France

This article is about the European country. National motto : Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Official language French Capital Paris 48 ° 52′N 2 ° 19.59 ‘E Largest cities, classified by urban area Paris , Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Lille , Bordeaux , Nice , Nantes , Strasbourg . Form of the state Republic  -  President of the Republic  - Prime Minister  - President of the Senate  - Speaker of the National Assembly Nicolas Sarkozy , François Fillon , Jean-Pierre Bel Accoyer Area  - Total  - Water (%) Ranked 41 th 1 675 417 Note 1 km 2 0.26% Population  - Total ( January 2011 )  - Density Ranked 21 th 65,027,000 note 2 , I a  pop. 97 note 3  inhabitants / km 2 Demonym French, French GDP (PPP) ( 2009 ) 2 108 billion  of  USD ( 8 th ) GDP (nominal) ( 2010 ) 2 582 billion  USD ( 5 th ) HDI ( 2010 ) 0.872 2 (high) ( 14 th ) Currency Euro and Franc CFP note 4 ( EUR ) Time zone UTC +1 ( CET ); Daylight Saving Time: UTC +2 ( CEST ) National anthem The Marseillaise ISO 3166-1 code FRA, GB Internet domain . Fr note 5 Indicative phone 33 International organizations UN (October 24, 1945 3 ) European Union (March 25, 1957) NATO (1 April 2009) La France , in the long form of the French Republic , is a republic constitutional unit which most of the territory ( metropolitan France ) and population are located in Western Europe , but also includes several regions and territories spread across the Americas , the ‘ Indian Ocean and the Pacific . Its capital, Paris , official language is French currency and the euro . His motto is “  Liberty, Equality, Fraternity  , “and the flag has three vertical bands respectively blue, white and red. Anthem is La Marseillaise . France is a country formed in the former Middle Ages . In the xix th  century and the first half of the xx th  century, it has a vast colonial empire . From the 1950s, it is one of the players in the construction of the European Union . It is a nuclear power , and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations . Populated by 65 million (January 2011), France, in 2010, the fifth largest nominal gross domestic product in the world. Its economy , like capitalism with government intervention rather strong, making it one of the leaders world in the areas of food , the aerospace , the automobile , the luxury goods , the tourism and nuclear . Summary  [ hide ] 1 Geography 1.1 Location and boundaries 1.2 Geology, topography and hydrography 1.3 Climate 1.4 Landscapes and Environment 1.5 Spatial
distribution of people and activities 1.6 Lines of communication and transport 2 History 2.1 Prehistory and Early History Ancient 2.2 Birth, crises and transformations of the Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages 2.3 Renaissance and Absolutism (XVI e -XVIII e century) 2.4 The Age of Revolutions (1789 – early XX th  century) 2.5 France in both World Wars 2.6 Since the Liberation 3 Policy and Administration 3.1 Organization of powers 3.2 Territorial division and decentralization 3.3 Overseas France 3.4 Trends in political parties and elections 3.5 Current Leaders 3.6 Public Finance 3.7 Social Protection 3.8 Defence 3.9 Membership in international organizations 3.10 Foreign Policy and Diplomacy 3.11 Symbols Republicans 4 Population and Society 4.1 Demographics 4.2 Immigration, foreign population and visible minorities 4.3 Family, Sexuality and Gender 4.4 Languages 4.5 Religions 4.6 Education 4.7 Health 4.8 Media 4.9 Sport 4.10 Commitment associations, trade unions and political 5 Economy 5.1 Income of the population and human development 5.2 Occupation 5.3 Areas of activity 5.3.1 Agriculture and food 5.3.2 Industry 5.3.3 Energy 5.3.4 Trade and Crafts 5.3.5 Tourism 5.3.6 Search 5.3.7 Finance and Insurance 5.4 Place of France in the Global Economy 6 Cultural Heritage 6.1 Architectural Heritage 6.2 Cultural Heritage and Cultural Events 6.3 A long scientific tradition 6.4 Gastronomy 6.5 Radiation international cultural 7 Supplements 7.1 Notes 7.2 Codes 7.3 Bibliography 7.4 External Links 8 References Geography

Main article: Geography of France . Location and boundaries

Simplified physical map of France. Metropolitan France is located at one end of Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north, the English Channel to the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the southeast. It borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the northeast, of Germany and Switzerland to the east of Italy and Monaco in the south-east of Spain and of Andorra to the south- west. If the boundaries of the south correspond to mountain ranges, borders the northeast not correspond to any geographical limitation note 6 or linguistic note 7 . Metropolitan France includes several islands, including Corsica and coastal islands. The city lies between latitudes 42 ° 19’46 “N 51 ° 5’47″ N and longitude 4 ° 46 ‘W and 8 ° 14’42 “E. France, also includes many territories outside the European continent, commonly called overseas territories , formerly DOM-TOM, which allow it to be present in all oceans. These territories are various statutes 4  : on the South American continent  : the Guyana  ; in the Atlantic Ocean ( Caribbean ): the Guadeloupe , the Martinique , Saint Pierre and Miquelon , St. Martin and St. Bartholomew  ; in the Pacific Ocean  : the French Polynesia , the New Caledonia , Wallis and Futuna and Clipperton  ; in the Indian Ocean  : Reunion , Mayotte online snow gear , the scattered islands , the Crozet Islands , the Kerguelen Islands and St. Paul and Amsterdam  ; in Antarctica  : the Adelie note 8 . Through its local ultra-marine, France also has land borders with Brazil and Suriname , as well as the Netherlands via the French side of St. Martin. The area of France is 670,922 square kilometers , or 547 030 not counting the overseas 5 . It is the 41 th largest state of the world’s land surface by 5 and the second by its exclusive economic zone 6 . It is also the third largest country of Europe , after Russia and the Ukraine , the second if you include the departments ultra-marine, and the largest of the European Union 5 . Its metropolitan area covers continental approximately 1 000 km from north to south and from east to west. The extent of its coastline, including overseas, is 8 245 km 7 . Geology, topography and hydrography Main articles: Geology of France and Relief of France . The metropolitan territory of France offers a wide variety of sets of natural landscapes and topographical b 1 . Large parts of the present territory of France have been raised in several tectonic episodes, including the Hercynian uplift in the era Paleozoic , which is the source of massive Armorican , central , morvandeau , Vosges , Ardennes and Corsican b 2 . The massive Alps , Pyrenees and Jura are the people much younger and less eroded forms have b 2  – the Alps rising to 4810 meters above sea level at Mont Blanc 8 . Although 60% of municipalities are classified as having seismic risks , these risks remain moderate 9 . These massifs delineate several sedimentary basins , including the Aquitaine basin in the southwest and the Paris Basin to the north b 2  – it includes several areas particularly fertile ground, including silt trays of Beauce and Brie b 3 . In addition, various natural pathways such as the Rhone valley , allow easy communication b 4 . The coastal landscapes provide enough contrast, it is sometimes impact of mountain ranges (the Côte d’Azur , for example) , plateaus ending on cliffs (the Alabaster Coast ) or wide sandy plains (the plain of Languedoc ) b 5 . The river system of France is mainly organized around four major rivers, the Loire , the Seine , the Garonne and the Rhône b 6 , which may be added the Meuse and the Rhine , but less important in France major Europe-wide . The watershed French first four matches over 62% of the metropolitan territory b 6 . France has 11 million square kilometers of sea waters under its jurisdiction, three oceans and 97% overseas 10 . Climate

Map of the great French climate areas. Main article: Climate of France . The climate of metropolitan France is temperate b 7 , influenced by the Azores high as the rest of Western Europe 11 , with variations quite marked regional or local. The current typology identifies six main areas climate b 7  : the northwest quarter of the country belongs to the domain Breton, with its shades of Paris and Flemish, it is characterized by mild temperatures, a low temperature range and relatively high rainfall; south of it, the field contains the characteristics of Aquitaine Brittany area, but with higher temperatures; north-east, the area has characteristics Lorraine semi-continental, with cold winters and lower rainfall in the west; along the Mediterranean Sea, the area experienced a Provençal sunshine, the hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters; areas between Lorraine and Provence, the area serves Danube transition zone, with a high temperature range; the field setting, corresponding to regions of high altitude, is characterized by cold, wet winters with significant snowfall. Much of France Overseas , however, is subject to tropical climates (with strong variations) 8 b , which must be added the exceptions of Guyana ( equatorial climate ) 12 , of Saint-Pierre-et- Miquelon ( oceanic climate ) 13 and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories (climate polar and web hosting review ocean ) 14 . Metropolitan France is experiencing weather events with important consequences: storms ( those of December 1999 have killed 7% of French forests of trees 9 b ), heat waves (the European heat wave of 2003 caused 15,000 deaths 9 b ), fire and of flooding. The average temperature in France amounted to 0.1 ° C per decade during the xx th  century b 10 . Landscapes and Environment Metropolitan France has a wide variety of landscapes, from lowland agricultural or forested mountain ranges, more or less eroded coasts and valleys combining diverse cities and natural areas of New. The Overseas France has for its significant biodiversity , for example in the rainforest of Guyana or in the lagoons of New Caledonia 15 . France is one of the most forested countries in Western Europe, forests occupy 28% of national surface 11 b .

The massive mountain of Mont Blanc .

The tip of Van , at the western end of Brittany .

The village of Usson , perched on a mound of volcanic Massif Central .

The beach of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe .   Click on a thumbnail to enlarge This diversity of landscapes and ecosystems are threatened by fragmentation ecological environments with a dense road network 16 , for the creation of artificial coastline and pollution of its water and its soil. One third of the surface waters are of poor or very poor, mainly because of industrial pollution b 12  ; agricultural pollution associated with the use of fertilizers and pesticides for their part, greatly deteriorated the quality of groundwater in several areas, especially Kingdom b 13 . The coastal development and activities of the stand 14 b leads to an extension and densification of buildings on the coast 15 b , despite coastal law of 1986 and the intervention of the Coastal Protection 16 b and the character of some flood-prone areas. As for transport infrastructure, particularly roads, they expose their residents to air pollution, noise and visual high 16 . However, governments have been trying for decades to address these environmental challenges. To nature reserves and national parks have been added since 1968 the regional parks 17 , that combine conservation and enhancement of natural and cultural heritage c 1 and cover in 2007 13% of French territory 18 . Six water agencies have been put in place to manage and protect water resources of the country b 12 . With a policy of limiting the use of petroleum products and the importance of nuclear energy, the French emissions of CO 2 per capita are lower than those of most of its European neighbors, and a fortiori those of U.S. 19 . However, a study by the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea published in 2010, “on several points, the environmental impact remains a concern, or is deteriorating,” 20 . Spatial distribution of people and activities Main article: urban area (France) .

Synthetic engagement rings map of population distribution in France. Are indicated population densities by department, the 18 urban areas with more than 400 000 inhabitants, the line Le Havre-Marseille and the approximate boundaries of the “  diagonal vacuum  . ”      + Of 5000 inhabitants / km ²       of 300 to 1 000 inhabitants / km ²       from 100 to 250 inhabitants / km ²       from 70 to 100 inhabitants / km ²       from 40 to 70 inhabitants / km ²       – from 40 inhabitants / km ²

Topography and population density per km 2 Metropolitan France is marked by multiple spatial imbalances. On the one hand, it has the originality of having a city seven times more populous than the second urban area of the country note 9 , which covers a quarter of the students I 2 and almost all the seats of large companies in the country 21 . On the other hand, the line Le Havre – Marseille is often considered the boundary between is an industry and urbanization old, and long remained a western farming and now enjoys a large and growing population Economic No 1 . Finally, the Ardennes in the northeast to the Landes in southwestern emerges a “  Diagonal low densities  , “characterized by low population compared to the rest of the country and an economy in trouble often 22 . After a long rural exodus to the xix th  century and into the second half of the xx e  century n 2 , the net migration of the French countryside became positive again in the 1990 No. 1 . Most of the urban growth areas is suburban , more and more distant from the city center- n 2 . The table below lists the major cities in 2008, classified by default depending on the population of their urban area. City Urban area I 3 Urban center I 3 Common I 4 Paris 12089098 10354675 2211297 Lyon 2118132 1521030 474 946 Marseille + Aix-en-Provence 1715096 1560343 851 420 Toulouse 1202889 864 936 439 553 Lille 1150530 1012634 225 891 Bordeaux 1105257 832 605 235 891 Nice 1005230 947 337 344 875 Nantes 854 807 584 683 283 288 Strasbourg 757 609 450 375 272 116 Grenoble 664 832 495 429 156 659 Rennes 654 478 305 270 206 655 Rouen 649 291 464 282 109 425 Toulon 607 050 559 421 166 733 Douai + Lens 544 143 509 553 42 413 Montpellier 536 592 383 972 252 998 Avignon 507 626 440 770 90 109 Saint-Etienne 506 655 371 513 172 696 Lines of communication and transport Main article: Transport in France . Because of its location as a crossroads, France is a country of passage 17 b . It is in fact the passage for men and goods moving by land between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe , and since opening in 1994 23 of the Channel Tunnel between the UK and the rest of Europe b 17 . Legacies of history, the French transport networks are highly centralized around Paris b 18  , this centralization is particularly strong in the air and rail transportation, even if it begins to decrease 24 .

A TGV Duplex on the LGV Méditerranée . The main means of transport in France is the road, which represented 86.5% respectively in 2007 and 79.9% of passenger and freight note 10 , 25 . France has more than one million kilometers of roads in 2005, almost all are covered 26 . Since the liberation , France has an extensive highway network , which totals 10 991 km in 2007 26 . In recent decades, public policies seek to reduce fatalities on the road , the main causes identified are the speed and the alcohol a day , and seek to reduce the dependence of the French vis-à-vis the car , to other less polluting means of transport i 1 . The French rail network, in turn, date mainly from the middle and the end of the xix th  century, in 2009, it has 29 473 km of lines , of which over half are electrified 27 . Most of the traffic is managed by the state-owned SNCF , the lines belonging to the infrastructure manager Réseau Ferré de France (RFF). Since the 1980s, passenger traffic is increasing in France, with one hand to support the regions of local and regional traffic , especially at birth and continuing expansion of the high-speed lines come by TGV 28 . On the other hand, the country’s major cities Storage Bins are equipped with a metro rail, like Metro , tramway and RER  , the Metro of Paris , born in 1900, forms one of the densest networks in the world 29 . As for air transport, it is particularly central: the two Paris airports – Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly – in 2008 hosted more than 87 million passengers when the first provincial airport, Nice , in hosted just over 10 million 30 . Provincial airports are indeed in competition with the TGV for domestic traffic, while the Paris airports accommodate almost all long-haul traffic b 19 . France is home to the first airline ( Air France-KLM 31 ) and the first civil aircraft manufacturer ( Airbus 20 b , note 11 ) in Europe. Other modes of transport are used in France, but they are marginal. River traffic ensures a negligible share of passenger traffic and freight traffic very minor, mainly due to the inadequacy of much of modern traffic network 26 . Maritime traffic is more laser hair removal important, but the ports of Dunkirk , Le Havre , Nantes – Saint-Nazaire and Bordeaux are pale in comparison to their rivals in the North Sea as the Rotterdam and Antwerp the 32  , only the port of Marseille pulls out of the game by being the first port of the Mediterranean in terms of tonnage shipped 32 . As for the bike, there is today a new life, thanks to the environmental concern of the French and the establishment of bike rental systems in several cities i 2 . History

 

Evolution of the territory of metropolitan France , from 985 to 1947. Main articles: History of France , Chronology of France and Territorial Formation of metropolitan France . France currently holds the most of the ancient Gaul Celtic , conquered by Julius Caesar in the i st  century BC. AD , but it takes its name from the Franks , a Germanic people who settled there from the v th  century. France is a former state unification, and was one of the first countries in modern times to try an experiment democratic . Prehistory, Antiquity and Early History Main article: Prehistory of France , Chronology of France Prehistory (to -680) , Gaul and Roman Gaul . Human presence in the territory of modern France dates back to the Palaeolithic  , the oldest traces of life date back about 1.8 million years e 1 . The man is then faced with a harsh climate and variable, marked by several ice ages that affect their living e 1 . France has a large number of decorated caves of the Upper Paleolithic , one of the most famous is that of Lascaux e 1 ( Dordogne , – 18 000 about 33 ). To 10,000 at the end of the last ice age , climate softens e 1 . From 7000 or so, this part of Western Europe from the Neolithic and the people become sedentary, even if the evolution is different depending on the region e 2 . After strong growth in population and agricultural iv e and iii e millennia, metallurgy emerged in the late III th millennium, first with the work of gold , of copper and bronze , and with that of iron the viii th  century e 3 . In -600, Greeks from the city of Phocaea founded the city of Marseille , near the Mediterranean e 4  , at the same time, some people Celtic enter the territory of modern France, but said occupation generalizes to the whole of France between v e and iii e  centuries BC. AD e 5 . The notion of Gaul appears, it corresponds to the territories of Celtic settlement between the Rhine , the Atlantic and the Mediterranean e 6 . Gaul was then a prosperous country, whose southern part is more subject to influence Greek and Roman e 7 . From -125, southern Gaul was gradually conquered by the Roman Republic , who founded the cities of Aix-en-Provence , Toulouse and Narbonne e 8 . In -58, Julius Caesar sets out to conquer the rest of Gaul , and defeated in a revolt led by -52 the Gallic chief Vercingetorix e 9 . The newly conquered territories are divided by Augustus in nine Roman provinces , the main ones being the Narbonne in the south, the Aquitaine to the southwest, the Lyon center and Belgium to the north 10 th . Many cities were founded during the Gallo-Roman period, including Lyon , called to be a capital of Gaul 11 th  , they are designed like the Roman cities, with a forum , a theater , a circus , an amphitheater and thermal e 12 . The Roman religion is superimposed on the Gallic worship without removing the gods gradually merging into a single syncretism e 13 . In iii e  century Roman Gaul undergoing a serious crisis, the files , protecting the fortified border incursions Germanic Empire, being crossed several times by the Barbarians 14 th . The Roman power, meanwhile, seems staggering: a Gallic Empire is proclaimed in 260 and beyond the Roman tutelage until 274 e 15 . However, the situation is improving in the first half of the iv th  century, a period of renewal and prosperity for Gaul e 16 . In 312, Emperor Constantine I first converted to Christianity  , Christians, previously persecuted, multiply 17 th . But the barbarian invasions resume from the second half of the iv th  century 18 th  , 31 December 406, the Vandals , Suevi and Alans crossed the Rhine and through Gaul to Spain 19 th . In the middle of v th  century the Alamanni and the Franks , two pagan peoples, settled in the northeast of present-day France and exert pressure on the Roman generals who remain in the northeast of Gaul e 20 . Birth, crises and transformations of the Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages Articles: Kingdoms francs , Merovingians , Carolingians , Capetians , Kingdom of France , Direct Capetians , Capetian House of Valois and List of monarchs of France .

The baptism of Clovis , represented in the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (anonymous). The conversion to Christianity of the Frankish leader Clovis made ​​him the ally of the church and allows it to capture the essence of Gaul at the turn of the v th and vi th  centuries 21 th . The merger of Gallo-Roman, Germanic and contributions of Christianity is long and difficult, the Franks originally constituting a warrior society laws are far from the Roman law and Christian principles e 22 . While the demographic weakness experienced by the Kingdom of the Franks leads to a decline of cities, Christianity moved by the foundation of rural churches, and especially numerous monasteries e 23 . If the power of Clovis originally appeared solid, the Merovingian dynasty must soon face serious difficulties e 24  , it disappears in 751 when Pepin the Short was crowned king of the Franks, thus founding the Carolingian dynasty e 25 . Pepin the Short and his son Charlemagne greatly enlarge the kingdom of the Franks, which extends to the end of the viii th  century more than one million square kilometers e 26 . The vast Carolingian empire is controlled by a central administration based in Aix-la-Chapelle , the counts representing Charlemagne throughout the empire and being monitored by the Missi Dominici e 27 . Charlemagne, crowned in 800 Emperor of the West revived the liberal arts in education, and the palace of Aix-la-Chapelle hosts an intellectual and artistic high-level e 28 . However, after the death of the Emperor, the counts and vassals of the latter gradually come to their office hereditary, and the little son of Charlemagne’s empire to share the Treaty of Verdun ( 843 ), Charles gets the West Francia , which is approximately two-thirds of Western modern France and whose borders vary slightly until the late Middle Ages e 29 . The new kingdom, however, must confront three different waves of invasions to ix th and x th  centuries , led by Muslims , the Vikings and Hungarians e 30 . At the same time, the powers of the former counts continue to rise while the royal power decreases e 31  , a feudal society is set up, characterized by its division into three orders  : the clergy , the nobility and the Third Estate e 32 . In 987 , Hugh Capet was elected king note 12  ; hereditary monarchy becomes e 33 , and Capetians rule France for more than 800 years. However, the first Capetian kings not directly control a very small portion of French territory, called the royal domain , and some of their vassals are much more powerful e 34 . In the xii th  century, royal power began to assert itself against the rulers of the kingdom, but faces years from 1150 to the birth of a “  Plantagenet empire  “together in one all the England and the western third France’s 35 th . The Capetian kingdom reached a peak in the xiii th  century, the monarchy showing the power it had lost 36 th while the French art and culture in Europe assert e 37 . Philippe Auguste ( 1180 – 1223 ) managed to win most of the French possessions of the Plantagenets, temporarily putting an end to the English threat and greatly enlarging the royal estate at the same time e 38 . Louis IX ( 1226 – 1270 ) acts as an arbiter of Christendom, and participates in the seventh and eighth crusades This led him to be quickly canonized by the Catholic Church 39 th . The xiv th and first half of the xv th  century France saw the plunge into a serious crisis, whose expressions are multiple e 40 . The Hundred Years’ War , waged against England and created a problem of succession at the head of the Kingdom of France, ravaging the country e 41 . But the crisis of the xiv th and xv th  centuries is not only political or military: it is demographic – the Black Death killed from 1347 at least one third of the population of the kingdom note 13  -, social – the peasant uprisings and urban areas are increasing – economic and religious e 42 . But the monarchy, if it is also affected by this crisis, not reinforced fate: the central government, which moved into the valley of the Loire , adopts new institutions and set up an army and a tax permanent e 43 . Renaissance and Absolutism ( XVI th – XVIII th century) Main articles: Old Regime , Renaissance , religious wars , Capetian House of Bourbon , Grand Siècle and Enlightenment . From 1494 , the French kings lead to multiple wars in Italy and against the emperor Charles V 34 . But the reigns of François I er ( 1515 – 1 547 ) and his son Henry II ( one thousand five hundred and forty-seven – in 1559 ) are mainly characterized by a strengthening of royal power, which tends to become absolute 35 , and a Renaissance literature and art strongly influenced by Italy 36 . In 1539 , the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterets makes French the administrative language and judicial branches of United 44 th . But the unity of France around the king was upset in the second half of the xvi th  century by the religious problem : between 1562 and 1598 , eight religious wars of succession between Catholics and Calvinists e 45 . The religious crisis is coupled with a primarily political and economic crisis 37 . In 1598 , King Henri IV ( 1589 – 1610 ) gives the Edict of Nantes partial freedom of worship to Protestants e 46 . Louis XIII ( one thousand six hundred ten – 1,643 ) and his ministers Richelieu and Mazarin face opposition from nobles anxious to resume their old powers e 47 . At the same time, France has several successful wars (the Thirty Years War ) and begins to form a first colonial empire , mostly in New France , the Caribbean and on the route to India 48 th . Louis XIV said that more ever the absolute nature of his power note 14  : the “Sun King” sees itself as the “lieutenant of God on Earth e 49  “and built the Palace of Versailles , a symbol of his power 50 th . He surrounded himself with artists and scholars, and works in the religious unity of his kingdom e 51 , ​​continuing the persecution of Protestants and by revoking the Edict of Nantes. Despite the critical financial situation of the monarchy, Louis XIV waged several wars against a European coalition against him e 52 , while the corporate clothing Marquis de Vauban built a network of fortified towns on the borders of United 53 th . If these wars result initially in French victories, several military defeats and famines tarnish the end of his reign 54 th . His great-grand-son Louis XV ( 1,715 – one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four ) also leads several wars, to mixed results e 55 . France surrendered in 1763 the Treaty of Paris possessions in North America, but gains in the same decade the Lorraine and Corsica e 56 . Meanwhile, France has experienced strong demographic vitality, economic – growth of agricultural production is accompanied by a proto-industrialization , especially in the textile sector – and especially intellectual and cultural e 57 . Louis XVI , who enters the throne in 1774, is unable to find a solution to the debt of the monarchy and to summon the Estates General in 1788 e 58 . The Age of Revolutions (1789 – early xx th  century) Main article: French Revolution , Consulate (History of France) , First Empire , Restoration (History of France) , July Monarchy , Second Republic , Second Empire and Third Republic . The delegates sent to the Estates General , which open May 5, 1789 quickly override the powers attributed to them, and set themselves up as a National Constituent Assembly 59 th . The King can still prevent a constituent assembly to decide the abolition of privileges in the night of August 4 and then adopted on 26 August 1st Declaration of Human Rights and the Citizen 60 th . After a test of constitutional monarchy , the Republic was founded in September 1792, and Louis XVI , accused of treason, was beheaded January 21, 1793 61 th . Revolutionary France launches into years of war and of executions , until the establishment of the Executive Board in 1795 e 62 . On November 9, 1799, General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the Directory by a coup and substituted the Consulate  , five years later, he was crowned Emperor of the French 63 th . Napoleon I first create or reform many institutions note 15 , and his many military victories are half the population of Europe under his control in the early 1810 e 64 . However, the decline will be faster: after a transient abdication and a brief return to power , the Emperor is finally defeated at Waterloo June 18, 1815 65 th .

The Revolution of 1830 illustrated by Eugene Delacroix in Liberty Leading the People . The France then began a second experiment in constitutional monarchy , in which the kings Louis XVIII (1814-1824) and especially Charles X (1824-1830) questioned some of the achievements of the Revolution 66 th . A few weeks after conquered Algiers , Charles X was overthrown in 1830 by the Three Glorious Days , a revolutionary movement that takes the throne Louis-Philippe e 67 . If the latter is considered as a reformer, the challenge goes soon, despite the economic boom of France at that time e 68 . In February 1848, a revolution broke out, the objectives are not only political but also social e 69 . The short-lived Second Republic which then establishes the setting up universal suffrage men, abolished slavery in the colonies and the death penalty for political reasons e 70 , but is reversed by its President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte , who was crowned Emperor in 1852 e 71 . If the early years of the Second Empire are those of an authoritarian regime, Napoleon III began a liberal turn in 1860, does not prevent a rise in political opposition, while the train is accelerating industrial development and e 72 . The defeat of France against a German during the unification in 1870 – in 1871 , is a double milestone in the history of the country: the emperor surrendered September 2, 1870 and the Republic was proclaimed on 4 , while the Germany annex the Alsace-Lorraine 73 th . Despite its chaotic birth, the Third Republic is the longest of political regimes that have occurred in France since 1789 e 74 . The Republicans are gradually established their political project: the school is made ​​free, secular and compulsory in 1881-1882, the freedoms of press and assembly are granted in 1881 , divorce and unions are allowed in 1884, and Churches are separated from the state in 1905 e 75 . At the same time, France is setting up a vast colonial empire , which will be the second in the world after the United Kingdom in 1914 e 76 . If several successive political crises -  Boulanger crisis , scandal decorations , Panama scandal , the Dreyfus affair  – the main threat to the Republic now comes from outside, where the war is becoming more imminent 77 th . France in the World Wars Main articles: Third Republic , First World War , Between the wars , World War II , the Vichy regime and the Provisional Government of the French Republic .

During the Second World War, the French territory was divided between an “occupied zone” north and a “free zone” in the south, plus other areas of smaller size to special status. By the play of alliances, France entered the war at the beginning of August 1914 against the German , alongside the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire e 78 . The First World War , which is 1.4 million French victims and causes widespread destruction in the north-east, the ends November 11, Relevant Life Policies 1918 in favor of the Triple Entente e 79 . Besides the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France, the conditions of peace that Paris wants to impose in Berlin during the Versailles Treaty are particularly hard: in fact, France has to pay the damages of war that it accused of being solely responsible for e 79 . After several years of reconstruction , France just to regain its economic strength of pre-war e 80 . It will nevertheless be affected long after most other powers in the crisis of the 1930s 38 . But if this crisis is delayed, it is durable and profound. Addition to the economic difficulties of a political crisis, despite the hopes raised by the coming to power in 1936 the Popular Front 39 . In the end, when France declared September 3, 1939 the war with the Nazi Germany , she came out just the most serious crisis ever experienced the Third Republic 81 th . After eight months without fighting (the “  Phony War  “), the Wehrmacht invaded May 10, 1940 the northeast of France, Marshal Philippe Petain requested an armistice on June 22 th 82 . It gets full power on July 10, thus signing the end of the Third Republic and the rise of the Vichy regime , which has a policy conservative, traditionalist and anti-Semitic and is working with the Third Reich , despite the action of the resistance inside and outside the country’s 83 th . The Allied invasion of June 6, 1944 in Normandy marked the end of the Vichy regime and the beginning of the liberation of Europe 84 th . In total, this conflict has killed fewer soldiers than the previous note 16 , but there are many civilian casualties – at least 75,000 Jews settled on the French territory were killed during the Holocaust 40 , note 17 – and the psychological wounds and slow to heal political e 84 . Since the Liberation Main articles: Fourth Republic , Fifth Republic and history of France under the Fifth Republic . A period of renewal begins for France e 85 . If free ipad the General de Gaulle , leader of the Free France , can not prevent the adoption of a constitution similar to that of the Third Republic , the post-war saw the creation of Social Security and the right to vote granted to women e 86 . The Fourth Republic chose the Western camp in the Cold War , which opens at that time began the decolonization of Asia and Africa and participated in the beginnings of European e 87 . France, at the same time began a period of strong economic growth, the economist Jean Fourastie called “  Thirty Glorious 88 th , 41  ‘. The 1 st June 1958, during a political crisis linked to the war in Algeria , General de Gaulle is invested by the Chairman of the National Assembly with a mission to give the Republic a new Constitution: the Fifth Republic gives the president wider powers to parliament 89 th . De Gaulle continues and completes the decolonization of Africa, and affirms the independence of France against the United States 90 th . But the student and social crisis in May 1968 highlights the backwardness of a regime that seems disconnected from the aspirations of his time, despite the resignation of General de Gaulle in 1969, the Gaullist remains in power five years older, in the figure of President Georges Pompidou e 91 . In 1974 opened the post-Gaullist, with the arrival of a person from the center, Valery Giscard d’Estaing , as President 92 th . While France between slowly in the crisis of the 1970s, the early years of his term were marked by several laws actant changes in French society, such as the Veil Law , which legalized the abortion (IVG) or lowering from 21 to 18 years of age of majority 93 th . But the real turning point came in 1981, when a socialist president, François Mitterrand , was elected 94 th . Faced with the worsening economic situation, it tries in the first place a policy wedding ring to boost e 95 , while taking strong measures symbolically as the abolition of the death penalty 42 . If François Mitterrand electric cigarette was reelected in 1988, France experienced between 1986 and 1988 and between 1993 and 1995 two periods of “  cohabitation  “, previously unpublished situation where the President is not the same party as the government and offers a new reading institutions 96 th . This is repeated between 1997 and 2002 , albeit reversed, after a right-wing president, Jacques Chirac , was elected in 1995 and parliamentary elections have led the Socialist Lionel Jospin at the head of the government e 97 . France adopts the same time the single European currency 43 . The 2002 presidential election was marked by a surprise election, with the elimination of Lionel Jospin in the first round in favor of Jean-Marie Le Pen , the far right candidate 44 . Jacques Chirac was re-elected then logically 44 , and governments Raffarin and Villepin are marked by the opposition of France in the war in Iraq 45 , “no” to the referendum on the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe 46 and the urban riots of November 2005 47 . If Nicolas Sarkozy , President from 2007, belongs to the same party as his predecessor, he leads the policy is intended to “break 48  “. The government “openness” that François Fillon shape with personalities from not only the right but also the center and the left 48 , however, must cope with the economic crisis came in 2008-2009 U.S. 49 . Policy and Administration

Main articles: French Republic (political system) , French Central Public Administration , Fifth Republic and Politics in France since 1958 . France is a liberal democracy , whose government has the form of a republic . The foundations of the organization policy and current administrative France were set in 1958 by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic . According to Article I of this constitution, “France is an indivisible, secular , democratic and social ” . Since 2003, the same Article further states that “his organization is decentralized  ” . Organization of power Main article: Fifth Republic . The organization of power in France is defined by the 1958 constitution , amended several times k 1  , the role of each institution, however, as defined by the historical practice since 1958 as the text of the Constitution k 1 . France has an original political system by the wide discretion available to both Parliament and the President of the Republic, which has led to speak of constitutional “presidentialisation parliamentary system” of “  semi-presidential  ” or to “parliamentary system bireprésentatif note 18  ” . The legislative power belongs to Parliament, made ​​up of two chambers, the National Assembly and the Senate k 2 . The National Assembly, lower house of parliament, consists of 577 deputies in 2011, 50 , elected for five years by universal suffrage direct FPTP in two rounds in districts cut within departments k 3 . The National Assembly has the final say in case of disagreement with the Senate extended the adoption of a law k 4 . The latter is composed of 348 senators in 2011 51 elected for six years by 150 000 electors (mostly elected officials) 52 and is therefore considered less representative than the National Assembly k 5 . The executive power belongs primarily to the President of the Republic k 6 , elected for five years 53 direct universal suffrage in FPTP two-round k 7 . The President of the Republic is the Head of State and the army chief, he promulgates laws and can dissolve the National Assembly k 8 . He appoints the Prime Minister and, on a proposal by one, members of the government k 9 . The government can be overthrown by a vote of no confidence passed by the National k 4 . When the parliamentary majority and the President do not belong to the same political party, a new reading of institutions was created – it is called cohabitation k 2 . The judiciary , in turn, is separated from the other two, although the President of the Republic has a right to pardon casino 54 . It is itself divided between an administrative order , including the highest court is the State Council , and a judiciary , whose highest court is the Court of Cassation k 10 . French law, tradition , Roman civil law 55 states that any accused person, before being sentenced, is presumed innocent , and that a case can be retried on appeal at the request of either party note 19 , 56 . The conformity of laws with the Constitution, the regularity of elections and, more generally, respect for institutions are controlled by the Constitutional Council k 11 .

Chart of the institutions of the Fifth Republic. Territorial division and decentralization <imagemap>: the image is invalid or does not exist Main articles: France’s territorial administration and decentralization in France . Metropolitan France is divided into many local authorities , three levels, the commune , the department and the region . These local authorities are at the same time the administrative districts in which the state operates services through its decentralized . Municipalities, numbering 36,570 in the metropolis in a st January 2009 I 5 , are usually the territory of a city or town and are led by a council k 12 , which elects a mayor , both officer of the territorial and state representative in the town 13 k . Since the 1990s, cooperation between the municipalities has been strengthened by the emergence of public inter-municipal cooperation , whose role is growing k 14 . Departments, created during the French Revolution k 15 , are now number 96 on the mainland where they are headed by a General Council , whose members are elected from districts k 16 , the State How to lose weight will be represented by a Prefect k 17 . As for the 22 metropolitan areas, whose lives are most recent 17 k , they are led by a regional council k 18 , and the state is represented by a prefect of the region k 12 . In addition the local authorities of other territorial divisions of France , such as Canton , the District and more recently the country , but they have no elected leaders note 20 . France also has a viceroyalty adjacent to its territory, the Isle of Pheasants , statutes established in 1901 . Compared with its European neighbors, France has long been marked by a strong centralized policy, local authorities with powers relatively low k 15 . auto insurance quotes However, this situation has changed considerably since the early 1980s, first in 1982-1983 with the laws Defferre , then in 2002-2004 under the Raffarin government 57 . In 2010, the powers of local authorities are numerous, and relate in particular to schools, transportation, economic development and social action 58 . However, the superposition of multiple levels and often blurred the boundary between the powers of the different local government is the source of debates on the future of decentralization, where the government Fillon examined between 2008 and 2010 59 . France overseas

Metropolitan France and overseas (blue) Main article: France overseas . French territories outside Europe, which correspond to former French colonies remained, for their part are subject to administrative and legal systems very different from each other 60 . These areas, whose economic situation is generally worse than that of the metropolis, have many state aid 61 . The Guadeloupe , the French Guiana , the Martinique , the Reunion since 2011 and Mayotte note 21 denver auto accident lawyer are both departments and regions overseas , status similar to metropolitan departments and, although French law can provide specific provisions on the 62 . These departments, except Mayotte, are among the most remote regions of the European Union , and are subject to EU legislation 63 . In contrast, the other French territories overseas, except in communities St. Barthelemy and St. Martin , are not part of the European Union , although their inhabitants have European citizenship 64 . This first of the five communities overseas , statutes varied, the French Polynesia , Saint-Barthélemy , Saint Martin , Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Wallis and Futuna 65 . Although the state retains certain powers exclusive, they are subject in large part to specific legislation and benefit from special legislation 60 . The New Caledonia , in turn, is a local authority sui generis , the high degree of autonomy and a referendum on independence should be organized between 2014 and 2019 66 . Finally, the French Southern and Antarctic and the island of Clipperton , who n’accueillent no permanent inhabitants, are managed directly by the State or its representative 66 , 67 .

Diagram showing the percentage of votes obtained by each political current in the first round of every presidential election from 1965 to 2007 notes 22 , 68 .      Communists, far left      Socialists, various left      Ecologists      Centrists      Right      Far Right      Various Political trends, parties and elections Main articles: Politics in France since 1958 and List of French political parties and movements . Although not comparable to the U.S. system, the French political system, including the prevailing plurality vote at presidential and legislative , tends to a bipolar or a tripolarisation of politics n 3 . Therefore, there since the beginning of the Fifth Republic a trend toward consolidation of parties with frequent flashbacks k 19 , and the hearing of the major parties tend to decrease for small formations note 23 . The French political landscape has undergone three major changes since the 1980s: the fall of the hearing of the French Communist Party No 4 , the gradual decline of the electorate and the rise of centrist votes for non-parliamentary parties, including the far right n 3 . These two recent developments have however been partly contradicted in recent elections. Moreover, the abstention on a number of increasingly high voter 69 . Since the 1990s, the two main French parties are the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)  -  Rally for the Republic (RPR) by 2002 – and the Socialist Party (PS) 70 . The Union for a Popular Movement party is right and center-right 71 , member of the European People’s Party . It is in 2010 the largest party represented in the national political institutions, as the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, 56% of members 72 and 40% of Senators 73 are members. The Socialist Party is a leftist and center-left 71 , member of Party of European Socialists . Many other parties involved in the political life of France’s most important are the National Front (FN, far right), the Democratic Movement (MoDem, center), the New Centre (center right), the French Communist Party ( left), the Radical Left Party (center-left) and the Greens (environmentalists) note 24 , No 5 .

Nicolas Sarkozy , current President of the Republic. Current leaders Main articles: List of Presidents of the French Republic , Nicolas Sarkozy , François Fillon and Francois Fillon Government (3) . Since the 2007 presidential election , Nicolas Sarkozy , former president of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), is President of the Republic . Following the victory of the UMP in 2007 parliamentary elections , he appointed Francois Fillon Prime Minister . The latter is at the head of a government which has 31 members at 27 February 2011, including 10 women and a Minister of State , Alain Juppé 74 . Public Finance In France, compulsory contributions represented 44.4% of GDP in 2006 to 1 , the sixth highest rate among the member countries of the OECD has one , and this rate tends to increase to 2 . The social contributions represent nearly 38% of the total, ten points higher than the average of OECD countries is 3  , in contrast, France is a developed country where the income tax and corporation is the lowest share of total tax burden has 4 . Despite the high rate of tax burden, government expenditures exceed substantially, totaling 53.9% of GDP in 2006 was 5 . Therefore, the deficit is high at 2.7% of GDP in 2007 I 6 and even 7.9% in 2009 due to economic conditions 75 . The public debt of France , meanwhile, reached a 457.4 billion euros at end 2009, 75.8% of GDP I 7 , against 20.7% in 1980 to 6 . France is the EU must respect the criteria of the Stability and Growth in the euro area , which limits budget deficits to 3% of GDP and public debt to 60% of GDP to 7 .

Sources 76 , details in footnote wedding suits 25 . Social Protection Main articles: Social protection in France and Social Security in France . Since its creation in 1945 was 8 , the Social Security system is at the heart of the French social protection, although the State, local authorities and each other have an important role to 9 . Maintenance of social protection schemes which had some professions before 1945 explains the complexity of the system was 10 , with no less than 120 basic schemes and 1200 supplemental was 11 . The general scheme of Social Security, which has by far the largest number of members is 10 , is divided into four parts corresponding to the four major risks, illness, industrial accidents and occupational diseases, the risks associated with old age and the family has 10 . If this social protection only concerned initially that active people, it has gradually extended to the entire workforce to be inactive in many areas, for example during the creation of universal health coverage (CMU) in 1999 was 8 . In addition, in the late 1990s, six million people dependent on social minimum of 1 . Social benefits are mainly financed by payroll taxes paid by active (65.5% of the total in 2005 was 12 ), but also – and increasingly – state and local government has 12 . In 2005, expenditure on social protection – in the broadest sense of the term note 26  – accounted for nearly 30% of GDP and over 45% of adjusted disposable income of households was 13 . Despite the efforts of successive governments to master social spending was 14 , they are increasing rapidly to 15 , mainly because of the increase in health spending of households is 16 and the aging of the population is 17  – the report active inactive for over 60 years, who was 3 in 1970, is expected to payday loan reach 2.07
in 2010 and 1.36 in 2050 on the mainland, according to INSEE has 18 . Finally, the high rate of unemployment , persistent, contributes to the increase in imbalance because the unemployed do not pay. Social spending alone explain almost all the growth in public spending (as a percentage of GDP) in 1960 was 19 , and Social Security in 2009 shows a deficit of 23.5 billion euros 77 . Defense Main article: French armed forces . France has the third defense budget in the world according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , after the United States and China 78 , and is one of five countries that are legally recognized as “states with nuclear weapons” by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 79 . The French Army, along with that of the United Kingdom , one of the most financially equipped in Europe 80 . The France devotes 2.5% of GDP (ie a budget of 39 billion euros in 2010 81 ), where its European counterparts (excluding the United Kingdom and Greece) spend 1.5% of GDP on average 80 .

French forces involved in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Military forces are divided into four main armies: the Army , the Navy , the Air Force and the Gendarmerie Nationale 82 . Since 1996, the Army has become professional and compulsory military service that was suspended was replaced by a defense and Citizenship Day Mixed 83 . With a capacity of about 350,000 men 82 , it is deployed worldwide in theaters of intervention such as the Afghanistan , the Lebanon , the Chad , the Ivory Coast and Kosovo 84 , but also under international treaties to Djibouti , in Senegal note 27 and Gabon 85 , not to mention the troops positioned in the France overseas 86 . It also mobilizes more than 1000 men in the Vigipirate 87 . Membership in international organizations France is a founding member of the European Union , the Schengen area and the euro area . It is also one of the five permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations . It is also a member of many international organizations such as the Organization Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) , the World Trade Organization (WTO) , the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , the G8 , the G20 or the International Organization of la Francophonie . Since 1945, regardless of the ruling majority, Europe is a major focus of French foreign policy. Two of the seven Fathers of Europe , Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman , French are 88 , 89  , one of the objectives was to avoid another world war by facilitating the Franco-German reconciliation 90 Cell Phone Accessories . However, the position of France and the French vis-à-vis Europe has often been ambiguous: the rejection by the National Assembly of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community in 1954 91 than by referendum of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe in 2005 46 , beating the French to stop construction of Europe were numerous. Since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the areas where the EU has exclusive competence are growing k 20 . Much of the law in France in 2010 of European origin k 21 , especially as European law takes precedence over national law k 22 , d 2 . France, average power, can weigh on the world stage in many areas thanks to the European Union of 3 . The unification of the European market and the introduction of a single currency in 1999 led to profound changes in the French economy of four , whose character is beneficial discussion of 5 , 92 . France is the first beneficiary of the Common Agricultural Policy 93 , which is half the budget of the European Union of 6 . Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Main articles: Foreign Policy of France and Foreign Policy of France since 1945 . Since the presidency of General de Gaulle (1958-1969) , the foreign policy of France is characterized by a desire for independence, especially vis-à-vis the United States 94 , which resulted in the establishment point by France of nuclear weapons and the withdrawal of France from the integrated command of NATO in 1966 to 2009 94 . France is for the years 1960 to early 2000 as an ally of the Arab-Muslim world , criticism vis-à-vis the policy of the State of Israel 95 . The network of diplomatic missions of France is the second in the world Nutrisystem Coupons 96 , now with 156 embassies and 97 consulates on five continents 96 . France leads an active aid to developing countries , especially in Africa note 28 , 97 . The ODA is 0.39% of GNI French in 2007 , one of the highest rates in Western Europe 98 . Republicans symbols

The logo of the French government adopted in 1999. Main article: Symbols of France . According to the constitution of the Fifth Republic, France has many emblems, dating mainly from the French Revolution. The flag of France is composed of three vertical stripes of equal width, blue, white and red 99 . The national anthem is the Marseillaise 99 , a song composed by Rouget de Lisle during the French Revolution and at times been criticized for the violence of his text 100 . Finally, the French Republic’s motto is the three words “  Liberty, Equality, Fraternity 99  . ” In addition, there are several unofficial symbols to represent France. In particular, the bust of Marianne , a woman wearing a Phrygian cap , adorns the town halls, and his face is shown on postage stamps and French sides of cents note 29 , 101 . Since 1999, the French government has a logo reminiscent of the flag and currency of the country, and the figure of Marianne . This logo appears in the header of all documents issued by the French administration. Population and Society

Demography

Changes in the population of metropolitan France since 1801, compared to German and British populations (base 100 = 1800 or 1801) 102 . Main articles: Demographics of France and the demographic history of France . The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) estimated the number of people in France to about 65.4 million in a first in January 2010 I 8 , approximately 64.7 million for the city and the departments of overseas, and 62.8 million for the only city I 9 . Nearly 1% of the world’s population lived then on French soil at the time 103 . A national census was generally held at regular intervals since 1801, but since January 2004, the census is conducted every year in the municipalities of 10,000 inhabitants or more outside communities overseas, and every five years also I 10 . After being relatively low in xix th and early xx th  century – France experienced a engagement ring demographic transition quick and sharp i 3  -, population growth in France has become one of the strongest in Europe, combining a higher birth rate than the European average ( 821 000 births in 2009 against 536 000 deaths ) and net migration positive (about 71 000 individuals in 2009): the population of France increased by 0.54% in 2009 I 11 . In 2010 the fertility rate in France is about 2.01 104 and 27.3% of infants in the metropolis had at least one parent born abroad of which Containers 23.9% one parent born outside the EU 105 . In addition, the age structure seen from the beginning of the xxi th  century structure evolve. The share of older population increases, due both to the increase in life expectancy (France has one of the greatest life expectancy in the world note 30 ) and the arrival of the elderly the generation of baby boomers  – a phenomenon known as the aging society . The proportion of over 60 years in the French population has increased from 17 to 22% between 1980 and 2009, and is expected to exceed one-third in 2050 according to the INSEE i 4 . Immigration, foreign population and visible minorities Main article: Immigration to France . According to demographer Michèle Tribalat , 14 million people (one quarter of the French population) in 1999 had at least one parent or grandparent immigrated i 5 . Noiriel Gerard in 2002 estimated the figure at about one third if we goes back to great grand parents 106 . In 2008 , France welcomed, as defined by United Nations International (born outside the territory regardless of the nationality of birth), 6.7 million immigrants or 11% of the population. It ranks sixth in the world behind the United States (42.8 million), Russia (12.3), the German (9.1), the Saudi Arabia (7.3), the Canada ( 7.2) but ahead on the other hand the United Kingdom (6.5) and the Spanish (6.4) 107 , 108 . According to the French definition is more restrictive (foreign born outside the territory), metropolitan France had in 2008, 5.3 million immigrants, or 1.1 million more than in 1999 and 8.3% of the total population. 40% of them had French nationality, they have acquired by naturalization or marriage. Immigrants are mainly from the EU (34%), the Maghreb (30%), Asia (14%, one third of Turkey ) and of sub-Saharan Africa (11%) 109 , 110 . Children of immigrants, descendants of one or two immigrants, mining australia represented in 2008 6.5 million people or 11% of the population. Three million of them had both parents immigrants. Overall, immigrants and children of immigrants (second generation) There are 11.8 million in 2008, 19% of the population (of which just over 5 million from Europe and 4 million home Maghreb ) 111 , 110 , I auto insurance quote 12 . Immigrants have income below one-third on average than non-immigrant i 6  , and are twice as likely not to graduate i six and three times more likely to live below the poverty line i 6 . However, equal social status, their education and income are similar to those of the French born in France i 7 . Populations of immigrant origin, and those who belong to visible minorities , are often victims of discrimination in France i 8 . Faced with the difficulties of integration experienced by immigrant populations, a minor part of the population turns to the communalism and religious fundamentalism i 9 . However, there is a convergence of lifestyles of immigrant populations and the French long i 10 . Family, sexuality and gender 2009 France is the country most prolific in Europe after Iceland and the Irish 112 , with a fertility of women born in 1959 of 2.12 children and a total fertility of 1.99 children per woman ( 1.98 in France) I 13 . The changes experienced by the family in France between the 1960s and the 2000s are many and profound. Births are in most cases necessary, due to the development of contraception and abortion – over 200,000 abortions are performed each year in France I 14 . A growing proportion of couples prefer the wedding the common-law or the Civil Solidarity Pact (PACS) , a more flexible union contract that marriage i 11 . As for divorces , their number was multiplied by 3.2 between early 1970 and late 2000 i 12 . As for the different forms of altersexualité , they are generally accepted in France, even though the law often precedes thinking in tolerance vis-à-vis sexual minorities note 31 , i 13 . Issues of adoption and marriage of homosexual couples are regularly debated in France i 14 . If the place of women in French society has changed dramatically during the xx th  century, favored at the end of the century by many laws against discrimination they suffer, Chrome Wire Shelving France in 2009 is far from gender i 15 . For a full-time employment, women receive a salary in 2008 average 19% less than men, and pure wage discrimination would be 6 to 7% according to the Ministry of Employment note 32 , i 16 . As to decision-making, server monitoring women are accessing low: they run only 8% of companies with over 200 employees i 17 and up only 18.5% of MPs elected in 2007 and 13.1% of councilors elected in 2008 i 17 . Languages Main articles: French and Regional or Minority Languages ​​of France . The French is the language spoken overwhelmingly in France, and is officially “the language of the Republic” from the Constitution Act, 1992 113 . France is the second French-speaking country in the world after the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Congo – Kinshasa 114 . France leads a language policy in favor of the active French 115 . Apart from French, in 1999 there seventy-five other languages ​​spoken in France by counting the regional languages ​​, languages ​​of immigrant and dialects spoken in the overseas territories , according to a report of linguist Bernard Cerquiglini 116 . Religions Main article: Religion in France . Since the law of December 9, 1905 , the churches are strictly separated in law of the State in France. “The Republic does not recognize, pay or subsidize any cult [...] 117  ” . The religion must be confined to the private sphere  , the limits of this secularism are discussed, for example about the French law on religious symbols in public schools in 2003-2004 118 . France, “eldest daughter of the Church 119  “, is a country of ancient Catholic tradition, but where the electronic cigarette weight of the church has declined considerably. Between 51 and 64% of the population in 2006 would be named according to a survey CSA 120 , but a large proportion of the population says agnostic or atheist. In addition, other religions are present in smaller proportions, such as Judaism since ancient times, the Protestants since the Reformation and the Islam since the reconquista in Spain, but more with the arrival of immigrants in France Maghreb and Middle East xx th  century. In principle, the French government forbids a religious census, only estimates, imprecise and difficult to achieve, can stand the weight of each denomination in France, and the development of atheism and the agnosticism  : Poll CSA 2006-2007 121 Catholics  : 51% against 67% in 1994 Catholics who believe in God: 27% of the French population 122 Catholic agnostic (who doubt the existence of God): 15% of the French population Catholic atheists (who do not believe in God, Catholic tradition): norfolk island holidays 9% of the French population Atheists  : 31% against 23% in 1994 Bankruptcy Muslims  : 4% against 2% in 1994 Protestants  : 3% Jews  : 1% Other / No opinion: 10% Total Believers: 35% Total agnostics: 15% Total atheists: 40% CSA poll in 2003 to 123

Catholics  : 62% No religion  : 26% Muslims  : 6% Protestants  : 2% Jews  : 1% Survey by the FIFG in 2007 for Life 124 Catholics  : 64% Atheists  : 27% Muslims  : 3% Protestants  : 2.1% Jews  : 0.6% Beyond these values, the loss of influence of religion is a major aspect of the evolution of French society in the xix th and xx th  centuries . Nearly 80% of men and 70% of women who call themselves Catholic home never attend a religious service i 18 . Even among the most fervent Catholics, obedience to the precepts of the Church decreases: 31% of frequent practitioners who have had children between 1995 and 2004 have had out of wedlock i 19 . Education Main article: French educational system .

Organization of French higher education.

Organization of French secondary education. In France, education is compulsory from six to sixteen, and the public school is secular and free i 20 . If the training and remuneration of teachers, and the choice of programs is the responsibility of the State, the management of primary and secondary schools is the responsibility of local authorities note 33 , 125 . Primary education takes place in two phases. The kindergarten , which hosts the very young,’s goal is their awakening, their socialization and the development of the basic tools that are the language and the number 126 . Then, at the age of six, children are greeted by the elementary school , whose primary goals are learning reading, writing and arithmetic, and civics 127 . The secondary also takes place in two stages. The first is given to college and led to national certificate 128 . The second is given to high school and ends with final exams and national: the BA ( professional , technical or general ) and vocational training certificate ( CAPA in the agricultural education ) 129 . The French higher education is unusual in its combination of the universities and the system of great schools , where there generally exists a competition at the end of preparatory classes 130 . The higher education for higher technician certificate and preparatory classes for schools are offered in high Medifast coupons schools 130 or in private. The High schools are often seen as both more powerful and more elitist than universities. In addition, nearly 17% of students in primary and secondary education are enrolled in private schools 131 , most under contract with the State Association and often confessional. France has experienced since the war a considerable expansion of schooling. In 1936, less than 3% of an age group obtained a bachelor’s degree, and this percentage increased to 30% in 1985 and 60% in 1995 i 20 . However, this democratization of education does not eliminate social inequalities: 25% of children of workers born between 1974 and 1978 are graduates of higher education, against 77% of children frames i 21 . These inequalities are even stronger in larger schools: only 2.9% of students admitted to the Ecole Nationale d’Administration in 2008 had a parent worker i 22 . e cigarette According to the PISA comparison of national education systems, the results of the French education system is declining relative to other Member States of the OECD 132 , but this pessimism is not universal i 23 . Despite prevention plans, the illiteracy affects 3.1 million people, or 9% of the population aged 18-65 years who were educated in France 133 . Health Main article: French healthcare system . The French health system is largely financed by the health branch of social security . The number of doctors per 1000 inhabitants was 3.22 in 2008, one of the highest rates in the world 134 . The French men and women also benefit from the life expectancies of the longest in the world i 24 , although the rate of premature mortality (before age 65) is high i 25 . Health expenditure per capita were $ 4,719 per year in 2008 135 , which places France over its large European neighbors, but below the Switzerland , of Norway , from Denmark , from Luxembourg , and the United States . From 1950 to 2006, the expenditure devoted to health care and medical goods increased from 2.5 to 8.8% of GDP i 26 . However, the health of the inhabitants of France is not optimal in all areas. Despite the drop in wine consumption since the 1960 i 26 , the French remain the second largest consumer of alcohol in Western Europe after the Irish i 25 . 29% of 18-75 years smoked daily in 2005, despite intense campaigns against the tobacco i 27 . As for illicit drugs is the most consumed cannabis  : 39% of men aged 18 to 25 years would have consumed in 2005, according to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction i 27 . In addition, France is a country in Europe who knows the most depressive disorders i 28 . France is the largest consumer of antidepressants in Europe i 28 , and one of the European countries where the rate of suicide is highest i 25 . Media Main articles: France Presse , Radio France , France Television and the Internet in France . In France, the law of 29 July 1881 which established the same time the box press freedom k 23 . If the regional press, weekly themes and are selling well in France note 34 , 136 , the national daily press of general locksmiths information is not disseminated outside the capital. Therefore, the top five titles in this category ( Le Figaro , Le Monde , in France today , Liberation and La Croix ) together do not sell less than one million copies every day 137 , when the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun alone sells more than 14 million 138 . Since 1981 and the legalization of “free radio stations 139  , “the public cna certification radio stations run by Radio France have to compete with private stations, often owned by large media groups 140 . Therefore, the top four radio stations in total audience in November-December 2009 ( RTL , NRJ , France Inter and Europe 1 141 ), only the third is public. Similarly, since the appearance of the first private television channel ( Canal + ) in 1984 , hundreds of private television channels were created, disseminated by the radio channel by cable , by satellite and more recently by television (DTT) . The three main channels are TF1 , France 2 and France 3 142 , the latter two belonging to the public France Televisions . As for the network access the Internet , it has really democratized the early 2000s 143 . In December 2009, 65% of French people aged 11 and over were Internet 144 . Between 2002 and 2009, France has moved from 11 th to 43 th place in the ranking of press freedom in the world of Reporters Without Borders 145 . Sport

Tennis player Amelie Mauresmo was in 2004 and 2006 the world number one ranked WTA . Main article: Sport in France . Sport in France is characterized by an ancient sporting tradition and a wide variety of disciplines practiced at higher levels. France has a role in the organization of modern sport note t shirt design 35 , and his record since the end of the xx th  century, is one of the best nations in the world in many sports. In 2010, France is the fifth world ranking established by Havas Sports & Entertainment note 36 which counts more than 1500 events, sports 146 . The football is the most popular sport, with over 2.3 million members (including 97% men) 147 , an increased popularity by the double victory of France during the World Cup in 1998 and the Championship Europe in 2000 . The tennis (second sport in terms of licensees), the horse , the Martial Arts , the basketball , the handball and golf are also very convenient, not to mention the rugby and bowls , mostly in the south 148 . In addition, nearly seven million French practice skiing every winter, usually outside of any sports organization 149 . As for the fencing and cycling , these are the disciplines in which France is the most successful (44 and 41 Olympic titles after the Vancouver Games in 2010 150 ). Commitment associations, trade unions and political

Protest against the CPE in Paris in 2006. Main articles: List of political parties and movements French , French trade unions , French employers’ organization and Association Act of 1901 . If the rate of turnout decline, participation in protest, however, grows i 29 . In 2008, 42% of French people took part in a protest against 25% in 1981 i 29 . Compared to other developed countries, France is often seen as a country where demonstrations and strikes are frequent 151 , 152 . But this one-time participation in protest events not reflected, far from it, for an important engagement in political parties k 24 . The rate of unionization (8%), it is the weakest of the rich countries, although it is more important in the public sector I 30 . However, the French are very involved in community life: 14 million volunteers are members of over a million associations i 30 , with the status accorded by the law of a st July 1901 153 , k 25 . Economy

Main articles: Economy of France and Economic History of France . The economy of France is a social market economy based on private property. There is a relatively strong state intervention since the end of World War II , although it is challenging since the 1980 c 2 . The French economy is mainly an economy of services 154 , j 2 . Income of the population and human development Related article: Poverty in France . The revenues of the French and their purchasing power increased during the whole XX th century and the year 2000 j 3 , but unevenly, which increases economic inequality between households of 7 . The average full-time employees in the private sector hit in 2007, 29 279 euros gross or 1,997 euros net per month, against 31,266 euros gross or 2,182 euros net per month for officers of the Public Service j 4 . Revenues from assets represent only 9% of primary income gross of households, but this share varies according to household j 5 . In 2007, 7.2% of French people had incomes below 50% of the income median ( poverty line defined by France) note 37 , although half of them have a job when j 6 , often part-time and based on the minimum wage growth (SMIC). The minimum wage for 3.4 million people in July 2008 d 7 and amounts to 8.86 euros gross per hour in 2010 I 15 ). 200 to 300 000 people homeless in 2009, mainly in Paris and major cities j 8 . In 2007, the Human Development Index of France was 0.961, placing France scrabble word finder in the eighth largest in the world 155 . However, the same year, France was only the twelfth largest country of the European Union for the GDP per capita in U.S. dollars Denver Divorce Attorney at current exchange rates, while it ranked seventh in 1987, down mainly due to low growth of French GDP j 9 . Employment

Changes in the unemployment rate in France (as martial arts denver defined in International Labour Office) between 1975 and 2009. Articles: Labour market in France and Unemployment in France . If France has experienced payday loan during the war boom a situation close to full employment  – in the year 1960 alone, the French economy has created 1.6 million jobs i 31  -, it faces since the late 1970s to a situation of unemployment high, despite fluctuations that have raised hopes the return of full employment i 31 . In the third quarter 2009, 9.5% of the French working population is Criminal Attorney Chicago unemployed within the meaning of the International Labour Office I 16 . Unemployment particularly affects the young, less educated, foreigners, and to a lesser extent, women note 38 , i 32 . The long-term unemployed represent one third of all unemployed are those for whom rehabilitation is often the most difficult of 8 . The employment situation in France is also marked by deep structural changes in terms of status and sector. The wage system has become the main form of employment in France, representing 89.5% of jobs in 2008 I 17 . 5.7 million people, or one in five active, working late in the 2007 Public Service 156 . Above all, the employment service sector: agriculture accounts for more since the late 1970s less than 2% of the jobs i 31 , and the share of industry has been halved between 1978 and 2007, from 28 to 14% of the jobs i 31 , making France a post-industrial economy 157 . Main areas of activity Main article: Major lines of business in France , in France Primary Sector , Secondary Sector in France and Tertiary Sector in France .

A crop of corn Épône , near Paris. Despite maintaining a high level of agriculture and industry, the French economy is now predominantly a service economy. The service sector gradually becomes autonomous and becomes the main engine of economic growth 154 . Agriculture and Agri-Food France has seen, like other industrialized countries, the phenomena of rural depopulation and decline in agricultural employment 21 b  , the latter is more important than in other Western European countries: agriculture employed 3% assets in 2006, against 2.5% in Germany and 1.3% in the UK b 22 . French agriculture has been greatly modernized and mechanized in the second half of the xx th  century, 23 b , including through the Common Agricultural Policy 21 b . France has 520,000 farms b 22 to 51 hectares on average in 2006 b 21 , making her the first European agricultural power b 24 . Regional specialization of France by type of production is increasing 21 b , and the French agricultural products are often protected by appellations of origin , defining an agricultural area 25 b . France is the largest producer of wine in the world, despite recent wine competition of the “new worlds b 26  “and it is also among the world’s leading producers of cereals , of sugar , in dairy and beef b 26 . Over 80% of exports were transformed by one of the first food chains in the world b 27 . However, in the year 2000, French agriculture faces difficulties related to the overproduction , the pollution it generates income and very uneven between the operators b 23 . Similarly, the fishing seems to be a sector in crisis b 28 . Industry France is a leading global industrial powers b 29 . Despite the service sector of the French economy, industrial enterprises accounted for 71.4% of GDP and 79% of French exports in 2006 b 30 . Its industry is characterized by contrasting developments: next to modern and dynamic industries, which make France a world leader in many areas ( automotive , aeronautics , aerospace , food processing , electronics , nuclear power , pharmaceuticals , cosmetics , luxury …) b 31 , many traditional industries ( mining , textile , wood , shoes , shipbuilding , steel …) have their numbers and their sales fall 32 b , causing whole regions ( Nord-Pas-de- Calais and Lorraine in particular) to a painful conversion b 33 . At the industrial decentralization in the 1960s, which allowed the development of many towns in the west and the south 34 b , was followed by a period of low growth in industrial output 35 b , which is sometimes due to relocation to countries with labor cheap b 35 . But if the production is more often abroad, French companies are still prevalent in many areas b 36 . Some occupy first place in the world market in their field (eg Areva in building nuclear power plants 158 , Danone in dairy products 27 b , L’Oreal in the cosmetic 159 or Michelin in tires 160 ). Energy Main article: Energy in France .

The nuclear power plant in Nogent-sur-Seine operated by EDF . After the complete disappearance of the French production of coal in 2005 b 32 , the oil , the gas and especially the electricity are the primary energy consumed in France b 32 . If France does not produce crude oil only marginally 161 , the thirteen refineries located in the territory can satisfy more than 90% of national demand b 32 . The French group Total , which has concessions in the world, is the sixth global company and the fifth sector 162 . The share of gas in the French energy consumption has increased significantly since the 1970 b 32 , car shipping but it is 97% of imported gas, including Russia , to Algeria and the North Sea 32 b . In contrast, France produces more electricity than it consumes 18 I , thanks to 59 nuclear reactors 163 (the second park in the world after the U.S. fleet) 164 that produced in 2008 over 76% of electricity the country I 18 , but whose environmental record is debated 165 . As for renewables , their share in electricity production increases and French hcg diet established in 2008 to over 13% I 18 , largely thanks to the hydro . Trade and Crafts Since the 1970s, commerce was disrupted by the arrival of supermarkets , which represents two thirds of the food expenditures of the French in 2008 j 10 . Therefore, many small businesses have disappeared, although in 2009 there is a weak recovery, especially in inner cities j 11 . The power of a few large companies in the supermarkets -  Carrefour is the second such group in the world sector 162  – allows chiropractic marketing them to impose, to some extent, low prices to producers j 10 . Despite the competition of industrial enterprises, the handicraft of his side managed to retain an important place in the French economy j 10 . Tourism Main article: Tourism in France .

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, one of the most visited paid monument in the world. France is the most visited country in the world by foreign tourists with almost 82 million visits in 2007 166 , but the third country in the world Jewish Wedding Gifts for international tourism receipts note 39 , 166 . The tourism sector in 2005 accounted for nearly 900 000 jobs directly, and at least as many indirect jobs b 14 . More than 1.3 billion overnight stays were made ​​by tourists in France in 2007 166 , part of the 3.178 million of second homes in the country I 19 . The reasons for this are varied tourism: it is at once a cultural tourism (including Paris ) 15 b , bathing (especially on the Riviera 15 b ), natural 15 b , business ( Paris is the world’s top destination for this type of tourism 15 b ), entertainment ( Disneyland Paris is by far the amusement park’s busiest in Europe 167 ) and winter (in the northern Alps including c 3 ). Area attractions are the most popular paid the majority located in Ile-de-France (Disneyland Paris, Louvre Museum , Eiffel Tower , Palace of Versailles  …) 168  ; few sites in the provinces, however, attract many tourists, such as castles the Loire , the Mont Saint-Michel or the Futuroscope theme park 168 . Search Main article: Scientific Research in France . France devotes a moderately high proportion of its GDP on research and development 1 h (2.02% in 2009, 169 ), but these expenditures are financed more by the public sector 1 h (41% in 2008, 170 ) and devoted to basic research 2 h than in other countries of the European Union and a fortiori of the OECD. If the French research has led to numerous discoveries and has been recognized on numerous occasions (see below ), the number of patents filed by French companies is relatively low 3 h , especially as relations between private and public research are often considered poor h 2 . Most researchers working in public research centers 1 h , as the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) . Since 2002, most of these research centers have networked with universities and enterprises to form clusters (71 in 2007, 171 ). Finance and Insurance The French banking sector has long been characterized by its low concentration, farm and regulations framed by the large share of public sector, but this has changed over the years 1990 h 4 and 2000 . French banks BNP Paribas , Societe Generale and Credit Agricole are placed respectively in the fourth, ninth and tenth places in the global industry in 2009 172 . Sector insurance also occupies an important place in the French economy, AXA is the first European insurance company 173 . The Paris Stock Exchange , a subsidiary of Euronext since 2000 , is the official market shares in France. The index CAC 40 , which includes over 40 actions among the most traded, representing a total capitalization of over 1 000 billion euros at end 2009 174 . France’s position in the global economy In 2009, France is the fifth largest economy by nominal GDP 175 or ninth parity purchasing power of 176 . France is in 2010 the fourth country in the world by the number of companies listed among the Global 500 177 . The French economy is highly extrovert has 20 , including vis-à-vis its European partners (65% of French exports 178 ). This is partly due to exhaustion or lack of mineral and energy resources of the country, which forced him to import d 9 , and the relatively small size of this country. But it also reflects the importance of exports. A study by the auditing firm KPMG published in 2006, “France has overall implementation costs lower than its large European neighbors, not only on energy, transport and real estate, but also on hand implementation of a 21  ” . With a global market share of around 8%, France is the second largest exporter of food products produced locally, particularly through exports of alcohol is 22 . However, the foreign trade of France has significant challenges. Since 2004 , France has a deficit in its trade balance , increasing dug a 23 (- $ 75.4 billion in 2009, 176 ), a situation which is partly explained by the high level of the euro against the dollar is 23 . Between 1990 and 2006, the worldwide market share of France in merchandise exports increased from 6.3 to 4.1% at 24  , and France is no longer in 2009 than the fifth and the sixth largest importer exporter 176 . According to Eurostat, the degradation of French foreign trade is in part due to an increase in hourly labor costs at 25 . Cultural Heritage

 

The Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles , a masterpiece of Baroque architecture of the xvii th  century. Architectural Heritage Related article: List of Historic Monuments in 1840 . France has a rich architectural heritage, witnessed a long history and the encounter of different civilizational traits. Of the 731 cultural note 40 listed as World Heritage by the UNESCO on July 31, 2010, 32 are French, which made ​​France the world’s third largest number of cultural world heritage note 41 , 179 . The French architectural heritage includes both buildings of religious architecture (the Abbey of Fontenay , for example), political (the chateaux of the Loire ), industrial (the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans ) military (the fortified cities by Vauban ) and urban (the Place Stanislas in Nancy ). It includes examples of architecture from all periods of Roman architecture (the Pont du Gard ) in post-war architecture (the city of Le Havre ), through the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture (the abbey of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe ), Gothic (the cathedral of Amiens ) and classical (the Canal du Midi ). In France, since 1840, buildings of historical, architectural, or cultural heritage may be registered or listed under the historical monument by the state, which gives them legal protection, and aid in the restoration and the interview. Artistic heritage and cultural events Main articles: French Painting , Sculpture French , French literature , French music and French cinema . If artistic productions are attested in the space corresponding to modern France since prehistoric times m 1 , one can speak of “French art” before the II th millennium AD, at the time a state and a nation begin to form f 1 . From that time the French Beaux-Arts will be largely similar to the rest of Western Europe saw a succession to a Romanesque xi th and xii th  centuries and Gothic art of xii th at xv e  centuries m 2  , the celebration of the power of the French monarchy f 2 , a “special area” (A. Chastel) f 3 and the representation of sacred f 4 are among the favorite themes of art mainly controlled by the political or religious. The Renaissance and the development of classicism in xvii th  century and the Neoclassicism in xviii th  century the expression of both a search for order and pageantry and ancient and Italian influences m 3  , c ‘ also emerge in the modern era of individual figures of artists, painters such as Poussin , La Tour , Watteau , Fragonard , Greuze , David , Gros and Ingres , or sculptors Girardon , Coysevox , Puget and Houdon m 4 . In the xix th and xx th  centuries , France plays a major role in the mainstream and Western artistic revolutions: the romance ( Delacroix ), Realism ( Courbet ), Impressionism ( Monet , Renoir , Manet ) and Neo-Impressionism ( Van Gogh , Cezanne , Gauguin ), Fauvism ( Matisse , Vlaminck ), Cubism ( Braque , Picasso ) or surrealism ( Duchamp ) are French artists among their main representatives m 4 , m 5 . Auguste Rodin , its hand, revolutionized sculpture at the end of the xix th  century m 6 .

Nicolas Poussin , The Inspiration of the Poet , c. 1629-1630, Musée du Louvre , Paris.

Jacques-Louis David , The Death of Marat , 1793, Royal Museums of Fine Arts , Brussels.

Claude Monet , Nympheas , 1916, Marmottan Museum , Paris.

Auguste Rodin , The Thinker , 1902, Musée Rodin , Paris. Unlike many countries that are embodied in a great figure as a writer, French literature has many figures of the importance and fame roughly equivalent m 7 . It would be futile to try to do list, but include the Middle Ages poets Chrétien de Troyes and Villon 4 m  ; the xvi th  century, the novelist Rabelais , the essayist Montaigne and the poets Du Bellay and Ronsard mark Renaissance m 4 . In the xvii th  century playwrights Corneille , Racine and Molière , the poet Boileau , the fabulist La Fontaine and the unclassifiable Pascal endeavor to maintain or restore order by reason 4 m  , the xviii th  century, the authors of Enlightenment Voltaire , Diderot and Rousseau , novelists Prevost , Laclos and Sade and playwrights Marivaux and Beaumarchais criticize society of their time while addressing issues previously prohibited m 4 . In the xix th  century, the novel is experiencing a peak with Stendhal , Balzac , Hugo , Dumas , Flaubert and Zola , but other genres are not to be outdone, as shown by the memoirist Chateaubriand and poets Lamartine , Musset , Baudelaire , Vigny , Rimbaud and Mallarmé m 4 . In the xx th  century, the lack of perspective makes it more difficult to grasp the major figures, one can nevertheless quote the poet Apollinaire , Eluard , Aragon , Char and Prévert , novelists Proust , Gide , Celine , Sartre , Camus and Sarraute , and dramatists Giraudoux , Cocteau , Beckett and Ionesco m 4 . Divided between the Middle Ages a religious art inspired by Gregorian chant and secular song of the troubadours and minstrels 180 , French music reached a certain height from the classical period, with composers such as Lully and Charpentier in the xvii th  century, Rameau the xviii th  century, Berlioz , Gounod and Bizet in the xix th  century, or Debussy the xx th  century – many of these artists compose operas 180 . From the beginning of the xx th  century, the music known as “popular” takes off 181 , mixing genres specific to France (the French song ) with imported genres ( rock and rap in particular), and allowing the likes of Claude Francois , Johnny Hallyday , Sheila , Michael Jackson and Jean-Jacques Goldman 182 to sell tens of millions of records.

Descend the stairs of the actors of the French film The Class , winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. Film, invented in 1895 in Lyon by the Lumière brothers , remains an important activity in France despite competition Hollywood  : France in 2005 is the sixth largest producer note 42 and the first European producer of feature films 183 . French cinema, primarily since the 1980s turned to comedy and art films, produced in the 2000s some films to the worldwide success as The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain note 43 or March of the Emperor note 44 , 184 . The International Film Festival , held annually in Cannes , is the most publicized cultural event in the world 185 . Attached to the idea of a “  cultural exception  “, France protects its culture, especially through quotas of French films on television and French music on the radio 186 . A long scientific tradition France has since the Middle Ages a focus of knowledge and discovery major. The University of Paris , founded in 1200 , was from its inception until the present day one of the most important of the West 187 . In a st September 2010, 56 French and French were awarded a Nobel note 45 , 188 and eleven received the Fields Medal 189 . In the xvii th  century , René Descartes defines a method for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, while Blaise Pascal remained famous for his work on probability and fluid mechanics . The xviii th  century was marked by the work of biologist Buffon and the chemist Lavoisier , who discovered the role of oxygen in the combustion , while Diderot and D’Alembert published the Encyclopedia . In the xix th  century , Augustin Fresnel was the founder of the Optical modern Sadi Carnot laid the foundations of thermodynamics , and Louis Pasteur was a pioneer in microbiology . In the xx th  century include the mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré , the physicist Henri Becquerel , Pierre and Marie Curie , still famous for their work on radioactivity , the physicist Paul Langevin or the virologist Luc Montagnier , co-discoverer of the virus of AIDS . Gastronomy

A slice of Roquefort cheese , one of the most famous French cheese. Main article: French cuisine . French cuisine is renowned, particularly thanks to its quality agricultural production: many wines ( champagne , Bordeaux or Burgundy, etc..) and cheeses ( Roquefort , camembert etc.). 190 , 191 , and thanks to the haute cuisine that She has been practicing since the xviii th  century g 1 . However, French cuisine is extremely varied, and consists mainly of regional specialties having conquered the whole of g 2 , as choucroute in Alsace, the quiche Lorraine , the rillettes Touraine, the foie gras Périgord, the cassoulet in Languedoc, the tapenade Provencal or quenelles Lyonnaise. In addition, real culinary borders are emerging in the country between north using the butter and the shallots and South preferring the oil and the garlic 3 g , l 1 , and between regions in the kitchen Earth ( the Périgord for example) and others in the kitchen turned towards the sea ( Provence ) g 4 . However, these boundaries tend to disappear today, due to the junction of lifestyles and a growing global food g 5 . The “gourmet meal of the French” was recorded November 16, 2010 in the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO 192 . International cultural influence Main articles: Language Policy of France , Francophonie and French Culture . Since the Middle Ages, France has a decisive role in the history of art, culture, intellectual and political life of many countries the two . In particular, many of its former colonies today still use its language , its law , its institutions, policies, or its tax system the two . Cultural policy since the middle of xx th  century, a major aspect of foreign policy of France 193 .

Map of the Francophone world.  native  language administrative  language of culture

▪ francophone minorities. The cultural influence of the world including France passes by the French , the language of the European elite and diplomacy until the beginning of xx th  century the three . France is the second French-speaking country in the world after the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Congo – Kinshasa 114 . French, spoken by some 220 ​​million speakers worldwide note 46 , l 3 , is one of the two STD Test working languages ​​of the United Nations and its agencies, one of the three main working languages ​​of the European Commission and of the African Union . France is a founding member of the International Organization of la Francophonie , which groups 75 countries in 2011 and promotes the French language, and the democratic values ​​and human rights 194 . The cultural presence of France abroad is maintained not only through its diplomatic missions, but also by the extensive network of French Alliance 195 and the over iPhone Unlock 400 French schools abroad 196 . In addition, France is responsible for the creation of internationally oriented media such as radio RFI or TV TV5 Monde (common to many countries) and France 24 197 .