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France Portal

The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises a collection of overseas islands and territories located in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica. After Russia, France is the largest country in Europe (643,427 km² with its overseas départements). With a population of over 63 million inhabitants, France is the second most populous country in Western Europe (after Germany) and the 20th largest in the world. Paris is the most populated city in France with over 12 million people in its aire urbaine.

The French Republic is a democracy which is organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It has the seventh-largest economy in the world. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the G8, NATO, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also one of eight acknowledged nuclear powers. With almost 75 million foreign tourists each year, France is the most popular international tourist destination in the world.

French is the official language of France, but each region has its own unique accent; in addition to French, there are several other languages of France traditionally spoken, although use of these languages has greatly decreased over the past two hundred years. French is also an official language in 41 countries, most of which form what is called in French La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations.

Picture of the Month (Archive)

"Marat's Triumph" (1793): a popular engraving of Jean-Paul Marat with a crown of laurel leaves, borne away by a joyous crowd, celebrating his acquittal by the Revolutionary Tribunal. Image credit: Anonymous.

Article of the Month (Archive)

Candide, ou l'Optimisme (1759) is a French satire by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, English translations of which have been titled Candide: Or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: Or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Or, Optimism (1947). The novella begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply optimism) by his tutor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this existence, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not outright rejecting optimism, advocating an enigmatic precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds".

Candide is known for its sarcastic tone and its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. With a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman or picaresque novel, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humourously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism.

As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it; most notably, Leonard Bernstein produced a 1956 comic operetta whose libretto is closely based on the novella. Today, Candide is recognised as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is likely taught more than any other work of French literature. Read more...

Person of the Month (Archive)

Olympe de Gouges (May 7, 1748 – November 3, 1793), born Marie Gouze, was a playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience. A proponent of democracy, she demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror for attacking the regime of Maximilien Robespierre and for her close relation with the Girondists.

Olympe de Gouges wrote her famous Declaration on the Rights of Women shortly after the French Constitution of 1791 was created in the same year. She was alarmed that the constitution, which was to promote equal suffrage, did not address nor even consider female suffrage. The Constitution gave that right only to men. It also did not address key issues like legal equality in marriage, the right for a woman to divorce her spouse, or a woman’s right to property. So she created a document that was to be, in her opinion, the missing part of the Constitution of 1791, in which women would be given the equal rights they deserve. Throughout the document, it is apparent to the reader that Gouges had been influenced by the Enlightenment way of thinking and critically examined and criticized the traditional morals and institutions of the day, using “scientific reasoning.”

Gouges opens up her Declaration with a witty, and at times sarcastically bitter, introduction in which she demands of men why they have chosen to subjugate women as a lesser sex. Her opening statement put rather bluntly: “Man, are you capable of being just? It is a woman who poses the question; you will not deprive her of that right at least.” Read more...

Recent events in France

July 27 - Carlos Sastre wins 2008 Tour de France
The Spanish cyclist Carlos Sastre won the 2008 Tour de France. Sastre is the third consecutive Spanish rider to win the Tour. Full story: NYTimes BBC CNN

July 5 - 2008 Tour de France begins
The 2008 Tour de France began on July 5 and will run through the 27th. This year's Tour differs from previous years' in significant ways. For the first time since 1967, the Tour will begin without a prologue time trial. Tour organizers have also decided to eliminate time bonuses. Full story: NYTimes Telegraph

July 1 - France takes over EU presidency
France began its six-month European Union presidency got on July 1. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said that the EU needs profound changes following Ireland's rejection of a key reform treaty. Full story: Canada.com Deutsche Welle AP

June 17 - French workers go on strike to protest reforms
French workers went on strike on Tuesday to protest reforms to the pension system and the 35-hour work week. Full story: Reuters

June 16 - France will rejoin NATO military command
French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed that France will rejoin NATO's military command. While France has been a member of the 26-member alliance, participating fully in all political decision-making bodies, it has been not part of the integrated command structure since 1966. Full story: NYTimes AP

June 1 - Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died today at age 71 in Paris, following a long illness. Full Story: AFP AP BBC

Did you know ... (Archive)

• ...that the marriage of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson took place at Château de Candé?
• ...that a replica of the château from the Bordeaux wine estate Château Beauregard was constructed for the Guggenheim family on Long Island, New York?
• ...that Haulotte Group are the third-biggest manufacturer of aerial work platforms (pictured) in the world?
• ...that the Bordeaux wine estate Château Beau-Séjour-Bécot was demoted in the Saint-Émilion classification amidst controversy, only to be later re-instated?

• ...that many of the viaducts (pictured) on the Chemin de Fer de Côtes du Nord were two-tiered structures, and that the Viaduc de Souzain had a railway junction on the viaduct itself?
• ...that the final section of the Chemins de Fer du Calvados was closed by damage from the 1944 D-Day invasion?

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