Emergence of the Nation: The emergence of the modern nation took place over several centuries and resulted from a combination of the cultural influences of Gauls and Franks. France was inhabited mainly by the Gauls, a Celtic language group, when the Roman conquest of the territory began in the first century B.C.E. : The Gallo Roman period ended when the Frankish peoples began to enter the territory from the Germanic east during the fifth century, led by Clovis.
The term France comes from the Franks and has had three historical meanings. It referred to the area around Paris, the Île de France region, which was originally a duchy and the area known as the kingdom of France, ruled by Hugh Capet and his descendants. The Treaty of Verdun in 843 established the kingdom of "Western Francia" when land was divided between the heirs of Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious. The medieval period was one of political fragmentation even as the state administrative bureaucracy grew. The Church supported the various monarchs, who claimed divine rule. After a long series of wars, France achieved political unity in the sixteenth century under Louis XIV. French became the official language, replacing Latin in official documents, in 1539. The revolution of 1789 established the First Republic and abolished the monarchy. Attempts to form the First and Second Empires by Napoleon and his nephew eventually were over-turned by the Third Republic. This period involved a heightened sense of national identity, with a return to the republican values of the revolution. It was also a period of heightened colonial expansion into Africa and Asia. During World War II, with the German occupation and the Vichy regime under Pétain, there was a crisis of national identity and a move toward rejection of the ideals of the revolution. A Fourth Republic was reconstituted after liberation at the end of the war whose first president was Charles de Gaulle, elected in 1958.
France experienced a period of economic prosperity after World War II known as the "thirty glorious years. This was also a time of rural exodus, expanded urbanization, and important socio cultural changes. The events of May 1968 marked a crisis in national identity as workers and students agitated for a more open and equal society.
National Identity: National identity is connected to notions of citizenship, which were established during the revolution. The original criteria included factors such as gender, place of birth and amount of property. Citizenship currently depends on proof of parentage and residence. The national identity is based on several factors, including a concept of shared ancestry coming from the Gallic and Frankish past and territorial roots in the countryside and the ideals of the revolution. It has also been shaped by religious conflicts between Catholics and Jews and by religious versus secular influences on government, especially in the realm of education. Current national identity is primarily an invention of the Third Republic and has been shaken by various events in recent history. The degree to which a coherent national identity has existed is debatable despite the assimilationist policies of the government. Linguistic unity was achieved less than a century ago, and regional languages and cultural practices persist. The growth of the European Union and the influx of immigrants eventually will lead to a revised view of what it means to be French.
An important element of national identity is the identity card. Each person on French soil must carry on his or her person a card or document that demonstrates citizenship or another legal status, such as a visa or EU passport. The police have the right to stop anyone at any time to demand to see these documents.
Ethnic Relations: In a multiethnic state, there are two major types of ethnic group identity: that which is associated with territorial groups claiming a separate identity from the dominant French identity and that which is associated with immigrants, such as North Africans. Conflict between the centralized state and regional groups such as the Corsicans and Basques heightened toward the end of the twentieth century, when political autonomy became a major movement. Corsica has won the right to limited administrative autonomy.
About 4.5 million foreigners live in France. These immigrants have come from various nations. The country has offered political asylum to peoples such as Cambodians and Czechs. The largest immigrant groups are the Portuguese, Algerians, Moroccans, Italians, and Tunisians. One of the most significant conflicts has been in the area of religious freedom for Islamic groups. The scarf affair of 1989, in which three Muslim girls were expelled from high school because they refused to take off their head scarves, drew attention to the conflict between the secular state school system and the religious beliefs of immigrants.
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