France
About France
France (France, officially French Republic, République française) is a country in Western Europe. France bordering the Atlantic, Channel, North Sea and Mediterranean. In the south it borders on Spain and Andorra, east to Italy, Monaco and Switzerland and in the northeast against Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. Outside Europe borders French possessions in Brazil, which is the longest border (673 km) to Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles.
France is a democratic republic with a president who has certain powers. The country has since the start of the EU has been active in European cooperation, and with its 64 million inhabitants, the EU’s second-largest member. The country is a member of the G8, NATO and is one of the five countries in the world with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
France was formed from the remnants of the Roman Empire, where a Germanic genealogy called Franks earlier ruled the country. Thus it came to be called France derived from Franks rich.
Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes
The modern France was originally populated by Gauls who belonged to the Celtic culture. Gaul was conquered by the Roman Empire (Julius Caesar) in the first century BC, the Gauls and then went slowly Latin language and culture for themselves, with a few exceptions: eg continued the westernmost part of France, Brittany to be influenced by Celtic culture. Christianity penetrated Roman roots in the country during the second and third century.
In connection with the Roman Empire collapse of the fifth century Gaul was repeatedly invaded by Germanic tribes, who not only walked through the Gallic territory, but also established small kingdoms in Gaul. Visigoths had in the fifth century created a Germanic monarchy regime in southern France, while the burgundy wonders had founded kingdoms farther to the northeast. In the north began a dynasty of the Franks to put themselves in power. As the first of the Germanic invaders converted the first known Frankish king Childeric in 498 to Roman Christianity (most Germans had formerly belonged to the eastern Arian Christianity). Over the next few centuries consolidated the Frankish kings in the country and could eventually subjugate most of the area we know today as France. At the Battle of Poitiers in 731 succeeded Franks to stop the Arab armies march forward in Europe.
Gradually the Frankish expanded considerably, so it also included large parts of the Netherlands and Germany. Existence as an independent unit, started for France, the first division in 843 by Charlemagne’s Frankish empire into an eastern, central and western parts. The eastern part was the beginning of what was to Germany, the western part is now France.
France during the Middle Ages
After the division, France was increasingly marked by turmoil. The Vikings now ravaged country, the Normans in the north could not always governed and oldgermanske inheritance custom of dividing the land between the heirs divisional new kingdoms. The country was extremely decentralized at this time, if the King moved from his power base, he could risk being taken hostage by noblemen. Since the English kings through Norman compounds believed to have claim to the French crown, was guaranteed conflict between the two countries. Most violent was the collision in the Hundred Years’ War from 1337 to 1453, which was actually a number of different wars. War and plague ravaged the country and the population was greatly depleted. Eventually France to defeat his enemies. The nobility had had to realize that the old feudal decentralized system could not provide a proper defense, and was forced to leave a unifying king fix. Charles VII mourned the Hundred Years’ War for the first total French army.
The transition from strong feudalstyre of increasing power to the king continued throughout the 16th and 17 century. The French kings did eventually claim to be “chosen by God” to legitimize their status as rulers. Periods under the strong French kings were marked by growing religious turmoil. The Lutheran teachings launched a series of beliefs, which challenged the autocratic monarch God-given right to the throne, and France initiated the oppression of religious minorities. In 1572, several thousand Huguenots were massacred, and the subsequent exodus of skilled Protestant artisans and tradesmen meant certain economic problems for the country. Internally, the country was stabilized, as different religious orientation now no longer allowed to disturb the autocratic order.
French Guiana & Finland
