France

ABOUT France

Country Briefs: One of the most modern and successful countries of the world, a leader amongst European nations, a country blessed and caressed by nature, offering timeless attractions, France is the place with a difference.

If we look at the geographic aspect of France we find that the metropolitan France i.e. the part of France that lies in Europe stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and North Sea, and from Rhine River to the Atlantic Ocean.

Covering an area of around sixty-seven square kilometers and with a population of over sixty-three million people, France borders the Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain.

The borders of France have more or less remained unchanged since Celtic Gauls inhabited the region in first century BC. The successor rulers of Gauls were the Romans who had a long-lasting effect on this country. Around second and third century CE Christianity penetrated in France.

The Germanic tribes particularly the Franks attacked the eastern portion of France. The Franks gave the name Francie (the archaic name of contemporary France). While Francie's modified version "France" comes from the feudal territory of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris.

France came up as an individual existence at the time when Charlemagne's Carolingian empire broke into pieces. Of these parts the western part of the broken empire was known as modern France later.

However till 987 France continued to be governed by Charlemagne's descendants. But from 987 to 996 Hugh Capet, the Duke of France and the Count of Paris ruled France. After Capet, the rule of France was transferred to his descendants who constantly kept on augmenting the area of the country by new invasions and conquests.

France experienced some glorious years of monarchy particularly in 17th century when under the reign of Louis XIV France became one of the economically, politically and culturally powerful countries in entire Europe.

But the 75-year-old monarchy was uprooted in 1792 because the French Revolution proved successful in its aim. The French Revolution thus led to the establishment of the First Republic. On 21st September 1792 the French people proclaimed France's first republic. This signified a new era of republican government in Europe.

Bit in 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte seized the control of the republic and declared himself the first consul. Soon he also became the emperor of the first French Empire. During his reign from 1804 to 1814 Napoleon waged and won many wars. But Napoleon was defeated in 1815 as a result of which monarchy resumed control in France.

Political changes took place and in 1830 France witnessed a civil revolt, the French revolution or the July revolution. This revolt by the middle class population of France against the Boubon King led to the establishment of July monarchy under the Orleanist king Louis Philippe.

After the July monarchy came the Second Republic in 1848. The republic came as a result of the 1848 revolution. But the republic ended soon in 1852 when Louis Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself as the second emperor of France.

In 1870 there took place the Franco-Prussian war (war between France and Prussia over the Prussia's supremacy in Germany) and this led to the formation and coming of the Third Republic in France.

 

However France emerged victorious in the First and Second World War. Its disappearing strength and glory revived and France once again became an assertive nation state.

At present France is a developed country that possesses the fifth largest economy in the world (according to a survey in 2004). France is one of the founders of the European union as well as United Nations.

France Departments
Name HASC Reg ISO FIPS NUTS Population Area(km.²) Capital
Ain FR.AI V 01 FR01 FR711 515,270 5,762 Bourg-en-Bresse
Aisne FR.AS S 02 FR02 FR221 535,842 7,369 Laon
Allier FR.AL C 03 FR03 FR721 344,721 7,340 Moulins
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence FR.AP U 04 FR12 FR821 139,561 6,925 Digne
Alpes-Maritimes FR.AM U 06 FR04 FR823 1,011,326 4,299 Nice
Ardèche FR.AH V 07 FR05 FR712 286,023 5,529 Privas
Ardennes FR.AN G 08 FR06 FR211 290,130 5,229 Charleville-Mézières
Ariège FR.AG N 09 FR07 FR621 137,205 4,890 Foix
Aube FR.AB G 10 FR08 FR212 292,131 6,004 Troyes
Aude FR.AD K 11 FR09 FR811 309,770 6,139 Carcassonne
Aveyron FR.AV N 12 FR10 FR622 263,808 8,735 Rodez
Bas-Rhin FR.BR A 67 FR11 FR421 1,026,120 4,755 Strasbourg
Bouches-du-Rhône FR.BD U 13 FR15 FR824 1,835,719 5,087 Marseille
Calvados FR.CV P 14 FR16 FR251 648,385 5,548 Caen
Cantal FR.CL C 15 FR17 FR722 150,778 5,726 Aurillac
Charente FR.CT T 16 FR18 FR531 339,628 5,956 Angoulême
Charente-Maritime FR.CM T 17 FR19 FR532 557,024 6,864 La Rochelle
Cher FR.CH F 18 FR20 FR241 314,428 7,235 Bourges
Corrèze FR.CZ L 19 FR21 FR631 232,576 5,857 Tulle
Corse-du-Sud FR.CS H 2A FR90 FR831 118,593 4,014 Ajaccio
Côte-d'Or FR.CO D 21 FR22 FR261 506,755 8,763 Dijon
Côtes-d'Armor FR.CA E 22 FR23 FR521 542,373 6,878 Saint-Brieuc
Creuse FR.CR L 23 FR24 FR632 124,470 5,565 Guéret
Deux-Sèvres FR.DS T 79 FR25 FR533 344,392 5,999 Niort
Dordogne FR.DD B 24 FR26 FR611 388,293 9,060 Périgueux
Doubs FR.DB I 25 FR27 FR431 499,062 5,234 Besançon
Drôme FR.DM V 26 FR28 FR713 437,778 6,530 Valence
Essonne FR.ES J 91 FR79 FR104 1,134,238 1,804 Évry
Eure FR.EU Q 27 FR29 FR231 541,054 6,040 Évreux
Eure-et-Loir FR.EL F 28 FR30 FR242 407,665 5,880 Chartres
Finistère FR.FI E 29 FR31 FR522 852,418 6,733 Quimper
Gard FR.GA K 30 FR32 FR812 623,125 5,853 Nîmes
Gers FR.GE N 32 FR33 FR624 172,335 6,257 Auch
Gironde FR.GI B 33 FR34 FR612 1,287,334 10,000 Bordeaux
Haute-Corse FR.HC H 2B FR96 FR832 141,603 4,666 Bastia
Haute-Garonne FR.HG N 31 FR35 FR623 1,046,338 6,309 Toulouse
Haute-Loire FR.HL C 43 FR36 FR723 209,113 4,977 Le Puy
Haute-Marne FR.HM G 52 FR37 FR214 194,873 6,211 Chaumont
Hautes-Alpes FR.HA U 05 FR38 FR822 121,419 5,549 Gap
Haute-Saône FR.HN I 70 FR39 FR433 229,732 5,360 Vesoul
Haute-Savoie FR.HS V 74 FR40 FR718 631,679 4,388 Annecy
Hautes-Pyrénées FR.HP N 65 FR41 FR626 222,368 4,464 Tarbes
Haute-Vienne FR.HV L 87 FR42 FR633 353,893 5,520 Limoges
Haut-Rhin FR.HR A 68 FR43 FR422 708,025 3,525 Colmar
Hauts-de-Seine FR.HD J 92 FR77 FR105 1,428,881 176 Nanterre
Hérault FR.HE K 34 FR44 FR813 896,441 6,101 Montpellier
Ille-et-Vilaine FR.IV E 35 FR45 FR523 867,533 6,775 Rennes
Indre FR.IN F 36 FR46 FR243 231,139 6,791 Châteauroux
Indre-et-Loire FR.IL F 37 FR47 FR244 554,003 6,127 Tours
Isère FR.IS V 38 FR48 FR714 1,094,006 7,431 Grenoble
Jura FR.JU I 39 FR49 FR432 250,857 4,999 Lons-le-Saunier
Landes FR.LD B 40 FR50 FR613 327,334 9,243 Mont-de-Marsan
Loire FR.LR V 42 FR51 FR715 728,524 4,781 Saint-Étienne
Loire-Atlantique FR.LA R 44 FR52 FR511 1,134,266 6,815 Nantes
Loiret FR.LT F 45 FR53 FR246 618,126 6,775 Orléans
Loir-et-Cher FR.LC F 41 FR54 FR245 314,968 6,343 Blois
Lot FR.LO N 46 FR55 FR625 160,197 5,217 Cahors
Lot-et-Garonne FR.LG B 47 FR56 FR614 305,380 5,361 Agen
Lozère FR.LZ K 48 FR57 FR814 73,509 5,167 Mende
Maine-et-Loire FR.ML R 49 FR58 FR512 732,942 7,166 Angers
Manche FR.MH P 50 FR59 FR252 481,471 5,938 Saint-Lô
Marne FR.MR G 51 FR60 FR213 565,229 8,162 Châlons-en-Champagne
Mayenne FR.MY R 53 FR61 FR513 285,338 5,175 Laval
Meurthe-et-Moselle FR.MM M 54 FR62 FR411 713,779 5,241 Nancy
Meuse FR.MS M 55 FR63 FR412 192,198 6,216 Bar-le-Duc
Morbihan FR.MB E 56 FR64 FR524 643,873 6,823 Vannes
Moselle FR.MO M 57 FR65 FR413 1,023,447 6,216 Metz
Nièvre FR.NI D 58 FR66 FR262 225,198 6,817 Nevers
Nord FR.NO O 59 FR67 FR301 2,555,020 5,743 Lille
Oise FR.OI S 60 FR68 FR222 766,441 5,860 Beauvais
Orne FR.OR P 61 FR69 FR253 292,337 6,103 Alençon
Pas-de-Calais FR.PC O 62 FR70 FR302 1,441,568 6,671 Arras
Puy-de-Dôme FR.PD C 63 FR71 FR724 604,266 7,970 Clermont-Ferrand
Pyrénées-Atlantiques FR.PA B 64 FR13 FR615 600,018 7,645 Pau
Pyrénées-Orientales FR.PO K 66 FR72 FR815 392,803 4,116 Perpignan
Rhône FR.RH V 69 FR73 FR716 1,578,869 3,249 Lyon
Saône-et-Loire FR.SL D 71 FR74 FR263 544,893 8,575 Mâcon
Sarthe FR.ST R 72 FR75 FR514 529,851 6,206 Le Mans
Savoie FR.SV V 73 FR76 FR717 373,258 6,028 Chambéry
Seine-et-Marne FR.SE J 77 FR78 FR102 1,193,767 5,915 Melun
Seine-Maritime FR.SM Q 76 FR80 FR232 1,239,138 6,278 Rouen
Seine-Saint-Denis FR.SS J 93 FR91 FR106 1,382,861 236 Bobigny
Somme FR.SO S 80 FR81 FR223 555,551 6,170 Amiens
Tarn FR.TA N 81 FR82 FR627 343,402 5,758 Albi
Tarn-et-Garonne FR.TG N 82 FR83 FR628 206,034 3,718 Montauban
Territoire de Belfort FR.TB I 90 FR14 FR434 137,408 609 Belfort
Val-de-Marne FR.VM J 94 FR92 FR107 1,227,250 245 Créteil
Val-d'Oise FR.VO J 95 FR93 FR108 1,105,464 1,246 Cergy-Pontoise
Var FR.VR U 83 FR84 FR825 898,441 5,973 Toulon
Vaucluse FR.VC U 84 FR85 FR826 499,685 3,567 Avignon
Vendée FR.VD R 85 FR86 FR515 539,664 6,720 La Roche-sur-Yon
Vienne FR.VN T 86 FR87 FR534 399,024 6,990 Poitiers
Ville de Paris FR.VP J 75 FR94 FR101 2,125,246 105 Paris
Vosges FR.VG M 88 FR88 FR414 380,952 5,874 Épinal
Yonne FR.YO D 89 FR89 FR264 333,221 7,427 Auxerre
Yvelines FR.YV J 78 FR95 FR103 1,354,304 2,284 Versailles
96 departments 58,518,748 543,965  
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.
  • Reg: regions of France, identified by their ISO 3166-2 codes (see below).
  • ISO: codes from ISO 3166-2. These are standard department codes for France.
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-3.
  • NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics.
  • Population: 1999-03-08 census.
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