Our France

Identification: French national identity is based on the historical origins of the nation in Celtic, Gallo Roman, and Frankish cultures. The name France originally was used to refer to several peoples in the lower Rhineland. It gradually was introduced as a more widespread term to denote that territory, after the Frankish invasion and the retreat of the Romans. The name Francia was applied to various territorial units until the Middle Ages, when it came to signify the kingdom of the French sovereign. Regional identities, such as Provencal and Breton have coexisted with political units of state control. The degree to which France is today a homogeneous nation is a highly contested topic. Political and linguistic unification, especially through mass education, has been an ongoing project of nationalism. The immigrant population comes mainly from Portugal and northern Africa, although there has been increasing immigration from eastern Europe. France takes a highly assimilationist approach to its immigrant populations. The social position of Beurs is an ongoing issue. The population is divided by social class, political party affiliation, ethnicity, and region. Having had a significant rural population well into the twentieth century, the country continues to be marked by a rural urban split.

Location and Geography: The French often refer to their nation as a hexagon to describe its six sided shape, and this term is also a symbol for the country. Metropolitan France has an area of over 200,000 square miles, making it the largest Western European nation. It covers 5 percent of the European continent. Paris is the capital and cultural center, long dominating the rest of the nation. The older provinces, now reconfigured in what are officially called regions, have played an important role in the nation's history. There are currently twenty two regions. The French Republic includes four overseas departments: French Guiana, Martinique, and Réunion. These DOMs operate primarily as departments within the national system. There are two territorial collectives: Mayotte and Saint Pierre et Miquelon. Overseas territories include French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Futuna.

France borders Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, and Switzerland. While tied to the mainland of Europe, the country is open to the Atlantic to the west. It also has coasts on the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the English Channel to the north. France has a large range of terrain and a varied climate and geography. The major mountain ranges are the Alps in the east and the Pyrenees in the southwest. Each forms a natural boundary with other nations. The Massif Central is a large mountainous plateau in the central area, which includes the ancient volcanoes of the Auvergne region. While most of the country is in a temperate zone, the Mediterranean area is considered to have a subtropical climate. The four main rivers are the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhône. The winds that sweep across the territory have regional names and are connected to regional identity, the most famous being le Mistral in the Rhône valley.

Demography: In 1999, the population was 58,518,748. France has a low population density compared to other countries in Western Europe. In an attempt to keep the population up, family allowances are given to each family per child, with no income restriction. There is much population mobility from urban to rural areas and from region to region.

The population has more than doubled since the mid-nineteenth century, when it was 28.3 million. The post–World War II period saw fertility increases in the French version of the baby boom, but the birthrate began to drop in the early 1970s. Migration has added to the population. At the turn of the twentieth century and after World War I, migration accounted for half the total population growth.

Linguistic Affiliation: The official language is French, which is by far the majority language, having been imposed on the regional populations since the nineteenth century. Regional languages and dialects such as Breton, Catalan, Basque, Alsatian, and Flemish are still in use, and some are taught in regional schools. The law of 11 January 1951 permitted the teaching of regional languages in regions in which they were in use. The most recent update of national language policy regarding education came in 1995, permitting the teaching of regional languages at the primary and secondary levels. In all cases, this is voluntary for pupils.

The nation historically has been divided into two linguistic regions: that of the langue d'oeil to the north and that of the langue d'oc to the south. National identity is closely identified with the French language. The purity of the language is officially protected by the Académie Française established by Cardinal Richelieu in the seventeenth century, whose forty members rule over the inclusion of new words in the language. In 1966, the government instituted a further safeguard by establishing a commission on the French language whose role is to discourage borrowings from English and franglais. The Toubon law of 1994 mandates that French be spoken in all official, public spheres of life. The French state also has played a role in the protection of global francophonie. Then president François Mitterrand established the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie in 1984, which sponsors summit meetings among French-speaking countries.

Symbolism.: Numerous national symbols are associated with the French Revolution, which established the nation as a democratic republic at the end of the eighteenth century. They were further reinforced during the Third Republic at the turn of the twentieth century. Known as the tricoleur, white, and red. White is associated with monarchy, red with the republic, and blue with Charlemagne, Clovis, and other early rulers. La Marseillaise became the official national anthem in 1946. It was written in Strasbourg in 1792 but became associated with Marseille when troops from that city entered Paris singing it on 30 July 1792. It was an important rallying song during the First Republic but was not used on official occasions again until the Third Republic. The Gallic rooster became associated with the nation during the Renaissance. It was used at first as a royal symbol but during the revolution came to stand for the identity of the nation. Used variously over time and sometimes associated with the figure of Liberty or Marianne, the rooster came to be known as a symbol of the nation during World War I. Today it is often used by sports teams.

Marianne is a symbol of the republic as a motherland and stands for the rallying cry of liberty, equality, fraternity. Marianne became an official national symbol during the Third Republic, although this female figure developed out of female symbols dating back to the revolutionary period. There are multiple ways of depicting this figure. Statues and images have portrayed Marianne as wearing a helmet and at other times the Phrygian bonnet; during the Third Republic, she began to be seen wearing a crown of ripe wheat. Since the nineteenth century, mayors have commissioned a sculpture of Marianne for their town halls. Now these busts depict popular models, the first of whom was Brigitte Bardot. The most recent model, chosen in 1999 after much discussion and debate, is the actress Laetitia Casta.