Picture of the Month (Portal:France/Featured Picture Archive Archive.html" title="Meaning of Archive">Archive)

Image:Strasbourg-RemiLeblond-Barque2.jpg center|350px
Strasbourg (French language French: ''Strasbourg'', International Phonetic Alphabet pronounced {{IPA|/stʀazbuʀ/}}; Alsatian language Alsatian: ''Strossburi''; German language German: ''Straßburg'') is the capital and principal city of the Alsace ''List of regions in France région'' of northeastern France, with approximately 650,000 inhabitants in the aire urbaine metropolitan area in 1999. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Bas-Rhin ''département in France département''. Strasbourg is the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights and it hosts a seat of the European Parliament, together with Brussels. Photo credit: [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Remi.leblond Rémi Leblond]

Article of the Month (Portal:France/Featured Article Archive Archive.html" title="Meaning of Archive">Archive)

Image:Ivry.jpg Henry_IV of France 300px|thumb|''[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry'', by Peter Paul Rubens..html" title="Meaning of Henry IV.html" title="Meaning of 300px|thumb|''[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV">300px|thumb|''[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry'', by Peter Paul Rubens.">Henry IV.html" title="Meaning of 300px|thumb|''[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV">300px|thumb|''[[Henry IV of France|Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry'', by Peter Paul Rubens. The '''military history of France''' represents a massive panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years over areas encompassing modern France, Europe, and List of former European colonies European territorial possessions overseas. Because of such lengthy periods of warfare, the peoples of France have often been at the forefront of military development, and as a result, military trends emerging in France have had a decisive impact on History of Europe European and History of the world world history. Gallo-Roman conflict predominated from 400 BCE to 50 BCE, with the Romans emerging victorious in the Gallic Wars conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar. After the decline of the Roman Empire, a Germanic tribe known as the Franks took control of Gaul by defeating competing tribes. The "land of Francia", from which France gets its name, had high points of expansion under kings Clovis I and Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Hundred Years War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy and the first standing army since Roman times, France came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The French Wars of Religion Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century sixteenth century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years War, with help from Sweden, made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. The wars of Louis XIV in the 17th century seventeenth and early 18th century eighteenth centuries left France territorially larger, but bankrupt. In the eighteenth century, global competition with Great Britain led to defeat in the French and Indian War, where France lost its New France North American holdings and India, but consolation came in the form of the American Revolutionary War, where France in the American Revolutionary War massive French aid led to America's independence.{{ref|aid}} Internal political upheaval eventually lead to 23 years of nearly continuous war in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars; France reached the zenith of its power during this period, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the French colonial empires French colonial empire and wars with Imperial Russia Russia, Austrian Empire Austria, and Prussia. Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Franco-German rivalry reasserted itself again in World War I, this time France, with British and American aid, emerging as the winner. Tensions over the Treaty of Versailles Versailles Treaty led to the Second World War, where it was humiliated in the Battle of France. The Allies of World War II Allies eventually emerged victorious over the Germans, however, and France was given an Allied Occupation Zones in Germany occupation zone in Germany. The two world wars destroyed Franco-German rivalry and paved the way for European integration, economically, politically, and militarily. Today, French military intervention is most often seen in its former colonies and with its NATO allies in hot spots around the world.

French Geography

Image:France_radar.jpg thumb|center|350px|NASA image of France After Russia, France is the largest country in Europe (643,427 km² with its overseas départements). The upper central region is dominated by the Paris Basin; fertile soils over much of the area make it good agricultural land. The Seine river flows through the Paris Basin into Normandy and out into the English channel. The Normandy coast to the northwest is characterized by high, chalk cliffs, while the Brittany coast (the peninsula to the west) is highly indented with deep valleys. The center of France is traversed by the Loire river valley which empties into the Atlantic ocean. The Bay of Biscay ("Golfe de Gascogne") to the southwest is marked by flat, sandy beaches; the Garonne and Dordogne river Dordogne rivers flow west into the Gironde estuary which empties into the bay. To the south, the Pyrenees form a natural border between France and Spain, and the south-central part of the country is dominated by the ancient Massif Central. Subject to volcanism that has only subsided in the last 10,000 years, these central mountains are separated from the Alps by the north-south Rhône river Rhône River Basin which empties into a delta called the Camargue. From Spain to Italy stretches France's Mediterranean sea coast line (the Golfe du Lion); to the east this coast is often called the Côte d'Azur (in English, the "French Riviera"). A spur of the Alps called the Jura mountains rise in the east along the border with Switzerland, and the Vosges mountains which rise in the northeast separate the province of Alsace from the rest of the country. The Rhine river divides France from Germany. In the north, the Ardennes mountains line the border with Belgium and Luxemburg. Image:Fr-map.png thumb|center|350px|Major cities in France With a population of over 60 million inhabitants, France is the second most populous country in Western Europe (after Germany) and the 20th largest in the world. Paris is the most populated city in France with over 11 million people in its aire urbaine. The other largest cities in France (in descending order) are Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulon, Douai-Lens, Pas-de-Calais Lens, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble, and Montpellier. To learn more, see Geography of France

French Administrative Divisions

Image:France departements.png thumb|center|350px|Present day French régions and départements France is currently divided into 26 "'''région in France régions'''". 21 of these are in the continental part of metropolitan France, one is the island of Corsica, 4 are overseas (Guadeloupe [including Saint-Barthélemy and the French part of Saint Martin], Martinique and French Guiana in the Caribbean and Réunion in the Indian Ocean). ''Régions'' are further subdivided into 100 "'''département in France départements'''", including the 4 ''départements d'outre-mer'' (Overseas Departments") or "DOMs". France also administers several overseas collectivites and territories: 3 overseas collectivities ("collectivité d'outre-mer collectivités d'outre-mer") Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, and Mayotte; 1 sui generis collectivity ("collectivité sui generis") New Caledonia; 1 overseas "country" ("pays d'outre-mer") French Polynesia; 1 overseas territory ("territoire d'outre-mer") the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (composed of Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul, Îles Crozet Crozet Archipelago, Îles Kerguelen Kerguelen, Adélie Land); 4 small coral islands and an atoll in the Indian Ocean with no permanent population and known as "Îles Éparses" ("Scattered Islands") Bassas da India, Europa Island Europa, Juan de Nova Island Juan de Nova, Glorioso Islands Glorioso, and Tromelin Island Tromelin; and 1 uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico, Clipperton Island Clipperton. To learn more, see Subdivisions of France.
Image:Provinces of France.png thumb|center|350px|Historic French provinces Modern France is the result of centuries of nation building and the acquisition and incorporation of a number of historical provinces into the French domain. The names of these provinces (such as Berry (province) Berry, Orléanais, Saintonge, Bourbonnais, Maine (province of France) Maine, Limousin (province) Limousin, County of Foix Foix, Auvergne (province) Auvergne, Béarn, Artois) are still used to designate natural, historical and cultural regions, and many of them appear in modern région or département names. To learn more, see Provinces of France.

People of the Month (Portal:France/Featured Person Archive Archive.html" title="Meaning of Archive">Archive)

Image:Christine de Pisan and her son.jpg 180px|right|Christine de Pizan instructs her son. '''Christine de Pizan''' (1364 -1430) was a remarkable medieval writer, rhetorician and critic, who strongly challenged misogynist thinking by successfully establishing her authority, even in the midst of the male-dominated realm of arts, as a female writer. De Pizan’s prolific writings, forty-one known pieces, written over her career of at least thirty years (1399-1429), earned her fame as Europe’s first professional woman writer (Redfern 74). In particular, her success stems from a wide range of innovative writing techniques that critically challenged renowned male writers who, to Pizan’s dismay, incorporated misogynist scrutiny within their literary works. Overall, de Pizan and her writings have been celebrated and embraced; she is seen as a feminist foremother who effectively utilized language to demonstrate that women, with distinctive abilities, could play an integral role within society. Within ''The Book of the City of Ladies'' Christine creates a symbolic city in which women are appreciated and defended. Christine, having no female literary tradition to call upon, constructs three allegorical foremothers: Reason, Justice, and Rectitude. She enters into a dialogue, a movement between question and answer, with these allegorical figures that is from a completely female perspective (Cambell 6). These constructed women lift Christine up from her despair over the misogyny prevalent in her time. Together, they create a forum to speak on issues of consequence to all women. Only female voices, examples and opinions provide evidence within this text. Christine, through Lady Reason in particular, argues that stereotypes of woman can be sustained only if women are prevented from entering the, dominant male-oriented, conversation (Campbell 7). Overall, Christine hoped to establish truths about women that contradicted the negative stereotypes that she had identified in previous literature. She did this successfully by creating literary foremothers that helped her to formulate a female dialogue that celebrated women and their accomplishments.

Recent events in France

'''March 20, 2006 - French National Assembly to approve copyright bill''' The French National Assembly French National Assembly is to adopt a bill, known as DADVSI DADVSI (''« Droits d'Auteurs et Droits Voisins de la Société de l'Information »'', "author's right and related rights in the information society"), tomorrow. This bill reforms the French code of intellectual property (CPI) and other laws, mostly in order to implement the 2001 EU Copyright Directive European directive on copyright. The directive mandates legal protections of w:Digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) measures against circumvention. DRMs are "digital locks" that prevent users from freely copying or playing contents, in order to enforce the copyright of the authors, artists, publishers and producers. The initial draft of the bill, proposed by Minister of Culture (France) Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, made circumvention of DRMs, or even facilitation thereof, a felony (''délit''), with a maximal penalty of 3 years in prison and/or a €300,000 fine as with w:counterfeiting counterfeiting. Since DRMs, circumvention and facilitations were not legally defined, it was feared that the law would effectively prevent competitors from creating players, especially based on free software free software, compatible with major systems such as Apple's iPod iPod or Microsoft's Windows Media Player Windows Media Player — or even to prevent the creation of any free software capable of loading files with DRM capabilities, that is, potentially most future text, audio or video file formats. wikinews:French National Assembly to approve copyright bill Full story

'''March 19, 2006 - 100s of thousands take to the streets across France''' Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across France this weekend to pressure the conservative government to discard a new law, the "First Job Contract" (CPE), which allows employers to fire workers under the age of 26 without explanation in their first two years on the job. The aim of this new law is to encourage businesses to employ more young workers, given that their employment will be more flexible and convenient in economic terms. In the western city of Rennes, students wore plastic garbage bags with signs declaring: "I am disposable." The marches were mostly reported as festive and peaceful. Other reports indicate that youths pelted police with objects, overturning and setting fire to a car at the end of the main protest in Paris. Police fired many rounds of tear gas. Demonstrations were also reported in Marseille, Rennes and Lille, where police charged and teargassed crowds.Rally organisers estimate the turnout across the country at over a million people, with around 500,000 of them in Paris. However, the Interior Ministry reported 503,000 nationwide, with 80,000 in Paris. wikinews:100s of thousands take to the streets across France Full story

'''February 18, 2006 - H5N1 confirmed in France''' The strain of bird flu lethal to humans, H5N1 H5N1, has been confirmed to have infected a dead wild duck, found on Monday, in marshland near Lyon Lyon in the east of France France. France is the seventh country in the European Union to suffer this virus; following Austria Austria, Germany Germany, Slovenia Slovenia, Bulgaria Bulgaria, Greece Greece and w:Italy Italy. Suspected cases of H5N1 in Croatia Croatia and Denmark Denmark remain unconfirmed. Globally, The H5N1 strain has infected 171 people, and killed 93 of them, since 2003. wikinews:H5N1 confirmed in France Full story

French Languages

Image:Langues de la France1.gif thumb|center|300px|Dialects and languages in France French language French is the official language of France, but each region in France has its own unique accent, such as the French spoken in Paris, or in the south (Français Méridional) or in the region around Tours. In addition to French. there are several other traditional languages spoken in France, although use of these languages has greatly decreased over the past two hundred years. Closely related to French are the northern regional languages ("patois") from the Oïl languages Oïl language family: Tourangeau, Orléanais, Bourbonnais, Berrichon, Burgundian Bourguignon-Morvandiau, Champenois, Gallo language Gallo, Lorrain language Lorrain, Norman language Norman, Franc-Comtois, Picard language Picard, Poitevin-Saintongeais, and Walloon language Walloon. In the south of France are languages from the Oc language family (or "Occitan"): Alpine Provençal, Auvergnat language Auvergnat, Gascon language Gascon (Ariegese Ariégeois, Bearnese Béarnais, Landese Landais), Languedocien language Languedocien, Limousin language Limousin, Nissart language Nissart, and Provençal language Provençal. Nestled between these two groups are the Franco-Provençal language Franco-Provençal languages (including Bressois, Dauphinois, Forézien, Jurassien, Lyonnais (langue) Lyonnais and Savoyard). Other traditional languages spoken in France: Basque language Basque, Breton language Breton, Alsatian language Alsatian, Frankish language Frankish (in Lorraine), West Flemish, Catalan language Catalan, and Corsican language Corsican (Corsu). In addition to French, French-based creole languages are spoken in the "DOMs" and other traditional languages are spoken in overseas areas. Because of immigration, France also has populations who speak Arabic language Arabic (dialectal), Armenian language Armenian (eastern), Bambara language Bambara, Berber languages, Lao language Lao, Mandarin (linguistics) Mandarin, Portuguese language Portuguese, Romany language Romany, Vietnamese language Vietnamese and Yiddish. French is also spoken by people in numerous countries around the world, including Canada, Haiti, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Guinée, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroun, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Madagascar, the United States (Louisiana, New England), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Syria, and places in India (Pondichery). To learn more, see French language and Languages of France.

Did you know...

*...that Jean-Marie Perrot was assassinated during World War II WW2 and since then has been remembered in parts of Brittany on Easter Monday *...that "Vulcania" was founded by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as an incentive to bring tourism to Auvergne (région) Auvergne? *...that the famous Wallace fountains in Paris were provided by English philanthropist Richard Wallace (art collector) Richard Wallace as a source of free water for the poor? *...that Roger Lemerre has won the Football World Cup, European Football Championship, Confederations Cup and the African Nations Cup?

Things you can do

'''You can help! Vous pouvez aider!'''
France, France-related and Francophone articles, stubs, templates, calls for expansion, NPOV, clean-up or editing... * :France-related topics notice board Translations, collaborations and wikiprojects:
* :French Collaboration Project - translating good articles on any topic from the French wikipedia. * :WikiProject French communes - making pages for French towns and cities. * :WikiProject Paris Streets Multi-lingual coordination:
* :WikiProject Missing encyclopedic articles/fr *WP:TIE#French-to-English