Portal:France

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Welcome to the France Portal!
Bienvenue sur le Portail France !

Map of France in the world and position of its largest single land territory in continental Europe

France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. It also includes overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north, Germany to the north east, Switzerland to the east, Italy and Monaco to the south east, Andorra and Spain to the south, and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the north west. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Its eighteen integral regions (five of which are overseas) span a combined area of 643,801 km² (248,573 sq mi) and have a total population of 68.4 million . 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, Strasbourg, Nantes and Nice.

Metropolitan France was settled during the Iron Age by Celtic tribes known as Gauls before Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture. In the Early Middle Ages, the Germanic Franks formed the Kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia evolving into the Kingdom of France. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but decentralized feudal kingdom, but from the mid-14th to the mid-15th centuries, France was plunged into a dynastic conflict with England known as the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th century, the French Renaissance saw culture flourish and a French colonial empire rise. Internally, France was dominated by the conflict with the House of Habsburg and the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots. France was successful in the Thirty Years' War and further increased its influence during the reign of Louis XIV.

The French Revolution of 1789 overthrew the Ancien Régime and produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte, subjugating part of continental Europe and establishing the First French Empire. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars significantly shaped the course of European history. The collapse of the empire initiated a period of relative decline, in which France endured the Bourbon Restoration until the founding of the French Second Republic which was succeeded by the Second French Empire upon Napoleon III's takeover. His empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. This led to the establishment of the Third French Republic Subsequent decades saw a period of economic prosperity and cultural and scientific flourishing known as the Belle Époque. France was one of the major participants of World War I, from which it emerged victorious at great human and economic cost. It was among the Allied powers of World War II, but it surrendered and was occupied by the Axis in 1940. Following its liberation in 1944, the short-lived Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the defeat in the Algerian War and Moroccan War of Independence. The current Fifth Republic was formed in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle. Algeria and most French colonies became independent in the 1960s, with the majority retaining close economic and military ties with France.

France retains its centuries-long status as a global centre of art, science, and philosophy. It hosts the third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the world's leading tourist destination, receiving over 89 million foreign visitors in 2018. France is a developed country with a high nominal per capita income globally and its advanced economy ranks among the largest in the world. It is a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and an official nuclear-weapon state. 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 (NATO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and Francophonie. (Full article...)

Featured article –

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia..

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The Bal des Ardents depicted in a 15th-century miniature from Froissart's Chronicles. The Duchess of Berry holds her blue skirts over a barely visible Charles VI of France as the dancers tear at their burning costumes. One dancer has leapt into the wine vat; in the gallery above, musicians continue to play.

The Bal des Ardents (Ball of the Burning Men) or the Bal des Sauvages (Ball of the Wild Men), was a masquerade ball held on 28 January 1393 in Paris, France, at which King Charles VI performed in a dance with five members of the French nobility. Four of the dancers were killed in a fire caused by a torch brought in by Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother.

The ball was one of a series of events organised to entertain Charles, who the previous summer had suffered an attack of insanity. The circumstances of the fire undermined confidence in the king's capacity to rule; Parisians considered it proof of courtly decadence and threatened to rebel against the more powerful members of the nobility. The public's outrage forced Charles and his brother Orléans, whom a contemporary chronicler accused of attempted regicide and sorcery, to offer penance for the event. (Full article...)

Featured biography –

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greek and from Hindu sources); harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations. Many of his compositions depict what he termed "the marvellous aspects of the faith", and drew on his deeply held Roman Catholicism.

Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11 and was taught by Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré, among others. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris in 1931, a post held until his death. He taught at the Schola Cantorum de Paris during the 1930s. On the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, during which time he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four available instruments—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release in 1941, and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until his retirement in 1978. His many distinguished pupils included Pierre Boulez and Yvonne Loriod, who became his second wife.

He found birdsong fascinating, believed birds to be the greatest musicians, and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions into most of his music. His innovative use of colour, his conception of the relationship between time and music, his use of birdsong and his desire to express religious ideas are among features that make Messiaen's music distinctive.

Selected fare or cuisine –

Gratin dauphinois

Gratin dauphinois (/ˈɡræt.æ̃ ˌdoʊ.fɪˈnwɑː/ GRAT-a doh-fi-NWAH) is a French gratin of sliced raw potatoes baked in cream, from the Dauphiné region in south-eastern France. There are many variants of the name of the dish, including pommes de terre dauphinoise, potatoes à la dauphinoise and gratin de pommes à la dauphinoise. It is distinguished from ordinary gratin potatoes (potatoes au gratin) by the use of raw rather than boiled potatoes. It is a quite different dish from pommes dauphine. (Full article...)

Good article –

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

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Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo in 2013

Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved early popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining elements of house music with funk, disco, techno, rock and synth-pop. The duo garnered further acclaim and commercial success and are now regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history.

Daft Punk formed after Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's former indie rock band, Darlin', disbanded. Their debut studio album, Homework, was released by Virgin Records in 1997 to positive reviews, backed by the singles "Around the World" and "Da Funk". From 1999, Daft Punk assumed robot personas for public appearances, with helmets, outfits and gloves to disguise their identities; they made few media appearances. They were managed from 1996 to 2008 by Pedro Winter, the head of Ed Banger Records. (Full article...)

Featured pictures

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  Les Invalides

  Photograph: DXR

  Les Invalides is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine. It is also home to the Dôme des Invalides, a large church where some of France's war heroes, including Napoleon Bonaparte, are buried.
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  Guillaume Budé

  Painting credit: Jean Clouet

  Guillaume Budé (26 January 1467 – 23 August 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France. Budé was also the first keeper of the royal library at the Palace of Fontainebleau, which was later moved to Paris, where it became the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He was an ambassador to Rome and held several important judicial and civil administrative posts.
  
  This picture is an oil-on-panel portrait of Budé, produced around 1536 by Jean Clouet, a painter at the court of King Francis I of France. He was a very skilful painter and many fine portraits are attributed to him, but his picture of Budé is his only documented work, being mentioned in Budé's handwritten notes. The painting is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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  Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake

  Painting: Paul Gauguin

  Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake is an 1889 oil on wood painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, which represents his late Brittany period in the fishing village of Le Pouldu in northwestern France. It shows Gauguin against a red background with a halo above his head and apples hanging beside him as he holds a snake in his hand while plants or flowers appear in the foreground. The religious symbolism and the stylistic influence of Japanese wood-block prints and cloisonnism are apparent. The work is one of more than 40 self-portraits he completed. It is held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
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  André-Jacques Garnerin

  Artist: Unknown; Restoration: Lise Broer

  A schematic depiction of the first successful frameless parachute, invented by André-Jacques Garnerin (1769–1823). On October 22, 1797, Garnerin rode in a basket hanging from the parachute, which was attached to the bottom of a hot air balloon (centre). At a height of approximately 3,000 feet (910 m), he severed the rope that connected his parachute to the balloon. The basket swung during descent, then bumped and scraped when it landed, but Garnerin emerged uninjured.
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  Homme au bain

  Painting: Gustave Caillebotte

  Homme au bain ("Man at His Bath") is an oil painting completed by the French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte in 1884. The canvas measures 145 by 114 centimetres (57 in × 45 in). The painting was held in private collections from the artist's death until June 2011, when it was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Interpretations of the painting and its male nude have contrasted the figure's masculinity with his vulnerability.
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  Palais Galliera

  Photograph credit: Joe deSousa

  The Palais Galliera, formally known as the Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, is a museum of fashion and fashion history located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Following the death of her husband in 1876, the Duchess of Galliera gave land and funds for the erection of a museum to house his collection of paintings and fine art that she proposed to give to the state. The building was completed in 1894, but the collections were in fact donated to Genoa, Italy, where they are now displayed at the Palazzo Rosso and the Palazzo Bianco.
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  Champ de Mars

  Photo credit: David Iliff

  Champ de Mars (Paris, France), as seen from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. In the distance is Tour Montparnasse and the dome on the left is Les Invalides. The École Militaire is at the end of the Champ de Mars. In English the name means "Field of Mars", from Mars the Roman god of war, from its original use for military training. During the French Revolution, the Champ de Mars was the setting of the Fête de la Fédération, on 14 July 1790.
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  Serge Gainsbourg

  Photograph credit: Claude Truong-Ngoc

  Serge Gainsbourg (1928–1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop music, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases which caused uproar in France, dividing its public opinion, as well as his diverse artistic output, which ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. He is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg's music has reached legendary stature in France, and he has become one of the country's best-loved public figures. He has also gained a cult following all over the world with chart success in the United Kingdom and Belgium with "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and "Bonnie and Clyde", respectively. This photo of Gainsbourg was taken in 1981.
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  Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son

  Painting: Claude Monet

  Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son is an oil-on-canvas painting by Claude Monet from 1875. The Impressionist work depicts his wife Camille and their son Jean during a stroll on a windy summer's day in Argenteuil. It has been held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., since 1983.
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  Turgot map of Paris

  Map credit: Louis Bretez and Claude Lucas

  The Turgot map of Paris is a highly accurate and detailed map of the city of Paris, France, as it existed in the 1730s. It was published in 1739 as an atlas of twenty non-overlapping sectional bird's-eye-view maps, each approximately 50 cm × 80 cm (20 in × 31 in), in isometric perspective toward the southeast, as well as one simplified overview map with a four-by-five grid showing the layout of the twenty sectional maps. It has been described as "the first all-comprising graphical inventory of the capital, down to the last orchard and tree, detailing every house and naming even the most modest cul-de-sac". The complete map is shown here in its assembled form.
  
  
  Other sheets:
  '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000013-QINU`"'
  

  
  * Complete map
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  Joséphine Fodor

  Lithograph credit: Jean-Baptiste Singry; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Joséphine Fodor (13 October 1789 or in 1793 – 10 August 1870) was a French lyrical artist (soprano) with Hungarian and Dutch ancestors. Her family moved to Saint Petersburg when she was an infant, probably because of the French Revolution. After marrying in 1812, Fodor and her husband moved back to France when Saint Petersburg came under attack during the French invasion of Russia. She performed roles for the Opéra-Comique in Paris, later being engaged by the Comédie-Italienne, and also appeared in London, Venice, Naples and Vienna. Experiencing problems with her voice, she gradually ended her operatic career and withdrew from the stage. This lithograph depicts her in 1815.
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  Georges Ernest Boulanger

  Photograph credit: Atelier Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Georges Ernest Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche, was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the Third Republic, he won a series of elections and was feared to be powerful enough to establish himself as dictator at the zenith of his popularity in January 1889. This photograph of Boulanger was produced by the atelier of the French photographer Nadar.
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  St. Joan of Arc Chapel

  Photograph credit: Leroy Skalstad

  The 15th-century St. Joan of Arc Chapel was initially built in the village of Chasse-sur-Rhône, France. Originally called the Chapelle de St. Martin de Seyssuel, it is said to have been the place at which Joan of Arc prayed in 1429 after she had met King Charles VII of France. The present name was given to the chapel when Gertrude Hill Gavin, the daughter of an American railroad magnate, had the derelict building dismantled, transported to America and rebuilt beside her French Renaissance–style château in Brookville, New York, in 1927. The chapel was undamaged when the château burned down in 1962, and was later given to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, once more being transported stone by stone.
• 
  Les raboteurs de parquet

  Painting: Gustave Caillebotte

  Les raboteurs de parquet (The Floor Scrapers) is an 1875 oil on canvas painting by French impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. Measuring 102 by 146.5 centimetres (40 in × 57.7 in), it depicts three men scraping the floor of what is thought to be Caillebotte's own studio, apparently engaged in conversation. According to the Musée d'Orsay, where the painting is held, this is one of the first paintings to feature the urban working class, and indeed the subject matter proved scandalous at the time.
• 
  French franc

  Coin credit: Monnaie de Paris; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection

  The French franc is a former currency of France and Monaco and, alongside the Spanish peseta, a former de facto currency in Andorra. The first franc was a gold coin introduced in 1360, which showed King John II of France on a richly decorated horse, earning it the name franc à cheval. A later coin, showing Charles VII on foot, under a canopy, was named the franc à pied. The decimal franc was established by the French Revolutionary Convention in 1795 as a decimal unit, and became the official currency of France in 1799. France joined the euro in 1999, and the franc was replaced by euro notes and coins in 2002.
  
  This picture shows a 100-franc gold coin, dated 1889, with a "winged genius" designed by Augustin Dupré on the obverse. Only a hundred proof coins of this design were minted.

In the news

Read and edit Wikinews

15 May 2024 – 2024 New Caledonia unrest

France declares a state of emergency in New Caledonia as anti-French rioting continues, which has killed four people. Schools are closed and a curfew is announced in the capital Nouméa. (Reuters)

14 May 2024 – 2024 New Caledonia unrest

Riots erupt in New Caledonia as France plans to change the constitution, allowing more recent white French settlers to vote in the island's provincial elections, which protesters claim would marginalise the Indigenous Kanak people. (Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)

14 May 2024 –

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival opens in Cannes, France, with Meryl Streep receiving an honorary Palme d'Or award. (AP)

Two prison guards are killed and three others are critically injured in an ambush of a prison van near Rouen, Normandy, France, to free an inmate with ties to a drug dealing gang. (BBC News)

France category at Wikinews

Did you know –

• ...that French manufacturer Vétra built trolleybuses (example pictured) for transit systems in 12 countries, on three continents?
• ...that Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the "father of the abortion pill", first described the concept of neurosteroids?
• ...that the Church of St Pothinus in Lyon holds a 17th century painting depicting St Paul in front of the Areopagus that was previously kept at the Notre-Dame de Paris?

Topics

Major articles. Linked categories are listed in bold typeface.

Main Category - France, List of basic France topics
History of France - History of France
• Historic Periods - Prehistoric France - Celtic Gaul - Roman Gaul - Frankish Empire - Medieval France - Early Modern France - Nineteenth century France - Twentieth century France
• Major Events - Hundred Years' War - French Renaissance - Wars of Religion - French Revolution - Franco-Prussian War - Dreyfus Affair - World War I - World War II - Vichy France - Algerian War - Military history
• Dynasties and Regimes - Merovingians - Carolingians - Capetian Dynasty - Valois Dynasty - Bourbon Dynasty - Ancien Régime in France - First Empire - Second Empire - Third Republic - Fourth Republic - Fifth Republic
• Monarchs of France - List of French monarchs - Charlemagne - Louis I the Pious - Charles II the Bald - Louis II the Stammerer - Louis III - Carloman - Charles III the Fat - Eudes (Odo) - Charles III the Simple - Robert I - Raoul (Rudolph) of Burgundy - Louis IV d'outremer - Lothair - Louis V the Indolent - Hugh Capet - Robert II the Pious - Henri I - Philippe I - Louis VI the Fat - Louis VII the Young - Philippe II Augustus - Louis VIII the Lion - Louis IX Saint Louis - Philippe III the Bold - Philippe IV the Fair - Louis X the Quarreller - Jean I the Posthumous - Philippe V the Tall - Charles IV the Fair - Philip VI of Valois - Jean II the Good - Charles V - Charles VI - Charles VII - Louis XI - Charles VIII - Louis XII - François I - Henri II - François II - Charles IX - Henri III - Henri IV - Louis XIII - Louis XIV - Louis XV - Louis XVI - Napoleon I - Napoleon II - Louis XVIII - Charles X - Louis-Philippe - Napoleon III
• Other Major Historical Figures - Catherine de Medicis - Cardinal Richelieu - Mazarin - Jean-Baptiste Colbert - Jacques Necker - Jean Jaurès

Culture and People - Culture of France - Culture of France - Museums in France - French people - Health in France - Education in France - Education in France - Religion in France - Languages of France - Languages of France - French language - French cuisine - French cuisine - French wine - Archaeology of France - Basque culture - Culture of Brittany

Politics and Government - Government of France - Government of France - French National Assembly - French Senate - Law of France - French politics - Politics of France - Military of France - Foreign relations of France - Flags of France
• Heads of State of France since 1871 - President of the French Republic
  • Third Republic: Adolphe Thiers • Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta • Jules Grévy • Marie François Sadi Carnot • Jean Casimir-Perier • Félix Faure • Émile Loubet • Armand Fallières • Raymond Poincaré • Paul Deschanel • Alexandre Millerand • Gaston Doumergue • Paul Doumer • Albert Lebrun
  • Vichy France: Philippe Pétain
  • Free France: Charles de Gaulle
  • Provisional Government: Charles de Gaulle • Félix Gouin • Georges Bidault • Léon Blum
  • Fourth Republic: Vincent Auriol • René Coty
  • Fifth Republic: Charles de Gaulle • Georges Pompidou • Valéry Giscard d'Estaing • François Mitterrand • Jacques Chirac • Nicolas Sarkozy • François Hollande • Emmanuel Macron
• Heads of Government of France since 1871 - Prime Minister of France
  • Third Republic: Dufaure • de Broglie • de Cissey • Buffet • Dufaure • Simon • de Broglie • de Rochebouët • Dufaure • Waddington • de Freycinet • Ferry • Gambetta • de Freycinet • Duclerc • Fallières • Ferry • Brisson • de Freycinet • Goblet • Rouvier • Tirard • Floquet • Tirard • de Freycinet • Loubet • Ribot • Dupuy • Casimir-Perier • Dupuy • Ribot • Bourgeois • Méline • Brisson • Dupuy • Waldeck-Rousseau • Combes • Rouvier • Sarrien • Clemenceau • Briand • Monis • Caillaux • Poincaré • Briand • Barthou • Doumergue • Ribot • Viviani • Briand • Ribot • Painlevé • Clemenceau • Millerand • Leygues • Briand • Poincaré • François-Marsal • Herriot • Painlevé • Briand • Herriot • Poincaré • Briand • Tardieu • Chautemps • Tardieu • Steeg • Laval • Tardieu • Herriot • Paul-Boncour • Daladier • Sarraut • Chautemps • Daladier • Doumergue • Flandin • Bouisson • Laval • Sarraut • Blum • Chautemps • Blum • Daladier • Reynaud • Pétain
    
  • Vichy France: Pétain • Laval
    
  • Provisional Government: de Gaulle • Gouin • Bidault • Blum
    
  • Fourth Republic: Ramadier • Schuman • Marie • Schuman • Queuille • Bidault • Queuille • Pleven • Queuille • Pleven • Faure • Pinay • Mayer • Laniel • Mendès-France • Faure • Mollet • Bourgès-Maunoury • Gaillard • Pflimlin • de Gaulle
    
  • Fifth Republic: Debré • Pompidou • Couve de Murville • Chaban-Delmas • Messmer • Chirac • Barre • Mauroy • Fabius • Chirac • Rocard • Cresson • Bérégovoy • Balladur • Juppé • Jospin • Raffarin • de Villepin • Fillon • Ayrault • Valls • Cazeneuve • Philippe • Castex

Economy, Industry and Media - Economy of France - Economy of France - Economic history of France - French businesspeople - Companies of France - French trade unions - Communications in France - Mass media in France - French space program - French airlines

Visual and Plastic Arts - French art - French artists - French architecture - French art
• Historic periods: French Renaissance - French Baroque and Classicism - French Rococo and Neoclassicism - French art of the 19th century - French art of the 20th century
• Artistic Schools: Impressionism - Cubism - Surrealism
• Art museums and galleries: Louvre - Palace of Versailles - Musée d'Orsay - Centre Georges Pompidou - Musée Picasso - Musée Rodin

Literature - French literature - French writers - French literature - French poetry
• Historic periods: Medieval French literature - French Renaissance literature - French literature of the 17th century - French literature of the 18th century - French literature of the 19th century - French literature of the 20th century

Music - French music - French composers - French musicians - Music of France - French folk music - French rock - French hip hop and rap

Cinema - Cinema of France - Cinema of France - French actors - French film directors - French film producers - César Award winners - Cannes Film Festival

Theater - French theatre - French dramatists and playwrights - Theatres in France - Avignon Festival - Comédie française

Sports- Sport in France - French sportspeople - France at the Olympics -
• Football (Soccer): French football clubs - French footballers - Football in France
• Rugby (union): Clubs in France - French rugbymen - Rugby union in France
• Tennis: French Open
• Cycling: Tour de France
• Motorsport: 24 Hours of Le Mans - French Grand Prix
• Ski resorts: Chamonix - Tignes - Val Thorens - Les Trois Vallées - La Plagne - Les Arcs - Courchevel - Méribel - Val d'Isère - Les Deux Alpes - Megève

Geographic topics

Major articles. Linked categories are listed in bold typeface.

Main Category - France
Geography - Geography of France - Geography of France - Regions of France - Provinces of France - Subdivisions of France - Subdivisions of France - Overseas France



Map of French cities

• Coastlines: Atlantic Ocean - Bay of Biscay ("Golfe de Gascogne") – Mediterranean Sea (Golfe du Lion) - Côte d'Azur ("French Riviera") – English Channel
• Islands: Belle Île – Corsica – Île d'Oléron – Ouessant – Île de Ré – Île d'Yeu - Réunion - Martinique - Guadeloupe - Saint Barthélemy - Saint Martin - Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Rivers and streams:
  • Major rivers: Loire – Rhine – Rhône – Seine – Garonne - Gironde estuary - Dordogne – Meuse – Escaut – Saône – Marne – Moselle
  • Other rivers: Adour – Charente - Aulne – Blavet – Erdre – Hérault – Odet – Orb – Orne – Rance – Sèvre Nantaise – Sèvre Niortaise – Var - Aisne – Allier – Ariège – Aube – Cher – Doubs – Durance – Indre – Ill – Isère – Lot – Maine – Mayenne – Meurthe – Oise - Somme - Tarn – Verdon – Vienne – Vire – Yonne
  • Canals: Canal du Midi – Canal de Nantes à Brest – Canal Saint-Martin – Briare Canal – Canal of Burgundy – Grand Canal d'Alsace – Sambre–Oise Canal
• Lakes: Lake Annecy – Lac du Bourget – Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) – Étang de Thau – Étang de Berre
• Mountains:
  • Major Mountain ranges: Alps – French Prealps – Pyrénées – Massif Central – Jura – Vosges
  • Other Mountain ranges: Aravis Range – Bauges – Belledonne – Chartreuse Mountains – Massif des Écrins – Vercors
  • Mountain peaks: Mont Blanc – Aiguille du Midi – Barre des Écrins – Ballon d'Alsace – Crêt de la Neige – Grandes Jorasses – Meije – Mont Aigoual – Mont Ventoux – Pic du Midi - Mont Pelvoux – Puy de Dôme – Puy de Sancy
• Forests: Forest of Fontainebleau – Forest of Compiègne – Paimpont forest – Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
• National parks and natural regions: Cévennes National Park – Écrins National Park – Mercantour National Park – Port-Cros National Park – Pyrénées National Park – Vanoise National Park – Boulonnais – Bresse – Beaujolais – Camargue – Pays de Bray – Sundgau – Vexin
• Major cities: Paris (Paris) – Marseille – Lyon – Lille – Toulouse – Nice – Nantes – Strasbourg – Montpellier – Bordeaux – Rennes – Douai – Le Havre – Reims – Lens – Saint-Étienne – Toulon – Grenoble – Angers – Brest – Le Mans – Dijon – Clermont-Ferrand – Aix-en-Provence – Amiens – Nîmes – Tours – Limoges – Metz – Besançon – Caen – Orléans - Mulhouse – Perpignan - Boulogne-Billancourt – Rouen – Dunkirk – Nancy – Villeneuve-d'Ascq – Saint-Denis, Réunion
• Other: Gardens in France - Cemeteries in France - Transport in France - Tourism in France - Nature conservation in France
• Ski resorts: Chamonix - Tignes - Val Thorens - Les Trois Vallées - La Plagne - Les Arcs - Courchevel - Méribel - Val-d'Isère - Les Deux Alpes - Megève

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France

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Wikipedia:France-related tasks You can help! Vous pouvez aider ! Here are some France related tasks you can do: Requests: Gérard Garouste – Émile Peynot – more... Translation from French:See TRANSWIKI/French for details. fr:Formation territoriale de la France métropolitaine to Territorial formation of France – Loi constitutionnelle du 23 juillet 2008 to French constitutional law of 23 July 2008 – fr:Arbel Fauvet Rail to Arbel Fauvet Rail – fr:Merir to Merir – more... Stubs: Category:France stubs Category sorting: Category:French writers – Category:History of France Verify or Factual Accuracy: Gui de Ceriz – Rennes-le-Château – Simone Weil Update: Bischwiller NPOV : Foreign relations of France (Middle East section) – Torture during the Algerian War – François Mitterrand – Jean-Marie_Le_Pen – John Calvin – Marie Antoinette Wikify: Dida Diafat – French architecture Citations: Vichy France (section) – Falaise pocket – Charles de Gaulle – Vaux-le-Vicomte – Economy of France – Louisiana Purchase Merge: – Bourbon Family Compact Copyedit, Style or Cleanup: Antoine de la Sale – Albert Camus – Breton language – Claude Debussy – French Revolution – French language – Jean-Paul Sartre – Napoleon III of France – Nicolas Sarkozy – Picardy – Rennes – Sarah Bernhardt – Toulouse – Girondist – Louis XIV Expand: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen – Vaux-le-Vicomte – Basque language – Being and Nothingness France-related Wikiprojects: Wikipedia:WikiProject France view • edit • discuss • history • watch

French Wikipedia

There is a French version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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