TELL ME SOME INFO ON FRANCE merci!?

Question

I need to know some geographical features such as famous mountains, rivers, etc. What types of foods do they eat?

What are their customs? The history, it could be about the history of fashion, history of monuments etc. And the climate. THANKS!

Answer 1

Modern day France is roughly equal to the ancient lands of Gaul which were incorporated into the Roman Empire by Julius Caesar.

As the Roman Empire began to wan the area was invaded and occupied by a large number of "barbarian" tribes from the Germanic lands across the Rhine including the Vandals, Goths, and Burgundians. The area was eventually incorporated into the empire of Charlemagne which included most of modern day France, Italy and Germany.

After the death of Charlemagne, his empire was divided amongst his heirs and after a series of dynastic wars, France emerged as a seperate nation with borders not too terribly different from those you see today.

Over the centuries, France was sometimes a single unified nation but often divided amongst different subgroups or claimants to the French throne. Perhaps most importantly, the Kings of England also claimed the throne of France for over a century, holding large areas of France and supporting the independance claims of the Dukes of Burgundy against a series of weak and ineffective French kings. (This is the period known as the Hundred Years War). France suffered a series of crushing defeats at the hands of England's famed archers and a series of brilliant English leaders including such famous ones as Henry V, the Black Prince, Sir John Falstaff, and Richard the Lion Heart.

Despite this the English were eventually driven from France, in part inspired by the deeds of Joan of Arc, whose claim that she was directed by God to lead the French Army against the English inspired French patriotism and martial fervor.

With the country unified, France went on, under the Bourbon line of kings to become the leading power on the European continent. The Court of Louis XIV at the palace Versailles (outside of Paris) was the envy of the world. Even after the ruinous costs of the monarchy prvoked the people into overthrowing the monarchy and estabilishing a Republic, France continued to play the key role in European affairs.

The revolutionary government was eventually seized Napoleon Bonaparte whose brilliant military skills made France the master of Europe from Madrid to Moscow and spread French ideas, politics, law and philosophy everywhere. Even his eventual defeat could not erase French influence and French remained the language of used in the royal houses of Europe right thru the 20th century.

Answer 2

France is a country of 63 million people located in Western Europe between Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain. It is divided in 26 regions, 21 of them being in continental Europe, one being Corsica in the Mediterranean sea, 3 being in the Carribeans (Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guiana), and the last one being in the Indian ocean (Reunion).

Geographically, the country is extremely diverse, with sharp mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Pyrenees, older mountain ranges such as the Jura and the Vosges, old volcanoes such as in Auvergne. French climates vary strongly from a region to another, being predominantly mediterranean in the Southwest, oceanic in the West, continental in the East, and either tropical or equatorial in overseas regions.

At the opposite of popular beliefs in North America, French people don't define themselves by a unique ethnicity. There is no such a thing as a "French" ethnicity. Brittany, the French Flanders, Roussillon, Corsica, Alsace, Normandy, the Basque country, Auvergne, Dauphiné, Savoy or Provence are all defined by a strongly specific culture. As a result, traditional customs and cuisines vary massively from a region to another. Furthermore, at the opposite of its neighbours, France has been continuously a country of immigration since the middle of the 19th century, thus a significant part of its population is also culturally from various foreign descents (predominantly from European, African, Carribean and Asian countries).

The capital city of France is Paris (11 million people) which is also known for its cosmopolitanism since the early 20th century. Other important cities are Lyon and Marseille (about 1.5 million people each), Lille, Toulouse, Nice and Bordeaux (about 1 million people each).