136 Facts About France

France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, and Nice.

Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, the territory of Metropolitan France was settled by Celtic tribes known as Gauls during the Iron Age.

France again emerged as Europe's dominant power in the 17th century under Louis XIV following the Thirty Years' War.

France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte, subjugating much of continental Europe and establishing the First French Empire.

The collapse of the empire initiated a period of relative decline, in which France endured a tumultuous succession of governments until the founding of the French Third Republic during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

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France was one of the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at great human and economic cost.

France retains its centuries-long status as a global centre of art, science and philosophy.

France is a founding and leading member of the European Union and the Eurozone, as well as a key member of the Group of Seven, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and La Francophonie.

France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best-preserved, Lascaux.

France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptionally dense Carnac stones site.

The borders of modern France roughly correspond to ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls.

Clovis I was the first Germanic conqueror after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to Catholic Christianity, rather than Arianism; thus France was given the title "Eldest daughter of the Church" by the papacy, and French kings would be called "the Most Christian Kings of France" ().

French explorers, such as Jacques Cartier or Samuel de Champlain, claimed lands in the Americas for France, paving the way for the expansion of the First French colonial empire.

France systematically destroyed castles of defiant lords and denounced the use of private violence.

France became the most populous country in Europe and had tremendous influence over European politics, economy, and culture.

France obtained many overseas possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

France gained revenge but spent so heavily that the government verged on bankruptcy—a factor that contributed to the French Revolution.

France's credibility was so deeply undermined that the abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic became an increasing possibility.

France's armies conquered most of continental Europe with swift victories such as the battles of Jena-Auerstadt or Austerlitz.

France multiplied French interventions abroad, especially in Crimea, in Mexico and Italy which resulted in the annexation of the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century, but in the 19th and 20th centuries, its global overseas colonial empire extended greatly and became the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire.

France was invaded by Germany and defended by Great Britain to start World War I in August 1914.

France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north, an Italian occupation zone in the southeast and an unoccupied territory, the rest of France, which consisted of the southern French metropolitan territory and the French empire, which included the two protectorates of French Tunisia and French Morocco, and French Algeria; the Vichy government, a newly established authoritarian regime collaborating with Germany, ruled the unoccupied territory.

France attempted to regain control of French Indochina but was defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 at the climactic Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Only months later, France faced another anti-colonialist conflict in Algeria, then treated as an integral part of France and home to over one million European settlers.

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France restored cordial Franco-German relations to create a European counterweight between the American and Soviet spheres of influence.

France has gradually but fully reintegrated into NATO and has since participated in most NATO sponsored wars.

Simultaneously France renounced the assimilation of immigrants, where they were expected to adhere to French traditional values and cultural norms.

Since the 1995 Paris Metro and RER bombings, France has been sporadically targeted by Islamist organisations, notably the Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015 which provoked the largest public rallies in French history, gathering 4.

Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is Corsica.

Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes 41° and 51° N, and longitudes 6° W and 10° E, on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern temperate zone.

France has several overseas regions across the world, which are organised as follows:.

France has land borders with Brazil and Suriname via French Guiana and with the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the French portion of Saint Martin.

Metropolitan France covers 551, 500 square kilometres, the largest among European Union members.

France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the southeast, the Massif Central in the south central and Pyrenees in the southwest.

Metropolitan France has a wide variety of topographical sets and natural landscapes.

Large parts of the current territory of France were raised during several tectonic episodes like the Hercynian uplift in the Paleozoic Era, during which the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central, the Morvan, the Vosges and Ardennes ranges and the island of Corsica were formed.

France was one of the first countries to create an environment ministry, in 1971.

France had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.

Since 2016, France is mainly divided into 18 administrative regions: 13 regions in metropolitan France, and five located overseas.

France is a representative democracy organised as a unitary, semi-presidential republic.

Until World War II, Radicals were a strong political force in France, embodied by the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party which was the most important party of the Third Republic.

France uses a civil legal system, wherein law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it.

Some consider hate speech laws in France to be too broad or severe, undermining freedom of speech.

France has laws against racism and antisemitism, while the 1990 Gayssot Act prohibits Holocaust denial.

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France is a founding member of the United Nations and serves as one of the permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto rights.

Since the 1960s, France has developed close ties with reunified Germany to become the most influential driving force of the EU.

However, since 1904, France has maintained an "Entente cordiale" with the United Kingdom, and there has been a strengthening of links between the countries, especially militarily.

France is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but under President de Gaulle excluded itself from the joint military command, in protest of the Special Relationship between the United States and Britain, and to preserve the independence of French foreign and security policies.

Under Nicolas Sarkozy, France re-joined the NATO joint military command on 4 April 2009.

France retains strong political and economic influence in its former African colonies and has supplied economic aid and troops for peacekeeping missions in Ivory Coast and Chad.

In 2017, France was the world's fourth-largest donor of development aid in absolute terms, behind the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

France has major military industries with one of the largest aerospace industries in the world.

France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M.

France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market, except for the nuclear-powered devices.

Government of France has run a budget deficit each year since the early 1970s.

France possesses in 2020 the fourth-largest gold reserves in the world.

France has a developed, high-income mixed economy, characterised by sizeable government involvement, economic diversity, a skilled labour force, and high innovation.

France is considered an economic power, with membership in the Group of Seven leading industrialised countries, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the Group of Twenty largest economies.

France's economy is highly diversified; services represent two-thirds of both the workforce and GDP, while the industrial sector accounts for a fifth of GDP and a similar proportion of employment.

France is the third-biggest manufacturing country in Europe, behind Germany and Italy, and ranks eighth in the world by share of global manufacturing output, at 1.

In 2018, France was the fifth-largest trading nation in the world and the second-largest in Europe, with the value of exports representing over a fifth of GDP.

Policies aimed at promoting economic dynamism and privatisation have improved France's economic standing globally: it is among the world's 10 most innovative countries in the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, and the 15th most competitive, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report.

Public corruption is among the lowest in the world, with France consistently ranking among the 30 least corrupt countries since the Corruption Perceptions Index began in 2012; it placed 22nd in 2021, up one place from the previous year.

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France is Europe's second-largest spender in research and development, at over 2 percent of GDP; globally, it ranks 12th.

France has historically been one of the world's major agricultural centres and remains a "global agricultural powerhouse".

France is the world's sixth-biggest exporter of agricultural products, generating a trade surplus of over €7.

France is the fifth largest grower of wheat, after China, India, Russia, and the United States, all of which are significantly larger.

In 2020, France exported over €61 billion in agricultural products, compared to €37 billion in 2000.

France was an early centre of viviculture, dating back to at least the sixth century BCE.

France produces rum primarily from overseas territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Reunion.

France remains the largest recipient of EU agricultural subsidies, receiving an annual average of €8 billion from 2007 to 2019.

France has 37 sites inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List and features cities of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, as well as rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity.

Electricite de France, which is majority-owned by the French government, is the country's main producer and distributor of electricity, and one of the world's largest electric utility companies, ranking third in revenue globally.

Since the 1973 oil crisis, France has pursued a strong policy of energy security, namely through heavy investment in nuclear energy.

France is considered a world leader in nuclear technology, with reactors and fuel products being major exports.

France made minimal but measurable investments in other renewable energy sources.

In terms of solar power, France ranked seventh in the world in 2015 for solar photovoltaic installation capacity.

France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the G7.

France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie.

Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services.

Since the Middle Ages, France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement.

France was the fourth country to achieve nuclear capability and has the third largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world; it is a leader in civilian nuclear technology.

France was the third nation, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to launch its own space satellite, and the first to establish a commercial launch service provider, Arianespace.

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France is a founding member of the European Space Agency, contributing over a quarter of its budget, the most of any member state.

France pioneered and hosts ITER, an international effort to develop nuclear fusion energy, which is the world's biggest megaproject.

TGV, developed by France's national railway company, the SNCF, is a high-speed train that holds a series of world speed records; in 2007, it became the fastest commercial wheeled train, achieving a speed of 574.

France ranked 11th in the 2021 Global Innovation Index, compared to 12th in 2020 and 16th in 2019.

France is an outlier among developed countries, particularly in Europe, for its relatively high rate of natural population growth: By birth rates alone, it was responsible for almost all natural population growth in the European Union in 2006.

Between 2006 and 2016, France saw the second-highest overall increase in population in the EU and was one of only four EU countries where natural births accounted for most population growth.

Immigrants are major contributors to this trend; in 2010, 27 percent of newborns in metropolitan France had at least one foreign-born parent and another 24 percent had at least one parent born outside Europe.

France has a significant Gitan population, numbering between 20, 000 and 400, 000; many foreign Roma are expelled back to Bulgaria and Romania frequently.

France remains a major destination for immigrants, accepting about 200, 000 legal immigrants annually.

In 2010, France received about 48, 100 asylum applications—placing it among the top five asylum recipients in the world and in subsequent years it saw the number of applications increase, ultimately doubling to 100, 412 in 2017.

The European Union allows free movement between the member states, although France established controls to curb Eastern European migration, and immigration remains a contentious political issue.

In 2008, France granted citizenship to 137, 000 persons, mostly from Morocco, Algeria and Turkey.

Statistics on Spanish immigrants in France show a growth of 107 percent between 2009 and 2012, with the population growing from 5, 300 to 11, 000.

Besides French, there exist 77 vernacular minority languages of France, eight spoken in French metropolitan territory and 69 in the French overseas territories.

France is a secular country in which freedom of religion is a constitutional right.

The current Jewish community in France is the largest in Europe and the third largest in the world after Israel and the United States, ranging between 480, 000 and 600, 000, about 0.

France was one of the PISA-participating countries where school children perceived some of the lowest levels of support and feedback from their teachers.

School children in France reported greater concern about the disciplinary climate and behaviour in classrooms compared to other OECD countries.

France has been a centre of Western cultural development for centuries.

Many French artists have been among the most renowned of their time; France is still recognised in the world for its rich cultural tradition.

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France receives the highest number of tourists per year, largely thanks to the numerous cultural establishments and historical buildings implanted all over the territory.

At this time France had become a centre of artistic creation, the first half of the 19th century being dominated by two successive movements, at first Romanticism with Theodore Gericault and Eugene Delacroix, then Realism with Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet, a style that eventually evolved into Naturalism.

Many museums in France are entirely or partly devoted to sculptures and painting works.

Some of the greatest examples of Romanesque churches in France are the Saint Sernin Basilica in Toulouse, the largest Romanesque church in Europe, and the remains of the Cluny Abbey.

Gothic architecture, originally named Opus Francigenum meaning "French work", was born in Ile-de-France and was the first French style of architecture to be copied in all Europe.

Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic cathedrals and basilicas, the first of these being the Saint Denis Basilica; other important French Gothic cathedrals are Notre-Dame de Chartres and Notre-Dame d'Amiens.

France is, along with Pierre Corneille and Moliere, considered one of the three great dramatists of France's golden age.

France's plays have been so popular around the world that the French language is sometimes dubbed as "the language of Moliere", just like English is considered "the language of Shakespeare".

France is however best known for being the main redactor of the Encyclopedie, whose aim was to sum up all the knowledge of his century and to present them to the people, to fight ignorance and obscurantism.

The innate French regard for the mind meant that France was disinclined to punish literary figures for their writing, and prosecutions were rare.

Major music halls and venues in France include Le Zenith sites present in many cities and other places in Paris.

France has historical and strong links with cinema, with two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumiere credited with creating cinema in 1895.

France remains a leader in filmmaking, as of 2015 producing more films than any other European country.

Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world.

France is in 2013 the 2nd exporter of films in the world after the United States.

France historically was the cultural centre of the world, although its dominant position has been surpassed by the United States.

Today, France takes steps in protecting and promoting its culture, becoming a leading advocate of the cultural exception.

Best-selling daily national newspapers in France are Le Parisien Aujourd'hui en France, Le Monde and Le Figaro, with around 300, 000 copies sold daily, but L'Equipe, dedicated to sports coverage.

Four existing national channels are owned by state-owned consortium France Televisions, funded by advertising revenue and TV licence fees.

The Nation Brand Index of 2008 suggested that France has the second best international reputation, only behind Germany.

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France is one of the world leaders of gender equality in the workplace: as of 2017, it has 36.

In 2020, France was ranked fifth in the Environmental Performance Index, out of 180 countries ranked by Yale University in that study.

France's most renowned products are wines, including Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and Beaujolais as well as a large variety of different cheeses, such as Camembert, Roquefort and Brie.

France produces rum via distilleries located on islands such as Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

France has hosted events such as the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Since 1923, France is famous for its 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car endurance race.

Several major tennis tournaments take place in France, including the Paris Masters and the French Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.

France has a close association with the Modern Olympic Games; it was a French aristocrat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who suggested the Games' revival, at the end of the 19th century.

Since 1900, France has hosted the Olympics on 4 further occasions: the 1924 Summer Olympics, again in Paris and three Winter Games.

Similar to the Olympics, France introduced Olympics for the deaf people in 1924 with the idea of a French deaf car mechanic, Eugene Rubens-Alcais who paved the way to organise the inaugural edition of the Summer Deaflympics in Paris.

France has produced some of the greatest players in the world, including three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, three-time Ballon d'Or recipient Michel Platini, record holder for most goals scored at a World Cup Just Fontaine, first football player to receive the Legion d'honneur Raymond Kopa, and the record goalscorer for the French national team Thierry Henry.