PRANCE
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FRANCE
of the Rhone and Languedoc and the plains of the Rouergue, dreary, cold and high, where only rye grows and flocks of sheep find rich grazing-grounds. Central France is the highest part of this tableland, a region of granite, gneisses and slates, with many extinct volcanic cones surrounded by wide sheets of lava. Puy-de-Saucy, 6,188 feet, is the highest peak of the Auvergne Mountains in central France. Besides the Cevennes, the mountain-ranges include the Pyrenees, the Vosges, the Jura and the Alps. The Pyrenees separate France from Spain, extending 260 miles, the highest peak, Ne"thou, being 11,168 feet high. The passes across the Pyrenees are few, lofty and difficult, the lowest being 6,700 feet high, so that railroads hug the seacoasts or stop at the foot of the mountains. The Vosges and Jura Mountains and the Alps are on the eastern border. Since 1860, with the annexation of Savoy, the northern slopes of Mont Blanc, the highest and most beautiful mountain in Europe, are in French territory. The passes of Mont Cenis and Mont Genevre lead into Italy, as does also the famous Mont Cenis tunnel. The largest rivers are the Loire, 670 miles long, the Garonne (346), Dordogne (305), the Seine (485), and the Rhone (507). The island of Corsica is the only large island on the French coast belonging to France.
Political Divisions — Cities. France is divided into eighty-seven provinces or departments. The principal cities are Paris (2,888,110); Lyons (523,796); Marseilles (550,619); Bordeaux (261,678); Lille (217,-804); Toulouse (149,576); Nantes (170,535); St. Etienne (148,656); Le Havre (136,159); and Rouen (124,987).
History. The earliest historian of France was Julius Caesar, who invaded and conquered it in 58 B. C. It was then called Gaul, and the people were mainly Celts. It covered not only France, but Belgium and parts of Switzerland and Germany. At the time of Caesar's invasion the Gauls had towns and fortifications, knew the arts of embroidery and working metals, and had made improvements in agricultural implements; but they were a rough, savage people, their females slaves, their prisoners barbarously treated and their religion idolatry, with the sacrifice of human victims. After Gaul became a part of the Roman empire, it was gradually civilized and in the second century A. D. it was the most populous of the Roman provinces. The Roman power yielded to that of the Franks, a Germanic tribe, under Clovis in 481. Paris was his capital. This first dynasty was called the Merovingian. Under Charlemagne, the second ruler of the second dynasty, called Carlovingian, which began in 751, France was raised to a high position in western Europe. The real founder of the French monarchy, as distinct from the
Frankish kingdom of Charlemagne, was Hugh Capet, count of Paris and Orleans, who was made king by the feudal chiefs in 987. The Norsemen, however, had already seized what now is Normandy, and in the i2th and i3th centuries their Anglo-Norman descendants owned far the greater part of France. For many years the kings of England laid claim to the crown of France. Hence the enmity between the two countries; the crusades and the Crimean war being the only instances of a military union between them. Normandy, Maine, Touraine and Poitou were taken back from France (1180-1223). With Philip VI (1328-50) came the house of Valois, which succeeded to the throne by the Salic law, which had come down from the Franks and excluded women from royal power. From 1339 to 1422 France suffered from the long though intermittent struggle with England, in which took place the battles of Cre"cy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agin-court (1415). Louis XII, the Father of His People, and Francis I wasted the resources of the country in fruitless efforts to establish their claims on Lombardy. Francis I in his wars with Charles V secured Burgundy (1544), and Henry II recovered Calais. Under Francis II the Catholic house of Guise became powerful; while the reform movement was headed by their opponents, the house of Bourbon. The massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572) ttnder Charles IX did much to weaken France.
Henry IV of Navarre (1589-1610), the first of the Bourbon princes, was succeeded by Louis XIII, who, influenced by Richelieu, sided with the Protestant princes in the Thirty Years' War, and he by Louis XIV (1643-1715), in whose reign the French monarchy reached its highest point of luxury and power. He extended the borders of France to the Rhine, and art, literature and science flourished to a degree unknown before; but the revocation of the edict of Nantes (1598) sent 400,000 of its best citizens from France. In the reign of Louis XV Corsica was added to France, but by the peace of Paris (1763) the larger part of the French colonies was yielded to England. Louis XVI, a well-meaning but weak prince, succeeded to a weakened throne. The spirit of the time, the success of the American War of Independence, the sufferings of the people and the oppressions of the nobles all united in the Revolution which broke out in 1789. In January, 1793, the king was beheaded; a reaction set in; and the people, wearied of bloodshed, were anxious for peace, and a general amnesty was declared in 1795. The state was governed by three consuls, Napoleon Bonaparte being the first, after the directory, to fill that office. At the head of the French army he gained the battle
