also connected to Annecy via motorway A41, local transport is done with 6 bus lines by the TP2A company. A tram is under construction to the Swiss border, schduled to be open in 2016, Annemasse has had a railway station since 1880. It is the second most important station of the department with 2,000 passengers a day, to encourage mobility, the CEVA project will extend the existing rail connection between Annemasse and Gare de Cornavin through Genève Eaux-Vives. Annemasse also has an airport for small tourist and business planes. The urban area of Annemasse is the second largest agglomération in Haute-Savoie, the city mayor 1977 -2008 was Robert Borrel from the Socialist Party. Christian Dupessay was elected mayor in the 2008 elections following Borrels retirement, there are two catholic churches, Saint-André and Saint-Joseph, one synagogue, two muslim religious organisations, and several protestant churches. Gaggenau Sieradz Boisbriand Communes of the Haute-Savoie department Annemasse Aerodrome INSEE Annemasse Flag Annemasse Official Web site Annemasse in pictures
11.
Communes of France
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The commune is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to civil townships incorporated municipalities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany, the United Kingdom has no exact equivalent, as communes resemble districts in urban areas, but are closer to parishes in rural areas where districts are much larger. Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and have received significant powers of governance to manage the populations, the communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. A French commune may be a city of 2.2 million inhabitants like Paris, communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes, a commune is a town, city, or municipality. Use of commune in English is a habit, and one that might be corrected. There is nothing in commune in French that is different from town in English. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, as of January 2015, there were 36,681 communes in France,36,552 of them in metropolitan France and 129 of them overseas. This is a higher total than that of any other European country. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes and this is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by a county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions, COM of Saint-Martin and it was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe région. The commune structure was abolished when Saint-Martin became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007, COM of Wallis and Futuna, which still is divided according to the three traditional chiefdoms. It was previously a commune inside the Guadeloupe region, the commune structure was abolished when Saint-Barthélemy became an overseas collectivity on 22 February 2007.88 square kilometres. The median area of metropolitan Frances communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, the median area is a better measure of the area of a typical French commune. This median area is smaller than that of most European countries. In Italy, the area of communes is 22 km2, in Belgium it is 40 km2, in Spain it is 35 km2, and in Germany. Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia in Germany were the places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of Frances overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards and they usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them
