FRANCE 



3289 



France. Arms 

 of the Republic 



FRANCE: ITS HISTORY AND CULTURE 



HAMILTON FYFE, W. H. HUDSON and F. J. MACLEAN 



The various sections of this article are each supplemented by shorter entries, e.g. those on the cities, towns, and 



rivers of France, those on the kings and statesmen, and those on its artists and men of letters. See also 



Franks; French Revolution; Hundred Years' War; Architecture; Furniture 



through the provinces which more 

 than any other contributed to the 

 formation and development of the 

 French nation, the country of 

 Touraine. Its course continues 

 amid fertile fields and orchards as 

 far as Nantes, where the estuary 

 begins and carries it out to the 

 ocean. Next in length comes the 

 Rh6ne (507 m.), which flows from 

 St. Gotthard range in Switzerland 

 down into the Lake of Geneva. At 

 Lyons it receives the Saone and 

 then flows due S. in a delightful 

 valley through vineyards, until it 

 becomes sandy and shallow, and 

 with a number of smaller streams 

 makes the wide delta which gives 

 its name to the dept. of Bouches- 

 du-Rhone. 



Seine, Garonne, and Somme 



The Seine rises in the E. of 

 France and takes its course of 

 485 m. almost entirely through 

 plains. It is, therefore, sinuous, but 

 otherwise excellent for navigation. 

 From Havre, where it runs into 

 the sea, up to Paris, there is a large 

 traffic. Rouen owes its importance 

 to the Seine. Fourth among the 

 great rivers comes the Garonne 

 (378 m.), which is joined by the 

 Dordogne near the ocean, the two 

 forming the estuary of the Gironde. 

 Here are the vineyards which pro- 

 duce the famous Bordeaux wines, 

 most of them in the Medoc region. 

 The Somme and the Marne are 

 both in the Seine basin, though 

 the former has its own outlet to the 

 sea not far from Abbeville. 



Except for the lakes of Geneva, 

 Bourget, and Annecy, France has 

 no large inland bodies of water. 

 Her sea coasts, on the other hand, 

 are of great length and value. 

 Along the Mediterranean she has 

 made of the C6te d'Azur a winter 

 holiday ground for the people of 

 all nations. On the Channel coast, 

 in Brittany, and that part of Nor- 

 mandy which fronts the Atlantic, 

 there are numerous plages ( beaches), 

 which in summer are thronged by 

 visitors. 



Various parts of the coast of 

 France support fishing industries 

 of considerable importance. The 

 chief fishing ports are S. Malo, 

 Boulogne, Fecamp, Groix, and La 

 Rochelle ; among the lesser, Paim- 

 pol, Dieppe, Douarnenez, Lorient, 

 Yeu, Dunkirk, and Arcachon. 

 From the ports of the Nord, Pas- 

 de-Calais, Somme, and Seine- 

 Inf erieure, mackerel are sought ; 

 from those of the Atlantic sea- 



France is a country of vast 

 plains, for the most part of great 

 fertility ; of high, inhospitable 

 plateaux; of 

 noble rivers ; and 

 of mountain 

 ranges which 

 serve as land 

 frontiers. Its 

 area is 212,659 

 sq. m., including 

 the territories re- 

 stored as a result 

 of the Great War. 



The districts of Lower Alsace, 

 Upper Alsace, and Lorraine are 

 now the depts. of Bas-Rhin (area 

 1,848 sq. m.), Haut-Rhin (1,354 

 sq. m.), and Moselle (2,403 sq. m.). 

 With the English Channel on the 

 N., the Atlantic on the W., and the 

 Mediterranean washing the E. half 

 of its southern side, the country- 

 is well provided with harbours. 

 The ports of greatest commercial 

 importance are Havre, at the 

 mouth of the Seine, Brest, St. 

 Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire, 

 La Rochelle, Bordeaux, on the Gar- 

 onne above the estuary of the 

 Gironde, Marseilles, at the mouth 

 of the Rhone, and Toulon. 



The mountain ranges which di- 

 vide France from Switzerland, Italy 

 and Spain are the Jura, the Alps, 

 and the Pyrenees. The Vosges, 

 which, until the restoration of 

 Alsace and Lorraine, served as fron- 

 tier between France and the Ger- 

 man Empire, are not high. At the 

 S. end of the Vosges is the Trouee 

 de Belf ort, through which invaders 

 have passed many times. It is 

 literally a " hole " between the 

 Vosges and the Jura ; through it 

 runs a canal connecting the Saone 

 with the Rhine, also the rly. into 

 Germany and Switzerland. 



The Jura and Alps 



The Jura forms an extensive 

 limestone plateau, well populated 

 and productive. The hills, of no 

 great height, are wooded, and the 

 sheltered valleys between them are 

 both cultivated and valuable for 

 cattle-raising. 



S. of the Jura begin the Alps, 

 with Mont Blanc as the first of the 

 giants ; its northern approaches 

 have been on French territory since 

 Savoy was taken by France from 

 Italy in 1860. Extending S. from 

 Savoy, the Alps run almost to the 

 sea behind Cannes and Nice, while 

 in a W. direction they become the 

 Alps of Provence, and stretch 

 nearly to the Rhone. Around the 



France. Flag 

 of the Republic 



Gulf of the Lion, often incorrectly 

 called the Gulf of Lyons, which 

 takes its name from the likeness of 

 its shape to a lion asleep, there is 

 flat land for some distance inland ; 

 but at the extreme S.W. point of 

 the gulf the Pyrenees begin. 



On French soil the Pyrenees run 

 eastward for 230 m., several of the 

 peaks reaching heights of nearly 

 10,000 ft. Without the grandeur 

 of the Alps, lacking vast glaciers 

 and fields of eternal snow, they are 

 preferred by most French people, 

 and holiday resorts, such as Lu- 

 chon and Cauterets, are full all 

 summer and autumn. Pau, whence 

 the best view of the chain of the 

 Pyrenees is obtained, is more fre- 

 quented by English visitors. No 

 rly. cuts the Pyrenees, owing to 

 the height of the passes. The 

 lines run by the Gulf of the Lion at 

 one end and along the Atlantic 

 coast at the other. In many parts 

 of the Pyrenees 

 the inhabitants 

 are almost a s 

 much Spanish as 

 French. 



Thus, if France 

 be regarded as a 

 rough square, it 

 is seen to have 



mountains on its E. and S. sides, 

 while on the W. and N. its frontier 

 is the sea. There is, however, 

 another French mountain system 

 independent of the others, and 

 separated from them by later geo- 

 graphical formations. This in- 

 cludes the high central plateaux, 

 somewhat to the S. of the exact 

 centre of the country ; it consists 

 of the Cevennes mountains, those 

 of Auvergne (the Margeride), the 

 Monts Dore, the Puy-de-D6me, 

 and the Gausses, which, although 

 barren and monotonous, reveal the 

 most picturesque valleys of the 

 entire region. In general, it is hard 

 to cultivate successfully. The win- 

 ters are long and cold, pasturage is 

 poor, and most of the forests have 

 disappeared. There are ranges of 

 hills in Brittany and Normandy, 

 there are the French Ardennes to- 

 wards the Belgian frontier, but 

 nothing in the N. or W. can be 

 called a mountain. 



Of the rivers the Loire is the 

 longest (650 m.). Rising on Mont 

 Gerbier-de-Jonc, in the dept. of 

 Ardeche, for a long distance it 

 flows through the rocky defiles of 

 the central plateau. Then, joined 

 by the Allier, it sweeps onwards 



