Yahoo Web Search

Name

The name "France" comes from the Latin word Francia ', which means "land of the Franks".

Roman Gaul

The borders of modern France are about the same as those of ancient Gaul. Celtic Gauls inhabited Ancient Gaul. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul for Rome in the 1st century BC. Eventually, the Gauls adopted Roman speech (Latin, from which the French language evolved) and Roman culture. Christianityfirst appeared in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It became firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries.

Franks

In the 4th century AD, the Germanic tribes, principally the Franks invaded the Gauls. This is how the name Francie appeared. The modern name "France" comes from the name of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. The Franks were the first tribe of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to Christianity rather than Arianism. The French called themselves "the most Christian Kingdom of France". The Treaty of Verdun (843), divided Charlemagne's Empire into three parts.The biggest...

The 13 regions and 96 departments of metropolitan France include Corsica. France is divided into (administrative) regions: 1. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté 3. Brittany (Bretagne) 4. Centre-Val de Loire 5. Corsica (Corse) 6. Grand Est 7. Hauts-de-France 8. Île-de-France 9. Normandy (Normandie) 10. Nouvelle-Aquitaine 11. Occitanie 1...

The government of France is a semi-presidential system determined by the constitution of the French Fifth Republic. It provides for a separation of powers. The main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The constitution declares the nation to be "an indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". W...

The French armed forces has four branches: 1. The Armée de Terre(Army) 2. The Marine Nationale(Navy) 3. The Armée de l'Air(Air Force) 4. The Gendarmerie Nationale(a military force which acts as a National Rural Police) France has about 359,000 military personnel. France spends 2.6% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. This is the highest...

France is a member of the United Nations. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and has veto rights. It is also a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It hosts the headquarters of the OECD, UNESCO and Interpol. In 1953, the United Nations asked France to choose a coat of armsto represent them internationally. The ...

France is a member of the G8 group of leading industrialised countries. France has the eighth-largest economy in the world by Gross domestic product (GDP) (which takes into account how much it costs to live in different countries and inflation rates). France and 11 other European Union members jointly launched the euroon 1 January 1999 and started ...

On 1 January 2008, it was estimated that 63.8 million people live in France, including in the Overseas Regions of France.61,875,000 of these live in metropolitan France, the part of the country that is within Europe.

Language

French is the official language of France. It belongs to the Romance language group, which includes Italian and Spanish. Many regional dialects are also used in France. Alsatian, a German dialect, is spoken in Alsace and in parts of Lorrainein eastern France. French was the language of diplomacy and culture in Europe between the 17th and 19th century and is still widely used. Some people in France also speak Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, German, Flemish, and Occitan.

Religion

France is a secular country and the constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The population is about 51% Roman Catholic, and 31% of people are agnostics or atheists. 5% are Muslim, 3% say they are Protestant and 1% say they are Jewish. 10% are from other religions or do not have an opinion about religion. There are also Zoroastrian, Unitarian Universalist, Jain and Wiccan communities. Religions founded in France include Raelism. According to a Poll in 2007: 1. 34% of French citizens respo...

Literature

French literature began in the Middle Ages. French was divided into several dialects at the time. Some authors spelledwords differently from one other. During the 17th century, Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine, Molière, Blaise Pascal and René Descarteswere the main authors. In the 18th and 19th centuries, French literature and poetry reached its best. The 18th century saw writings of authors, essayists and moralists as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.As for French children's literature in tho...