Country Name
France, or officially The French Republic.
Location
France is a country located in western Europe, it consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories.*
The metropolitan area of France extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic
Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and
The North Sea. It borders Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland, Monaco, and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south.
The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and
several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
*French Guiana is located in South America; Guadeloupe and Martinique are in the Caribbean Sea; and Réunion and Mayotte are in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa. All five are considered integral parts of the French Republic. France also comprises Saint Pierre and Miquelon in North America; Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin in the Caribbean; French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and Clipperton Island in the Pacific Ocean; and finally the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Capital
Paris.
Reason for Naming the country
The name "France" comes from the Latin Francia, or "country of the Franks".
It is a Germanic people who came from the north to settle in France, this term was used after the fall of Rome until the Middle Ages and refers to the country where France is currently.
The coronation of King Hugh Capet of the Franks was referred to as the Kingdom of Francia, then officially France in the reign of Philip August and still known to France today.
Flag
The Flag of France was adopted in 1830 and the current flag was adopted in June 1976.
The French flag consists of three equal-sized vertical stripes in blue, white, and red. It is known as the French Tricolor and is used as the national flag.
The blue stripe represents Saint Martin, while the red stripe represents
Saint-Denis. These two colors have long been the traditional national colors and have been used on many of the previous versions of the national flag.
France’s government website states that white represents kind and
the blue and red stripes are representative of the colors of Paris.
The colors blue and red also have ties to the patroness of France, the Virgin Mary.
The colors red, white, and blue signify freedom, equality, and
fraternity, which was the core of the French Revolution.
Language
The official language of France is French, a Romance language derived from Latin. France is the second-largest Francophone* country in the world. After the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most people speak French as an original language living in France because it is the place where the language originated. The rest is distributed in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco; And some French-speaking African countries.
Over 25 regional languages are spoken throughout Metropolitan France and some of these are spoken in neighboring countries such as Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Belgium. The regional languages of France are divided into 5 language family subgroups: Vasconic, Italo-Dalmatian, Gallo-Romance, Germanic, and Celtic.
Besides the large number of regional languages spoken in France, a wide variety of immigrant languages have also become an important part of daily life in the country. The most widely spoken immigrant languages in France include English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Maghrebi Arabic, Berber, and Vietnamese.
* Francophone is an international organization of French-speaking countries (as an official language or a common language)
Religion
France is a secular country, and freedom of religion is a constitutional right.
France is predominantly Christian, and it is considered a Christian nation, the majority of its population follows Catholic Christianity with 83% of all Christians while 14% are Protestants and the rest are Jews, Lutherans, and Reformed Catholics.
the second category after Christianity does not follow a religion,
Islam is the second most practiced religion in France, although wearing the niqab is allowed in most countries, France forbids the wearing of the hiding veils in public places as a measure for controlling insecurity since it hides one’s identity.
The majority of the Muslims in France participate in Islamic religious practices just like in other countries as prayers and fasting during Ramadan.
Currency
Euro.
Time Zone
+01:00 GMT.
+02:00 GMT (Summer Time)
France, including its overseas territories, has the most time zones of any country, with a total of 12.
(-03:00) : (-10:00) GMT
(+03:00) : (+12:00) GMT
Government Regime
A unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
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