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France, officially theFrench Republic, is a country primarily located inWestern Europe.Its overseas regions and territories includeFrench Guiana inSouth America,Saint Pierre and Miquelon in theNorth Atlantic, theFrench West Indies, andmany islands inOceania and theIndian Ocean.Metropolitan France shares borders withBelgium andLuxembourg to the north;Germany to the northeast;Switzerland to the east;Italy andMonaco to the southeast;Andorra andSpain to the south; and a maritime border with theUnited Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from theRhine to theAtlantic Ocean and from theMediterranean Sea to theEnglish Channel and theNorth Sea. Its 18integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of 632,702 km2 (244,288 sq mi), witha total population estimated at 69.1 million in 2026. Its capital,largest city and main cultural and economic centre isParis.
Metropolitan France was settled during theIron Age byCeltic tribes known asGauls beforeRome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinctGallo-Roman culture. In theEarly Middle Ages, theFranks formed the kingdom ofFrancia, which became the heartland of theCarolingian Empire. TheTreaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, withWest Francia evolving into theKingdom of France. In theHigh Middle Ages, France was a powerful but decentralisedfeudal kingdom, but from the mid-14th to the mid-15th centuries, France was plunged into a dynastic conflict withEngland known as theHundred Years' War. In the 16th century,French culture flourished during theFrench Renaissance, and aFrench colonial empire emerged. Internally, France was dominated by the conflict with theHouse of Habsburg and theFrench Wars of Religion betweenCatholics andHuguenots. France was successful in theThirty Years' War and further increased its influence during the reign ofLouis XIV.
TheFrench Revolution of 1789 overthrew theAncien Régime and produced theDeclaration of the Rights of Man, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century underNapoleon Bonaparte, subjugating much of continental Europe and establishing theFirst French Empire. Its collapse initiated a period of relative decline during which France endured theBourbon Restoration until the founding of theFrench Second Republic, which was succeeded by theSecond French Empire uponNapoleon III's takeover. His empire collapsed during theFranco-Prussian War in 1870. This led to the establishment of theFrench Third Republic, and a period of economic prosperity and cultural and scientific flourishing known as theBelle Époque. France was one of themajor participants ofWorld War I, from whichit emerged victorious at great human and economic cost. It was among theAllies of World War II, but it surrendered andwas occupied byGermany in 1940. Followingits liberation in 1944, the short-livedFourth Republic was established and later dissolved over the course of theAlgerian War. The currentFifth Republic, asemi-presidential system, was formed in 1958 byCharles de Gaulle.Algeria and most French colonies became independent in the 1960s, with the majority retainingclose economic and military ties with France.
France retains its centuries-long status as a global centreof art,science, andphilosophy. It hosts thefourth-largest number of UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, with54 in total, and is theworld's leading tourist destination, having received over 100 million foreignvisitors in 2024. Adeveloped country, France has ahigh nominal per capita income globally, andits economy ranks among the largest in the worldby both nominal GDP andPPP-adjusted GDP. It is agreat power, being one of the fivepermanent members of the United Nations Security Council and an officialnuclear-weapon state. The country is part ofmultiple international organisations and forums. (Full article...)
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Les pêcheurs de perles (French pronunciation:[lepɛʃœʁdəpɛʁl],The Pearl Fishers) is an opera in three acts by the French composerGeorges Bizet, to alibretto byEugène Cormon andMichel Carré. It was premiered on 30 September 1863 at theThéâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run. Set in ancient times on the island ofCeylon (Sri Lanka), the opera tells the story of how two men's vow of eternal friendship is threatened by their love for the same woman, whose own dilemma is the conflict between secular love and her sacred oath as a priestess. The friendship duet "Au fond du temple saint", generally known as "The Pearl Fishers Duet", is one of the best-known in Western opera.
At the time of the premiere, Bizet (born on 25 October 1838) was not yet 25 years old: he had yet to establish himself in the Parisian musical world. The commission to writeLes pêcheurs arose from his standing as a former winner of the prestigiousPrix de Rome. Despite a good reception by the public, press reactions to the work were generally hostile and dismissive, although other composers, notablyHector Berlioz, found considerable merit in the music. The opera was not revived in Bizet's lifetime, but from 1886 onwards it was performed with some regularity in Europe and North America, and from the mid-20th century has entered the repertory of opera houses worldwide. Because the autograph score waslost, post-1886 productions were based on amended versions of the score that contained significant departures from the original. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to reconstruct the score in accordance with Bizet's intentions. (Full article...)
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Fauré was born into a cultured but not particularly musical family. His talent became clear when he was a small boy. At the age of nine, he was sent to a music college in Paris, where he was trained to be a church organist and choirmaster. Among his teachers wasCamille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. After graduating from the college in 1865, Fauré earned a modest living as an organist and teacher, leaving him little time for composition. When he became successful in his middle age, holding the important posts of organist of theÉglise de la Madeleine and director of theParis Conservatoire, he still lacked time for composing; he retreated to the countryside in the summer holidays to concentrate on composition. By his last years, Fauré was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his day. An unprecedented national musical tribute was held for him in Paris in 1922, headed by the president of theFrench Republic. Outside France, Fauré's music took decades to become widely accepted, except in Britain, where he had many admirers during his lifetime.
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Around the world, many restaurants featuringsteak dishes use the wordentrecôte as their name or part of their name. In particular, the nameL'Entrecôte has come to identify three groups of restaurants owned by two sisters and one brother of the Gineste de Saurs family, which specialize in thecontre-filet cut of sirloin and serve it in the typical Frenchbistro style ofsteak-frites, or steak andFrench fries:
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Louis Braille (/breɪl/brayl;French:[lwibʁɑj]; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him,braille, intended for use byvisually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.
Braille was blinded in one eye at the age of three. This occurred as a result from an accident with astitching awl in his father'sharness-making shop. Consequently, an infection set in and spread to both eyes, resulting in total blindness. At that time, there were not many resources in place for the blind, but he nevertheless excelled in his education and received a scholarship to France'sRoyal Institute for Blind Youth. While still a student there, he began developing a system oftactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently. Inspired bya system invented byCharles Barbier, Braille's new method was more compact and lent itself to a range of uses, including music. He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824, when he was fifteen years old. (Full article...)
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