Source gives area of metropolitan France as 551,500 km 2 (212,900 sq mi) and lists overseas regions separately, whose areas sum to 89,179 km 2 (34,432 sq mi). Adding these give the total shown here for the entire French Republic. The World Factbook reports the total as 643,801 km 2 (248,573 sq mi). France is a secular country in which freedom of religion is a constitutional right. French religious policy is based on the concept of laïcité, a strict separation of church and state under which public life is kept completely secular. The exception to this is the region of Alsace and Moselle where Lutheranism, Catholicism and Judaism enjoy official status and state funding. Around 390 BC, the Gallic chieftain Brennus and his troops made their way to Roman Italy through the Alps, defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Allia, and besieged and ransomed Rome. [31] The Gallic invasion left Rome weakened, and the Gauls continued to harass the region until 345 BC when they entered into a formal peace treaty with Rome. [32] But the Romans and the Gauls would remain adversaries for the next centuries, and the Gauls would continue to be a threat in Italy. [33] Combined Metro RER stations are common throughout central Paris and are often marked with signs showing both Paris Metro and Paris RER symbols like the photo above.

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Turnstiles or gates are usually marked with either green lights & arrows or red circular lights and X’s. Only green marked turnstiles can be used for entry. The red marked gates such as the gates on the right of the below photo are for passengers exiting the fare paid area. During the first phase of construction, the Vincennes and Saint-Germain lines became the ends of the east-west Line A, the central section of which was opened station by station between 1969 and 1977. On its completion, Line A was joined by the initial southern section of the north-south Line B. Both Lines A and B were intentionally designed to converge with as many of the existing commuter lines as possible as to maximise its usefulness to existing travelers. [10] During this first phase, six new stations were built, three of which are entirely underground. Blakely, Edward James (1993). Transporting and Transforming a Nation: Issues 584–596. University of California.When several RER train lines are served at a single station often the RER sign shows which RER lines are at the station like in the above photo. Louis XVI (r. 1774–1793) actively supported the Americans with money, fleets and armies, helping them win independence from Great Britain. France gained revenge but spent so heavily that the government verged on bankruptcy—a factor that contributed to the French Revolution. Some of the Enlightenment occurred in French intellectual circles, and major scientific breakthroughs and inventions, such as the naming of oxygen (1778) and the first hot air balloon carrying passengers (1783), were achieved by French scientists. French explorers, such as Bougainville and Lapérouse, took part in the voyages of scientific exploration through maritime expeditions around the globe. The Enlightenment philosophy, in which reason is advocated as the primary source of legitimacy, undermined the power of and support for the monarchy and also was a factor in the French Revolution.

France | History, Map, Flag, Population, Cities, Capital France | History, Map, Flag, Population, Cities, Capital

The first leader to make himself king of all the Franks was Clovis I, who began his reign in 481, routing the last forces of the Roman governors of the province in 486. Clovis claimed that he would be baptised a Christian in the event of his victory against the Visigothic Kingdom, which was said to have guaranteed the battle. Clovis regained the southwest from the Visigoths, was baptised in 508 and made himself master of what is now western Germany. Proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III and thus establishing in earnest the French government's longtime historical association with the Catholic Church, [43] Charlemagne tried to revive the Western Roman Empire and its cultural grandeur. Charlemagne's son, Louis I (Emperor 814–840), kept the empire united; however, this Carolingian Empire would not survive his death. In 843, under the Treaty of Verdun, the empire was divided between Louis' three sons, with East Francia going to Louis the German, Middle Francia to Lothair I, and West Francia to Charles the Bald. West Francia approximated the area occupied by modern France and was its precursor. [44] basic RER map showing 5 RER train lines with branching endpoint stations and the 5 fare zones for Paris and surrounding suburban area (Ile-de-France) First RER A train leaves Paris Chatelet les Halles at 5:18 a.m. and arrives at 6:00 a.m. at DisneylandUnder Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu promoted the centralisation of the state and reinforced royal power by disarming domestic power holders in the 1620s. He systematically destroyed castles of defiant lords and denounced the use of private violence (duelling, carrying weapons and maintaining private armies). By the end of the 1620s, Richelieu established "the royal monopoly of force" as the doctrine. [54] 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 becoming the Kingdom of France in 987. 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. [15] 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. [16] New management system for line B". RATP. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012 . Retrieved 11 November 2011. The Carolingian dynasty ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of the Franks. [45] His descendants—the Capetians, the House of Valois and the House of Bourbon—progressively unified the country through wars and dynastic inheritance into the Kingdom of France, which was fully declared in 1190 by Philip II of France ( Philippe Auguste). Later kings would expand their directly possessed domaine royal to cover over half of modern continental France by the 15th century, including most of the north, centre and west of France. During this process, the royal authority became more and more assertive, centred on a hierarchically conceived society distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners. I saw him tell a group that he would intro­duce them to a fundamental aid to under­standing the Gos­pels. He called it the “Big Bad Wolf” key. You could, he explained, tell the story of the Three Little Pigs to a child in vari­ous ways, but your hearer would noisily object if you omitted the key line (thrice repeated): “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.” When reading or listening to the parables and teaching of Jesus, he said, look out for the “I’ll huff and I’ll puff” sayings, because they were always included, however different the telling of the rest of the teaching might be. Sometimes they were signposted by the words “Amen, amen” (“Truly I say”). The scholar smiled, the group laughed, and we all gained a valuable insight into the world of hermen­eutics.

List of cities and towns in France | Britannica List of cities and towns in France | Britannica

RER trains will generally always stop at RER stations within central Paris Zone 1 (visible on the RER Map with zones). RER stations outside central Paris may or may not be served by RER trains depending on their route or whether they are “Express RER trains” making only a few stops before arriving at their final destination.The Franks embraced the Christian Gallo-Roman culture, and ancient Gaul was eventually renamed Francia ("Land of the Franks"). The Germanic Franks adopted Romanic languages, except in northern Gaul where Roman settlements were less dense and where Germanic languages emerged. Clovis made Paris his capital and established the Merovingian dynasty, but his kingdom would not survive his death. The Franks treated land purely as a private possession and divided it among their heirs, so four kingdoms emerged from that of Clovis: Paris, Orléans, Soissons, and Rheims. The last Merovingian kings lost power to their mayors of the palace (head of household). One mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, defeated an Umayyad invasion of Gaul at the Battle of Tours (732) and earned respect and power within the Frankish kingdoms. His son, Pepin the Short, seized the crown of Francia from the weakened Merovingians and founded the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's son, Charlemagne, reunited the Frankish kingdoms and built a vast empire across Western and Central Europe. Strong on grammar (LOL, didn’t expect that!) and vocab, great reading skills (thanks for the transcripts and subtitles Hugo!), good pronunciation, and poor speaking. westward from Haussmann - St Lazare to Mantes-la-Jolie. Plans for this extension include an eight kilometer bored tunnel from the current western terminus at Haussmann - St Lazare, with new stations at Porte Maillot, La Défense, and Nanterre - La Folie, and a connection to the SNCF Normandy line in or near Nanterre, the transfer of the current Line A Poissy service to Line E, and its further extension down the Seine valley to Mantes. With Clovis's conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right. In 2018, France was the fifth-largest trading nation in the world and the second-largest in Europe, with the value of exports representing over a fifth of GDP. [181] Its membership in the eurozone and the broader European single market facilitates access to capital, goods, services, and skilled labour. [182] Despite protectionist policies over certain industries, particularly in agriculture, France has generally played a leading role in fostering free trade and commercial integration in Europe to enhance its economy. [183] [184] In 2019, it ranked first in Europe and 13th in the world in foreign direct investment, with European countries and the United States being leading sources. [185] According to the Bank of France (founded in 1800), [186] the leading recipients of FDI were manufacturing, real estate, finance and insurance. [187] The Paris Region has the highest concentration of multinational firms in Europe. [187]