FRANCE, OFFICIALLY THE (FRENCH REPUBLIC), IS A SOVEREIGN TRANSCONTINENTAL STATE
COMPRISING TERRITORY IN WESTERN EUROPE AND SEVERAL OVERSEAS REGIONS AND
TERRITORIES. FRANCE SPANS 643,801 SQUARE KILOMETRES AND HAS A TOTAL POPULATION
OF 66.7 MILLION PEOPLE. PARIS IS THE CAPITAL AND THE MOST POPULOUS CITY OF FRANCE.
IT HAS AN AREA OF 105 SQUARE KILOMETRES AND A POPULATION 2.2 MILLION PEOPLE.
Here’s 10 intersting facts about France
1. France is the world's most popular
tourist destination – 83.7 million
visitors arrived in France, according to
the World Tourism Organisation report
published in 2014, making it the world's
most-visited country.
2. France is the largest country in the EU, and
known as 'the hexagon' – with an area of
551,000 sq km it's almost a fifth of the EU’s
total area, and due to its six-sided shape
France is sometimes referred to as l’hexagone.
About a quarter is covered by forest; only
Sweden and Finland have more.
3. The French Army was the first to use
camouflage in 1915 (World War I) – the
word camouflage came from the French
verb ‘to make up for the stage’. Guns and
vehicles were painted by artists called
camofleurs.
4. The first public screening of a movie was by
French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière on 28
December 1895 – they used their invention the
cinématographe to show 10 films of about 50
seconds each at the Salon Indien du Grand Café in
Paris. They made many more films but predicted
that ‘cinema is an invention without any future’.
5. In France you can marry a dead person –
under French law, in exceptional cases you
can marry posthumously, as long as you can
also prove that the deceased had the
intention of marrying while alive and you
receive permission from the French
president.
6. A French woman is the world’s oldest ever human – she lived to
an incredible 122 years and 164 days, according to the Guinness
Book of World Records. Jeanne Louise Calment was born on 21
February 1875 and died on 4 August 1997. She lived through the
opening of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, two World Wars and the
development of television, the modern motor car and aeroplanes.
Her compatriots generally live long longer than most other
nationalities: France is rated sixth in the OECD for life expectancy
at birth at 82 years: 85 years for women and 79 for men.
Eiffel tower
7. The world’s greatest cycle race, the Tour de France,
has been around for more than 100 years – with the
first event held on 1 July 1903. Every July, cyclists race
some 3,200km (2,000 miles) primarily around France
in a series of stages over 23 days, with the fastest cyclist
at each stage wearing the famous yellow jersey.
Plane prototype
World war 2
8. The parachute, the hot air balloon, the
motion picture camera, the bicycle and
inflatable tires for cars are all French
inventions. The French are obviously very
intelligent people!
9. In France, it is illegal to name a pig “Napoleon.”
10. Between 1814 and 1830, the French
flag was plain white (no color, just
white).