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France, officially theFrench Republic, is a country primarily located inWestern Europe.Its overseas regions and territories includeFrench Guiana in South America,Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, theFrench West Indies, andmany islands inOceania and theIndian Ocean, giving itthe largest discontiguous exclusive economic zone in the world.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 the Atlantic 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) and havean estimated total population of over 68.6 million as of January 2025[update]. France is asemi-presidential republic. 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 centuryFrench 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 part of continental Europe and establishing theFirst French Empire. Its collapse initiated a period of relative decline in 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, with 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 in 1940. Followingits liberation in 1944, the short-livedFourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the defeat in theAlgerian War. The currentFifth Republic 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 ofUNESCO World Heritage Sites and is theworld's leading tourist destination, having received 100 million foreignvisitors in 2023. Adeveloped country, France has ahigh nominal per capita income globally, andits economy ranks among the largest in the world by bothnominal 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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Catherine de' Medici (Italian:Caterina de' Medici,pronounced[kateˈriːnadeˈmɛːditʃi]; French:Catherine de Médicis,pronounced[katʁindəmedisis]; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an ItalianFlorentine noblewoman of theMedici family andQueen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage toKing Henry II. She was the mother of French kingsFrancis II,Charles IX, andHenry III, and a cousin toPope Clement VII. The years during which her sons reigned have been called "the age of Catherine de' Medici" since she had extensive, albeit at times varying, influence on the political life of France.
Catherine was born in Florence toLorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, and his wife,Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine married Henry, the second son of KingFrancis I and QueenClaude of France, who would becomeDauphin of France (heir to the throne) upon the death of his elder brotherFrancis in 1536. Catherine's marriage was arranged by Clement VII. Henry largely excluded Catherine from state affairs during his reign, instead showering favours on his chief mistress,Diane de Poitiers, who wielded significant influence in the court. Henry's sudden accidental death in 1559 thrust Catherine into the political arena as mother of the frail 15-year-old Francis II. When Francis II died the next year, she became regent on behalf of her 10-year-old son Charles IX and thus gained sweeping powers. After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III. He dispensed with her advice only in the last months of her life but outlived her by just seven months. (Full article...)
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Lemoine is best known for his proof of the existence of theLemoine point (or the symmedian point) of atriangle. Other mathematical work includes a system he calledGéométrographie and a method which relatedalgebraic expressions to geometric objects. He has been called a co-founder of modern triangle geometry, as many of its characteristics are present in his work.
For most of his life, Lemoine was a professor of mathematics at the École Polytechnique. In later years, he worked as a civil engineer inParis, and he also took an amateur's interest inmusic. During his tenure at the École Polytechnique and as a civil engineer, Lemoine published severalpapers on mathematics, most of which are included in a fourteen-page section inNathan Altshiller Court'sCollege Geometry. Additionally, he founded a mathematicaljournal titled,L'intermédiaire des mathématiciens.
Acroque monsieur (French pronunciation:[kʁɔkməsjø],croque = "crunch",monsieur = "mister, gentleman") is a hotsandwich made withham andcheese. (Full article...)
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Ouvrage La Ferté, also known asOuvrage Villy-La Ferté, is apetitouvrage of theMaginot Line, located in theFortified Sector of Montmédy, facingBelgium. Theouvrage lies between the towns ofVilly andLa Ferté-sur-Chiers. It possesses two combat blocks linked by an underground gallery. The westernmost position in its sector, it was a comparatively weakly armed fortification in an exposed position that left it vulnerable to isolation and attack. After a sustained attack during theBattle of France, the position was overwhelmed by German forces and was destroyed with its entire garrison killed. The fighting at La Ferté was the heaviest of any position in the Maginot Line. It is preserved as a war memorial. (Full article...)
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