20 Things that Make France very Proud

          Often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of its geometric shape, this largest west-European country has been historically and culturally significant in the whole world. The following are 20 things French people are very proud of.

 

 

1. French culture has profoundly influenced the Western world. From the 17th century to the mid 20th century, the French language served as the pre-eminent international language of diplomacy and international affairs as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe.

 

2. In January 2010, the international newsletter International Living ranked France as "best country to live in", according to a survey which took into account 9 criteria of quality of life: cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, infrastructure, safety and risk, climate, environment, freedom, and health.

 

3. Its cuisine which is renowned for being one of the finest in the world is also being considered as one of the reasons why the French have the reputation of being one of the thinnest people in developed countries. French people have also one of the world's highest life expectancies (77 years for men and 84 years for women).

 

4. It is the most visited country in the world, receiving 82 million foreign tourists annually. The country is home to the most popular tourist sites which include the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Palace of Versailles, Musée d'Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, Centre Pompidou, Mont-Saint-Michel, Château de Chambord, Sainte-Chapelle, Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, Puy de Dôme, Musée Picasso, and Carcassonne.

 

5. France features cities of high cultural interest, beaches and seaside resorts, ski resorts, and rural regions that many enjoy for their beauty and tranquillity (green tourism). Small and picturesque French villages of quality heritage (such as Collonges-la-Rouge or Locronan) are promoted through the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (litt. "The Most Beautiful Villages of France"). The "Remarkable Gardens" label is a list of the over two hundred gardens classified by the French Ministry of Culture. France also attracts many religious pilgrims on their way to St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts a few million visitors a year.

 

6. With an estimated population of 65.8 million people (as of 1 Jan. 2011), France is the 20th most populous country in the world. And yet, France is the wealthiest European (and the world's 4th) nation in aggregate household wealth. The French are among the healthiest, wealthiest, and best-educated people in the world.

 

7. French fashion styles, like those advanced by Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Coco Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, are admired and imitated throughout the world.Modern "haute couture" originated in Paris in the 1860s. Today, Paris, along with London, Milan, and New York City, is considered one of the world's fashion capitals, and the city is home or headquarters to many of the premier fashion houses. The expression Haute couture is, in France, a legally protected name, guaranteeing certain quality standards.

 

8. The list of world-renowned French cultural, political, and scientific figures is almost endless which includes Napoléon Bonaparte, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Rene Descartes, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Honoré de Balzac, Claude Monet, Claude-Achille Debussy, Marie and Pierre Curie, Louis Pasteur, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, Alexandre Dumas, and Rene Descartes (Read: Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method of Philosophy)

 

France has a long reputation for excellence in cuisine, and French fashion styles, like those advanced by Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Coco Chanel, and Louis Vuitton, are admired and imitated throughout the world.

 

9. A comprehensive social welfare system is in place, and the French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997and then again in 2000. Care is generally free for people affected by chronic diseases (Affections de longues durées) such as cancer, AIDS or Cystic Fibrosis.

 

10. The world's third biggest exporter of agricultural products, France is the European Union’s most important agricultural nation—shipping cereals, wine, cheese, and other agricultural products to the rest of Europe and the world.

 

11. France is also the second most wooded country of the European Union. French forests are also some of the most diversified of Europe, with more than 140 differents varieties of trees. There are 9 national parks and 46 natural parks in France.

 

12. In 2010, a study at Yale and Columbia universities ranked France the most environmentally conscious nation of the G20(‘Group of Twenty’, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 major economies). Although France is one of the most industrialised and developed countries, it is ranked only seventeenth by carbon dioxide emissions.

 

13. Since the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, France is often nicknamed as "the country of Human Rights".

 

14. Metropolitan France covers 547,030 square kilometres (211,209 sq mi), having the largest area among European Union members. It is the largest west-European country and it possesses the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States

 

15. Gothic Architecture's old name was French Architecture (or Opus Francigenum). The term “Gothic” appeared later as a stylistic insult and was widely adopted. The Gothic Architecture was the first French style of Architecture to be copied in all Europe. Northern France is the home of some of the most important Gothic cathedrals and basilicas, the first of these being the Saint Denis Basilica (used as the royal necropolis)

 

16. Impressionism, an innovative painting movement in the late 19th century, originated in France.

 

17. It is two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the Lumiere Brothers) who created the cinema in 1895.More recently, in 2006, France produced more films than any other European country.Cannes Festival is one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world.

 

18. France counts a large number of decorated caves from the upper Paleolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved: Lascaux (Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC).

 

19. Much of the Enlightenment occurred in French intellectual circles, and major scientific breakthroughs and inventions, such as the automobile (1771) and the first hot air balloon carrying passengers (1783), were achieved by French scientists in the 18th century. The Enlightenment philosophy, in which reason was advocated as the primary source for legitimacy and authority, undermined the Absolute monarchy and prepared the French Revolution.

 

20. France also possesses the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world – with more or less 300 active warheads as of 25 May 2010 – and the world's second largest diplomatic corps.

 

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