378 FRANCE Limoges, and Grenoble (two divisions having no assigned headquarters in 1872). No other country possesses so many fortresses as France. After an imperial decree of June 26, 1867, had stricken 98 fortified places from the list of for- tresses, there still remained 119 ; these are divided into 8 of the first class, 13 of the second, 23 of the third, and 75 of the fourth. The most important are the following: 1, along the N. frontier, Lille, Douai, Cond6, Valenciennes, Maubeuge, Givet, Mezieres, Sedan, Longwy ; 2, along the E. frontier, Belfort, Besancon, Fort de Joux, Lyons, Gre- noble, Briancon ; 3, along the Mediterranean coast, Antibes, Toulon, Marseilles, Oette, Fort St. Elme, Port Vendres; 4, along the Pyrenees, Bellegarde, Mont Louis, Perpignan, Bayonne ; 5, along the W. and N. coasts, the islands of Oleron, R6, Noirmoutiers, Belle-Isle and Groix, Rochefort, La Rochelle, Lorient, Brest, St. Malo, Mont St. Michel, Cherbourg, Havre, Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk. The govern- ment has cannon founderies at Douai and Toulouse, and factories of gunpowder, muskets, cannon balls, &c. Its military arsenals and warehouses are very numerous. The French navy at the end of 1871 was composed of 62 iron-clad vessels, 264 screw steamers with- out armor, 62 paddle-wheel steamers, and 113 sailing vessels ; in all, 501 vessels, the steamers with a total of 96,627 horse power, and the whole fleet carrying 3,045 guns. The naval staff consisted of 2 admirals, 18 vice admirals, 32 rear admirals, 132 ship captains, 290 frigate captains, 829 lieutenants, and 610 ensigns. The sailors, afloat and ashore, numbered 39,- 500. The grand total of men in the service of the fleet, including engineers, dockyard labor- ers, and others, was 74,000. On a war foot- ing the strength of the navy can be raised to 130,000 men. There are boards of marine engineers, of hydrographical engineers, of in- spectors, &c. Naval schools, and several schools of application, for the education and scientific improvement of the officers, and even the seamen, are connected with the navy de- partment. A board of admiralty, another su- perintending the naval works, and a third attending to the improvement of instruction among the sailors, act as advisers to the min- ister of marine. The maritime territory of France is divided into five districts or pre- fectures, subdivided into arrondissements and quarters. The naval prefects reside at Cher- bourg, Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Toulon, and under them officers, called heads of ser- vice, commissaries, and under - commissaries, are placed in the several subdivisions. France could once boast of the extent of her colonial possessions in America, and also for a while in Asia. She has lost the greater part of them, and possesses now only the following : 1, in Africa, Algeria on the N. coast, several islands, seaports, and military posts on the banks of the river Senegal, the island of Goree on the coast of Senegambia, S. of Cape Verd, Reunion (formerly Bourbon island), S. E. of that con- tinent, in the Indian ocean, and the islands of Mayotte, Nossi-Be", and Ste. Marie, near Mada- gascar ; 2, in Asia, the districts of Pondicherry, Karikal, Chandernagore, Yanaon, and Mahe" in Hindostan, and six provinces of Cochin China ; 3, near the coast of North America, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon ; 4, in the Carib- bean sea, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie- Ga- lante, Les Saintes, DSsirade, and one half of St. Martin island ; 5, in South America, French Guiana, or Cayenne; 6, in the Pacific ocean, the Marquesas islands, or Mendana archipelago, the Loyalty islands, and New Caledonia. Ta- hiti and dependencies, the Touamotou islands, the Gambier islands, Toubouai', and Vavitou, all in Polynesia, and Cambodia in Further India, are under French protection. The pop- ulation of Algeria in 1872 was 2,414,218 ; the aggregate population of the other French col- onies amounted in 1872 to about 2,300,000 ; that of the protected countries to 1,024,000. The aggregate area of the colonies was esti- mated at 422,000 sq. m. ; that of the protected countries at 35,500 sq. m. France, which comprises the largest part of the country known in ancient times as Gallia Transalpina (see GAUL), owes its name to the Franks, one of those confederations of German tribes that invaded and dismembered the Roman empire during the period between the 3d century and the end of the 5th. They were probably in- habitants of the country about the lower Rhine, united with those living near the mouth of the Weser. Crossing the former river, they settled in the northern part of Bel- gium under various chiefs, and, after a long and violent struggle with the Romans through several centuries, during which they were often completely driven back, successful conquest brought them gradually to the. banks of the Somme. Meanwhile other hordes of barba- rians had taken possession of several other provinces of Gaul ; the Burgundians had peacefully shared the eastern part of this country with the Gallo-Romans, while the Visigoths, already masters of nearly the whole of the Spanish peninsula, extended their mil- itary rule over the population of Aquitania. The cities of Armorica had formed themselves into a confederation, and the central part of Gaul from the Somme to the Loire was alone held by the Romans. Such was the condition of the country about 481, when Khlodwig or Clovis, a young man, supposed to have been the grandson of Meroveus, from whom the Merovingian dynasty took its name, succeeded to the rulership over the Frankish tribe living in and around the city of Tournay. In 486 this king invaded the Roman province, conquered the governor, Syagrius, at Soissons, and thus secured to himself the possession of the whole country to the Loire. Ten years later, after forcing back to Germany some rival tribes which had crossed the Rhine in the hope of dividing the spoils with the Franks, Clovis,
