France Political System, Famous People, Animals and Plants

France: political system

According to COMPUTERMINUS.COM, France is a heavily centralized country. At the head of the country is a president who is elected directly by the people every five years. Re-election after the end of the term of office is possible. The president appoints the head of government (prime minister) and the cabinet and can even dissolve the national assembly and order new elections. The parliament consists of two chambers, the National Assembly with 577 members elected by the people every five years and the Senate. The members of the Senate, i.e. the senators, are elected every six years by the representatives of regional councils and the members of the National Assembly. In the composition, there are tendencies in favor of the rural regions. The competences of the Senate in legislation can roughly be compared with those of the German Bundesrat although the Senate is in principle subject to approval for all laws. In the event of conflicts between the National Assembly and the Senate, which can lead to a lengthy procedure, the National Assembly is ultimately given the stronger role. See AbbreviationFinder for more information about France politics, and acronyms as well.

The official name of the country is:

République Française

France is politically divided into 26 regions, five of which are outside the French heartland, including Corsica. It is headed by a regional prefect appointed by the government in Paris. It is identical to the prefect of the department in which the capital or the main town of the respective region is located.

The four overseas regions outside of Europe are the four French overseas departments (Département-d’Outre-Mer = DOM) Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion.

The country also has four overseas territories that have great autonomy: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, the French Southern and Antarctic Territories and the territorial authorities with a special status – Mayotte, St. Pierre and Miquelon.

For their part, the regions are divided into 100 departments:

Region	Residents	Area km²	Capital or main town	Population
Aquitaine	2,908,000	41,308	Bordeaux	760,000
Auvergne	1,308,000	26,013	Clermont-Ferra	260,000
Lower Normandy	1,422,000	17,589	Caen	117,150
Brittany	2,906,000	27.208	Rennes	275,000
Burgundy	1,610,000	31,582	Dijon	150.170
Center	2,440,000	39,151	Orleans	265,000
Champagne-Ardenne	1,342,000	25.606	Châlons-en-Champagne	48,500
Alsace	1,734,000	8,280	Strasbourg	430,000
Franche-Comté	1,117,000	16.202	Besançon	122,300
French Guiana	157,000	83,534	Cayenne	61,000
Guadoloupe	422,490	1,703	Basse-Terre	15,000
Upper Normandy	1,780,100	12,317	Rouen	400,000
Île-de-France	10.952.0	12,012	Paris	2,125,000
Corsica	260.190	8,680	Ajaccio	53,000
Languedoc-Roussillon	2,295,650	27,376	Montpellier	290,000
Limousin	710.900	16,942	Limoges	137,500
Lorraine	2,310,370	23,547	Metz	320,000
Martinique	381.420	1,128	Fort-de-France	94,800
Midi-Pyrénées	2,551,680	45,348	Toulouse	760,000
Nord-Pas-de-Calais	3,996,590	12,414	Lille	1,000,000
Pays de la Loire	3,222,060	32,082	Nantes	550,000
Picardy	1,857,480	19,399	Amiens	139,200
Poitou-Charentes	1,640,070	25,810	Poiters	88,300
Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur	4,506,150	31,400	Marseille	1,350,000
Reunion	706.300	2,504	Saint-Denis	87,000
Rhône-Alpes	5,645,400	43,698	Lyon	1,350,000

National anthem

The national anthem of France dates from the time of the French Revolution. It was written and set to music by the composer and poet Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760-1836) on the night of April 25th to 26th of the year 1792 during the declaration of war on Austria. It initially had the title “Chant de guerre pour l’armée du Rhin”, in German translation “the war song of the Rhine Army”.

This song was then sung on July 30, 1792 by the Republican soldiers on their march from Marseille to Paris. Since then the anthem has been called the Marseillaise. On July 14, 1795, it was declared the French national anthem. During the restoration around 1814, the hymn was even banned. It was not until the Third Republic in 1879 that it finally became the national anthem again.

Stefan Zweig described the circumstances of the creation of the Marseillaise in his work “Great moments of mankind”.

In French

In the English translation

Allons enfants de la Patrie,le jour de gloire est arrivé

Contre nous de la tyrannie

L’étendard sanglant est levé,

L’étendard sanglant est levé!

Entendez-vous dans les campagnes

Mugir ces féroces soldiers!

Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras

Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes.Refrain:

Aux armes citoyens,

Formez vos bataillons.

Marchons! Marchons!

Qu’un sang impur

Abreuve nos sillons

Que veut cette horde d’esclaves

De traîtres, de rois conjurés?

Pour qui ces ignobles entraves

Ces fers dès longtemps préparés

Français, pour nous, Ah quel outrage

Quel transport il doit exciter!

C’est nous qu’on ose méditer

De rendre à l’antique esclavage

refrain

Quoi! Des cohortes étrangères

Feraient la loi dans nos foyers!

Quoi! Ces phalanges mercenaires

Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers.

Grand Dieu! Par des mains enchaînées

Nos fronts, sous le joug, se ploieraient.

De vils despotes deviendraient

Les maîtres de nos destinées

refrain

Tremblez tyrans, et vous

perfides L’opprobe de tous les partis.

Tremblez, vos projets parricides

Vont enfin recevoir leur prix!

From enfin recevoir leur prix!

Tout est soldier pour vous combattre.

S’ils tombent nos jeunes héros,

La terre en produit de nouveaux

Contre vous, tous prêts à se battre

refrain

Français en guerriers magnanimes

Portez ou retenez vos coups.

Épargnez ces tristes victimes

A regrets s’armant contre nous!

Mais ce despote sanguinaire

Mais les complices de Bouillé

Tous les tigres qui sans pitié

Déchirent le sein de leur mère!

refrain

Amour Sacré de la Patrie

Conduis, soutiens nos braves vengeurs.

Liberté, Liberté chérie

Combats avec tes défenseurs

Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire

Accoure à tes mâles accents

Que tes ennemis expirants

Voient ton triomphe et nous, notre gloire

refrain

Nous entrerons dans la carrière

Quand nos aînés n’y seront plus

Nous y trouverons leur poussière

Et la trace de leur vertus!

Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre

Que de partager leur cercueil.

Nous aurons le sublime orgueil

De les venger ou de les suivre

refrain

Up, children of the fatherland!The day of fame is here.

We against tyranny,

The bloody banner raised.

Do you hear the

roar of the cruel warriors in the fields ?

They are pushing us to behead

your sons, your wives!Refrain:

To arms, citizens!

Close the ranks,

forward, let’s march! Let the

unclean blood

water our fields!

What does this horde of slaves, of

traitors, of conspiratorial kings want ?

For whom are these common fetters,

These irons long prepared?

These long-prepared irons?

French, for us, ah! what shame,

what anger this must arouse!

One dares to think of

bringing Us into old bondage!

refrain

What! Foreign rabble

would rule over our homes!

What! These mercenaries would bring down

Our proud warriors!

Slay our proud warriors!

Great god! With chains on

our hands, our heads would bow to the yoke.

Vile despots would

determine our fate!

refrain

Tremors, tyrants and you wicked

shame of all parties,

tremble! Your wicked plans

are finally getting paid back!

You will finally get paid back!

Everyone is a soldier to fight you,

when you fall, our young heroes,

the earth beget new ones who

are ready to fight against you.

refrain

French, you noble warriors,

deal your blows or withhold them!

Spare these sad victims

Who reluctantly arm themselves against us.

But these bloodthirsty despots,

But these accomplices of Bouillé,

All these tigers who ruthlessly

tear apart their mother’s breast!

refrain

Holy love for the fatherland,

guide, support our avenging arms.

Freedom, beloved freedom,

fight with your defenders!

Fight with your defenders!

So that victory under our flags

rushes to the aid of the sounds of strong men,

So that your dying enemies

see your victory and our glory!

refrain

We will tread on the way of life,

When the older ones will no longer

be there, We will find their dust

and their virtues there.

And find a trace of their virtues.

Rather share their coffin

Than they want to survive,

We will with lofty pride

avenge them or follow them.

refrain

National flag

Based on flag descriptions by Countryaah.com, the national flag of France is the tricolor. It first became the official national flag in 1794.

Check top-mba-universities for public holidays, sports events, UNESCO world heritage sites and major places to visit in France.

France: personalities

France: doctors

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Charles Jules Henri Nicolle(1866-1936)physician and microbiologist. Nicolle did research on tuberculosis and diphtheria.
Jean Itard(1774 – 1838)doctor and teacher of the deaf and dumb.
François Quesnay(1694 – 1774)physician and engraver.
Julien Offray de La Mettrie(1709-1751)physician and philosopher.
Georges Clemenceau(1841-1929)doctor, journalist and Prime Minister.
François Rabelais(1483 – 1553)doctor and writer.
Michel de Notredame (Nostradamus)(1705-1766)doctor, prophet and astrologer. He wrote several papers on ointments and medicines.
Theophraste Renaudot(1586 – 1653)physician, publicist and historiographer of Louis XIII.
Nicolas Leblanc(1742-1806)physician and chemist.
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat(1771-1802)He showed that organs are made up of several components, which he called “tissue”.
Jean-Louis Poiseuille(1799-1869)He researched the flow of blood through the vessels and formulated Hagen-Poiseuille’s law in 1848, which describes the flow rate of liquids through narrow tubes. He also developed a method of measuring blood pressure.
René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec(1781 – 1826)doctor and inventor of the stethoscope.
Emile Baulieu(born 1926)Doctor and inventor of the “RU 486” anti-baby pill.
Luc Montagnier(born 1932)doctor and virologist. On October 6, 2008, he and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi received half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He received the prize for isolating the HI virus at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1983. The other half went to Harald zur Hausen from Germany.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi(born 1947)doctor and virologist. On October 6, 2008, she and Luc Montagnier received half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She received the prize for isolating the HI virus at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1983. The other half went to Harald zur Hausen from Germany.

France: writers, poets

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Alexandre Dumas(1802-1870)writer and best known for his adventure novel “The Three Musketeers” from 1843/1844 – the novel was published in German in 1849. In the village of “Auch” – about 70 km west of Toulouse – in the Midi Pyrénées region stands a monument to the “Three Musketeers”
Jean de Meung(around 1240 – around 1305)Jean de Meung wrote the continuation of the rose novel and added 18,000 verses to the approximately 4,000 existing verses. The “Rosenroman” was one of the greatest book successes of the Middle Ages.
Christine de Pisan(1365 – approx. 1430)She is considered the first feminist. In particular, she criticized the position taken by Jean de Meun in the “Rosenroman” and caused the first Parisian literary controversy in the history of French literature.
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio(born 1940)The Nice-born writer Le Clézio received the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1980 he made his literary breakthrough in Frankteich with his novel “Désert”, which was published in German in 1989 under the title “Desert”. The Nobel Prize Committee justified its decision as follows:”Le Clézio is the author of the awakening, the poetic adventure and the sensual ecstasy as well as the explorer of a humanity outside and below the ruling civilization”.
Jean de La Fontaine(1621-1695)His fables are still well known to the French today.
Molière(1622 – 1673)actor, theater director and playwright. Two of his most famous works are “The Imaginary Sick” and “The Misanthrope”.
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette(1634 – 1693)Madame de Lafayette was best known as the author of the novel La Princesse de Clèves.
Jean Racine(1639 – 1699)An important tragedy writer of the French classical period.
Pierre Corneille(1606-1684)tragedy writer. Along with Jean Racine, he is considered the most important playwright of French classical music.
Denis Diderot(1713-1784)Diderot is one of the leading thinkers of the European Enlightenment. He achieved particular fame with the “Encyclopédie”, a comprehensive lexicon.
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade(1740-1814)nobleman and author. He made a name for himself through books on sexual fantasies and social scandals. The term sadism is derived from his person.
Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos(1741-1803)officer and writer. He wrote the book “Dangerous Liaisons”, which was filmed by several directors.
Honoré de Balzac(1799-1850)One of the most famous French writers. He wrote over 100 novels (La Comédie humaine) as well as newspaper articles, plays and essays. He is considered the main representative of the realistic novel.
Victor Hugo(1802 – 1885)One of the most important French romantic writers. He wrote, among other things, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Les Misérables”.
George Sand(1804-1876)In addition to novels, she published socially critical writings in which she called for the emancipation of women.
Charles-Pierre Baudelaire(1821 – 1867)One of the most important French modern poets. His works include “Fleurs du mal” (Flower of Evil) and “Les paradis artificiels, opium et haschisch” (The artificial paradises).
Gustave Flaubert(1821-1880)The book “Madame Bovary” is one of his most famous works.
Jules Verne(1828-1905)His best-known works include “Five Weeks in a Balloon”, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Around the World in 80 Days”.
Émile Zola(1840-1902)writer and journalist. He is one of the most important writers of the 19th century. Zola took an active part in political life. The article “J’accuse” (I Accuse) led to the retrial and the release and rehabilitation of the falsely accused officer Alfred Dreyfus.
Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud(1854-1891)He gained fame especially with the books “Le Bateau ivre” (The Drunk Ship) and “Une Saison en enfer” (A Season in Hell).
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust(1871-1922)The seven-volume work “In Search of Lost Time” made him one of the most important writers of the 20th century.
André Breton(1896-1966)poet, writer and theorist of surrealism.
Antoine Marie Roger, Viscount de Saint-Exupéry(1900-1944)writer and aviator. He became known with the book “The Little Prince”.
Albert Camus(1913-1960)writer, philosopher and resistance fighter in World War II. In 1957 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. His works include “The Plague”, “The Stranger” and “The Myth of Sisyphus”.
Marguerite Duras(1914-1996)writer, screenwriter and film director. She gained fame with the script for the film “Hiroshima, mon amour”.
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh(1910-1987)Between 1942 and 1946 he mainly wrote the works “Antigone”, “Orest” and “Medea”. The play “Antigone” became the work of the resistance against the German occupation forces.
Jean Cocteau(1889-1963)writer, director, painter and choreographer.
Leslie Kaplan(born 1943)She published “The Book of Heaven”, “The Excess”, “The Criminal” and “The Other Side of the River”.

France: architects and builders

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Paul Abadie the Younger (1812 – 1884)master builder, restorer and representative of French historicism. He designed the Sacré-Cœur Church and restored the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Pierre Bossan (1814 in Lyon; 1888 in La Ciotat)French architect of historicism. He created the plans for Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

Le Corbusier (1887-1965)architect, town planner, painter and sculptor. Le Corbusier is one of the most important architects of the 20th century.
Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799)architect. He was a representative of revolutionary architecture.
Hector Guimard (1867-1942)architect and representative of French Art Nouveau. The iron entrances to the Paris Métro are designed by Guimard.
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806)architect. The Royal Saltworks in Arc-et-Senans was designed by him and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.
Charles Percier (1764-1838)architect. In cooperation he completed the Louvre and the Tuileries and built the triumphal arch on Carrouselplatz.
Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)architect and art historian. Among other things, he restored Notre-Dame in Paris, the Basilica Saint-Denis near Paris and the one in Saint-Sernin in Toulouse.
Jean Nouvel (born 1945)architect. Well-known buildings are the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Lyon Opera, the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Euralille shopping center in Lille, the Galeries Lafayette in Berlin, the culture and congress center in Lucerne, the 142-meter-high Agbar Tower in Barcelona, the Centro Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Guggenheim Museums in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.
Dominique Perrault (born 1953)He built the François Mitterrand library in Paris and the Velodrom and the Olympic swimming pool in Berlin. In 1997 he won the Mies van der Rohe Prize
Henri Ciriani (born 1936)
Christian de Portzamparc (born 1944)He received the Pritzker Prize in 1994. This is the world’s most prestigious award in the field of architecture
Jean-Marie CharpentierHe was z. B. responsible for the construction of the theater in Shanghai
Sebastian Vauban (1633-1707)The Marquis Sebastian de Vauban was born in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret in May 1633 and died in Paris on March 30, 1707. He was a French general and built a large number of fortifications under Louis XIV. His family belonged to the Burgundian landed gentry. His ancestors were farmers and grafted fruit trees to graft. Another branch of his family worked as a notary. Vauban joined the military at the age of 18, led by Prince Conde, who fought against the French crown. Vauban was captured by the royal regiment and discovered there as a talented builder.In 1655 Vauban was appointed “Ingénieur ordinaire du roi”. In 1676 Vauban was appointed field marshal. Vauban served the king for 56 years and received the honorary title of “Ingénieur de France”. He planned 33 new fortifications and rebuilt a large number of old fortifications. The iron belt “enceinte de fer” secured France’s borders. His main work is the fortress town of Neuf- Brisach/Neu-Breisach (Dept. Haut-Rhin). Vauban is probably the most important military architect of the Baroque period.In 2008, twelve places associated with Vauban were entered in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites; these include Arras, Besançon, Blaye, Briançon, Camaret-sur-Mer, Longwy, Mont-Dauphin, Mont-Louis, Neuf-Brisach, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Villefranche-de-Conflent

France: visual artists

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Camille Claudel(1864-1943)sculptor and lover of Auguste Rodin.
Auguste Rodin(1840-1917)The main features of his work are the conscious renunciation of complete design and the pathos in the expression of his sculptures.
Niki de Saint Phalle(1930 – 2002)was a painter and sculptor. She was best known for her Nana characters
René Jules Lalique(1860 – 1945)company founder and one of the most famous jewelry and glass artists of Art Deco and Art Nouveau.
Paul Cézanne(1839 – 1906)One of the most important French painters of the late 19th century.
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot(1796-1875)In 1846 Corot received the Cross of the Legion of Honor, and in 1867 he was made an officer.
Gustave Courbet(1819-1877)painter of realism.
Edgar Degas(1834-1917)painter and sculptor. Degas mainly chose scenes from opera and ballet as motifs.
Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix(1798 – 1863)One of the most important French painters of the Romantic period. He is considered a pioneer of impressionism.
Robert Delaunay(1885-1941)painter and exponent of Orphic Cubism.
Marcel Duchamp(1887-1968)painter and object artist.
Henri Fantin-Latour(1836-1904)painter and lithographer.
Paul Gauguin(1848-1903)painter and roommate Vincent van Gogh in Arles. He spent many years of his life in Tahiti, which his pictures attest.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres(1780 – 1867)is the most important exponent of 19th century French art.
Fernand Léger(1881 – 1955)painter, graphic artist and ceramic artist.
Édouard Manet(1832 – 1883)painter and representative of impressionism. His motifs mainly come from everyday life.
Henri Matisse(1869-1954)painter and sculptor. Matissse is one of the most important representatives of modernism.
Claude Monet(1840-1926)painter and one of the main exponents of impressionism.
Gustave Moreau(1826-1898)painter of Symbolism.
Camille Pissarro(1830-1903)Impressionist painter.
Nicolas Poussin(1594 – 1665)painter of baroque classicism. Poussin depicted predominantly mythological, allegorical or religious themes and landscapes.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir(1841-1919)Impressionist painter.
Georges Seurat(1859 – 1891)inventor of the pointillism style.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec(1864-1901)painter and graphic artist. He became famous for advertising posters for the Moulin Rouge in Paris.
Antoine Watteau(1684 – 1721)most important French Rococo painter.
Yves Klein(1928 – 1962)painter, sculptor and performance artist, he is particularly known for his pictures in a very special ultramarine blue, the patented “International Klein Blue”.

France: Kings and Emperors

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Robert II (972-1031)

Robert II – the pious – had ruled together with his father from 987 to 996 and then as sole ruler until 1031

Heinrich I (1008-1060)

Heinrich I from the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1031 to 1060

Philip I (1052-1108)

Philip I of the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1060 to 1108

Louis VI. (1081-1137)

Louis VI. – the fat one – from the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1108 to 1137

Ludwig VII. (1120-1180)

Ludwig VII. – the younger – from the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1131 together with his father Ludwig VI. until 1137 and then as sole ruler until 1180.

Philip II August (1165-1223)

Philip II August from the Capetian dynasty ruled between 1180 and 1223

Louis VIII. (1187-1226)

Louis VIII – the lion – from the Capetian dynasty ruled between 1223 and 1226

Louis IX (1214-1270)

Louis IX. – the saint – from the Capetian dynasty had ruled from 1226 to 1270

Philip III (1245-1285)

Philip III. – the Bold – from the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1270 to 1285

Philip IV (1268-1314)

Philip IV – the Handsome – from the Capetian dynasty ruled from 1285 to 1314 as King of France and as Philip I of Navarre.

During his reign, at his endeavor, on Friday, October 13, 1307, most of the members of the Templar Order were arrested in a coordinated action, their assets confiscated and a number of them burned alive. **

Louis X. (1289-1316)

Louis X. – the brawler – was King of Navarre from 1305 to 1314 and King of France from 1314 to 1316.

Philip V (1293-1322)

Philip V – the Tall One – from the Capetian dynasty was King of France from 1317 to 1322 and, as Philip II, King of Navarre. He was the second son of Philip IV and his wife, Queen Joan I of Navarre.

Philip VI. (1293-1350)

Philip VI. ruled between 1328 and 1350. During his reign the Hundred Years War began between France and England.

John II (1319-1364)

John II – the Good – ruled as King of France between 1350 and 1364.

Charles V (1338-1380)

Charles V – the Wise – ruled from 1364 to 1380. He came from the Valois family, a branch of the Capetians.

He was the eldest son of King John II and his first wife Jutta of Luxembourg and is considered one of the great French kings of the Middle Ages.

Charles VI (1368-1422)

Charles VI. – the madman – ruled between 1380 and 1422.

Charles VII (1403-1461)

Charles VIII – the victorious – ruled from 1422 to 1461. He came from the Valois line of the Capetian dynasty and was the first of the so-called Loire kings.

Louis XI. (1423-1483)

Louis XI. – the wise – ruled between 1461 and 1483. He came from the Valois family and was the second of the so-called Loire kings.

Charles VIII (1470-1498)

Charles VIII – the friendly – had ruled from 1483 to 1498. With his death the line of the family of the Valois ended.

Louis XII. (1462-1515)

Louis XII. had ruled from 1498 to 1515. He came from the Orléans branch of the House of Valois.

Franz I (1494–1547)

Franz I – the knight king – had ruled from 1515 to 1547. He was an important ruler of the Renaissance.

During his time, the foundations for absolute monarchy and the persecution of Huguenots were laid.

Heinrich II. (1519-1559)

Heinrich II. Ruled from 1547 to 1559. He came from the Valois-Angoulême dynasty.

With the edicts of Châteaubriant of 1552 and Écouen of 1559 he had persecuted the Huguenots – the French Protestants.

Francis II (1544-1560)

Francis II had only ruled between 1559 and 1560. He was the eldest son of Heinrich II and his wife Katharina von Medici.

On April 24, 1558, he married 15-year-old Maria Stuart, Queen of Scotland.

Charles IX (1550-1574)

Charles IX. had ruled between 1560 and 1574. He was the second son of Henry II of the Valois-Angoulême family and his wife Catherine de Medici.

During his reign, the infamous Bartholomew’s Night took place on the night of August 23-24, 1572, during which around 3,000 Huguenots were murdered in Paris and around 15,000 throughout the country.

It is worth noting that Pope Gregory XIII. (1502-1585) sing a Te Deum and mint a commemorative coin in thanks for the massacre.

Henry III. (1551 – 1589)

Henry III. was King of Poland-Lithuania as Henryk Walezy from 1573 to 1574 and King of France from 1574 until his death. He was the last king of the House of Valois.

Heinrich IV. (1553 – 1610)

He was from 1572 as Heinrich III. King of Navarre and from 1589 until his assassination in 1610 as Henry IV. King of France. He was the first Bourbon king and leader of the Huguenots.

After converting to the Catholic faith, he said: “Paris is worth a mass! He had rebuilt the country shattered by the civil wars and laid the foundations for the French unified state.

His edict of tolerance of Nantes of April 13, 1598 had the French Protestants are assured of free religious practice.

Louis XIII. (1601-1643)

Louis XIII. – the righteous – was king of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643 and came from the house of the Bourbons.

In 1624 he made Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) “First Minister”.

Louis XIV. (1638-1715)

Louis XIV. – the Sun King – had ruled from 1643 to 1715. Between 1643 and 1715 he was King of France and Navarre and Co-Prince of Andorra. He was a typical ruler of absolutism.

It is controversial whether the statement “L’État, c’est moi” (I am the state) actually comes from him. On October 18, 1685, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in the Edict of Fontainebleau.

As a result, French Protestants lost all their religious and civil rights.

Within a few months, hundreds of thousands fled to the Calvinist areas of the Netherlands, the Calvinist cantons of Switzerland and Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm – the Great Elector ().

Because of its dissolute lifestyle and the wars of expansion, France was almost ruined at the end of its rule.

Louis XV (1710-1774)

Louis XV. was King of France and Navarre from 1715 to 1774 and Duke of Anjou from 1710 to 1715.

His mistress the Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764) is known to this day.

Louis XVI (1754 – 1793)

King of France from 1774 until his execution in the course of the French Revolution in 1793. He was the last French representative of absolutism.

His wife Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) was beheaded with him.

** Order of the

Knights Templar The Order of the Templars was a spiritual knightly order that existed from 1118 to 1312. The full name was: “Poor knighthood of Christ and the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem” (Pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonici Hierosolymitanis).

The order of knights was founded in 1118 as part of the First Crusade and was the first order to combine the ideals of noble knighthood with those of monasticism. He was directly subordinate to the Pope.

Emperor in France

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)

First Emperor of France. Napoleon Bonaparte aspired to rule over all of Europe, but failed in the Russian campaign near Moscow and in the Battle of Leipzig. After his retreat to Elba, he again seized power in the “Rule of 100 Days”, but lost in the Battle of Waterloo against the English and Prussians and was banished to the island of St. Helena until his death.

Napoleon II. (1811-1832)

Napoleon Franz Joseph Karl Bonaparte was born on March 20, 1811 in the Tuileries Palace in Paris and was the only legitimate male descendant of Napoléon Bonaparte; he came from his second marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria. As the Imperial Crown Prince of France, he had been King of Rome since 1811.

After Napoléon’s fall from 1814 to 1817, he held the title Prince of Parma, derived from his mother. During the reign of the Hundred Days he became French Prince Imperial again for a short time and was titular Emperor of the French from June 22 to July 7, 1815 after the final abdication of his father as Napoleon II; However, this claim expired on July 8th with the restoration of the kingdom by Louis XVIII. In 1818 he was appointed Duke of Reichstadt by his maternal grandfather, Emperor Franz I of Austria.

He died on July 22, 1832 in Schönbrunn Palace as a result of his lung tuberculosis near Vienna.

His body was buried in the Vienna Imperial Crypt (Capuchin Church), his heart in the Habsburg heart crypt in St. Augustin and his entrails in the ducal crypt of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. This corresponded to the burial ceremony of the Habsburgs, as was customary at the Viennese court (“separate burial”). In 1940, the sarcophagus with the Duke’s body was transferred to Paris on the orders of Adolf Hitler (in memory of the transfer of Napoléon’s body from St. Helena to Paris 100 years ago) and initially placed next to Napoleon I in the Invalides. In 1969 the sarcophagus was moved to the lower church. The heart and its entrails, however, remained in Vienna.

Napoleon III (1808 – 1873)

Napoleon III. was born in Paris on April 20, 1808 .

He was under his birth name Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte during the Second Republic from 1848 to 1852 French President and from 1852 to 1870 as Napoleon III. Emperor of the French. With the coup d’état of December 2, 1851, the president who emerged from a popular election established a dictatorship. A year later he made himself emperor and his country the Second Empire. He enforced all powers through a coup d’état in 1851 and was proclaimed emperor after a plebiscite in December 1852.

His reign ended with his capture after the Battle of Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. As a result, on September 4, 1870, Paris became the first republic. called out.

The period between 1870 and 1940 is known as the Third Republic. He died on January 9, 1873 in Chislehurst near London.

France: musicians

Opened configuration settings

Georges Auric(1899-1983)
Louis Hector Berlioz(1803-1869)composer and music critic.
Georges Bizet(1838-1875)Romantic composer. Among other things, he created the piece Carmen.
Achille-Claude Debussy(1862-1918)composer between the romantic and the modern.
Paul Dukas(1865-1935)He became famous for setting the ballad “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to music.
Jean-Jacques Goldman(born 1951)composer and interpreter. He wrote for Celine Dion, Patricia Kaas and Johnny Hallyday, among others.
Jacques Offenbach(1819-1880)composer and cellist. Offenbach is considered the founder of modern operetta.
Joseph-Maurice Ravel(1875-1937)Among other things he wrote the famous “Bolero”.
Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle(1760-1836)composer, poet and officer. Among other things, he wrote the Marseillaise, today’s French national anthem.
Alfred Eric Leslie Satie(1866-1925)composer and pianist.
Serge Gainsbourg(1928-1991)
Charles Aznavour(born 1924)author, composer, chansonnier and actor.
Barbara(1930-1997)chanson singer.
Guy Béart(born 1930)chansonnier, composer and actor.
Georges Brassens(1921-1981)author and chanson singer.
Dalida(1933-1987)pop singer and actress.
France Gall(born 1947)
Edith Piaf(1915 – 1963)The most famous French chanson singer. Her most important songs include “La vie en rose” and “Non, je ne regrette rien”.
Juliette Gréco(born 1927)chanson singer and actress.
Mireille Mathieu(born 1946)Internationally known singer.
Sylvie Vartan(born 1944)chanson and pop singer and actress.
Johnny Hallyday(born 1943)singer, songwriter and actor.

France: natural scientist

Opened configuration settings

Ande Marie Ampère(1775-1836)mathematician and physicist. He developed a theory of electromagnetism. The measure for the amperage was named after him.
Antoine Henri Becquerel(1852-1908)He is considered to be the real discoverer of radioactivity. For his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.
Albert Louis Francois Fert(born 1938)Together with the German Peter Andreas Grünberg (born 1939) he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2007 for his research on the GMR effect. The GMR effect (giant magneto resistance) describes the quantum mechanical effect when ferromagnetic and non-magnetic very thin substances are alternately applied to a film. The electrical resistance between the layers increases to very high values if the magnetic layers are anti-parallel to one another and becomes very low when they are arranged parallel to one another. The effect, which the two scientists independently discovered in 1988, is used, among other things, on the hard drives of computers.

Marie Curie (1867-1934)Two-time Nobel Prize winner. Marie Skłodowska Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, which at the time belonged to Russia. She grew up here. Since women could not study here, she moved to Paris, where she had successfully started studying physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne at the end of 1891. She then examined the radiation from uranium compounds observed by Henri Becquerel in 1896 and coined the term “radioactive”, which is still used today. Together with her husband Pierre Curie (1859-1906), she also discovered the chemical elements polonium and radium in 1898. She had She received the Nobel Prize for Physics together with her husband in 1903 and the Nobel Prize for Chemistry alone in 1911. Besides Linus Pauling, she is the only personShe died on July 4, 1934 near Passy – a municipality in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Pierre Curie(1859 – 1906)physicist and Nobel Prize laureate from 1903. Together with his wife Marie Curie, in 1898 he discovered radium and polonium as fission products of pitchblende.
Louis Pasteur(1822-1895)scientist and pioneer in the field of microbiology. Among other things, he developed vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and rabies.
Leon Foucault(1819-1868)In 1850 he invented a method of measuring the speed of light. He became famous for his pendulum experiment with which he was able to prove the rotation of the earth. The Foucault pendulum is now in the Pantheon in Paris.
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes(born 1932)He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991.
Joseph Louis Lagrange(1736 in Turin – 1813 in Paris)mathematician, astronomer and theoretical physicist. At the age of 19 he became a professor at the Royal Artillery School in Turin. From there he later went to Paris and in 1756 became a corresponding member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, where he was Euler’s successor as director of the Academy’s mathematical class in 1766. Incidentally, from 1774 to 1782 he lived in what is now the Magnushaus in Berlin opposite the Museum Island in Kupfergraben 7 – today’s headquarters of the Berlin Physical Society. In 1787 he returned to Paris, where he became, among other things, President of the Commission for the Reform of Weights and Measures. He died on April 10, 1813 in Paris, where he found his final resting place in the Panthéon.
Jean-Marie Lehn(born 1939)He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987.
Pierre-Simon (Marquis de) Laplace(1749-1827)mathematician and astronomer. His field was probability theory and differential equation.
Louis-Victor de Broglie(1892-1987)For the discovery of the wave nature of the electron he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929.

France: natural scientist

Opened configuration settings

Ande Marie Ampère(1775-1836)mathematician and physicist. He developed a theory of electromagnetism. The measure for the amperage was named after him.
Antoine Henri Becquerel(1852-1908)He is considered to be the real discoverer of radioactivity. For his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.
Albert Louis Francois Fert(born 1938)Together with the German Peter Andreas Grünberg (born 1939) he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2007 for his research on the GMR effect. The GMR effect (giant magneto resistance) describes the quantum mechanical effect when ferromagnetic and non-magnetic very thin substances are alternately applied to a film. The electrical resistance between the layers increases to very high values if the magnetic layers are anti-parallel to one another and becomes very low when they are arranged parallel to one another. The effect, which the two scientists independently discovered in 1988, is used, among other things, on the hard drives of computers.

Marie Curie (1867-1934)Two-time Nobel Prize winner. Marie Skłodowska Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, which at the time belonged to Russia. She grew up here. Since women could not study here, she moved to Paris, where she had successfully started studying physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne at the end of 1891. She then examined the radiation from uranium compounds observed by Henri Becquerel in 1896 and coined the term “radioactive”, which is still used today. Together with her husband Pierre Curie (1859-1906), she also discovered the chemical elements polonium and radium in 1898. She had She received the Nobel Prize for Physics together with her husband in 1903 and the Nobel Prize for Chemistry alone in 1911. Besides Linus Pauling, she is the only personShe died on July 4, 1934 near Passy – a municipality in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Pierre Curie(1859 – 1906)physicist and Nobel Prize laureate from 1903. Together with his wife Marie Curie, in 1898 he discovered radium and polonium as fission products of pitchblende.
Louis Pasteur(1822-1895)scientist and pioneer in the field of microbiology. Among other things, he developed vaccines against fowl cholera, anthrax and rabies.
Leon Foucault(1819-1868)In 1850 he invented a method of measuring the speed of light. He became famous for his pendulum experiment with which he was able to prove the rotation of the earth. The Foucault pendulum is now in the Pantheon in Paris.
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes(born 1932)He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1991.
Joseph Louis Lagrange(1736 in Turin – 1813 in Paris)mathematician, astronomer and theoretical physicist. At the age of 19 he became a professor at the Royal Artillery School in Turin. From there he later went to Paris and in 1756 became a corresponding member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, where he was Euler’s successor as director of the Academy’s mathematical class in 1766. Incidentally, from 1774 to 1782 he lived in what is now the Magnushaus in Berlin opposite the Museum Island in Kupfergraben 7 – today’s headquarters of the Berlin Physical Society. In 1787 he returned to Paris, where he became, among other things, President of the Commission for the Reform of Weights and Measures. He died on April 10, 1813 in Paris, where he found his final resting place in the Panthéon.
Jean-Marie Lehn(born 1939)He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987.
Pierre-Simon (Marquis de) Laplace(1749-1827)mathematician and astronomer. His field was probability theory and differential equation.
Louis-Victor de Broglie(1892-1987)For the discovery of the wave nature of the electron he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929.

France: animals

Mammals

Mammals such as ibex, roe deer, red deer, chamois and mouflons live in the French Alpine regions.

The ibex belong to the genus of goats (Capra) and are divided into seven species, of which the Alpine ibex (Capra ibex) is native to France. The population in the French Alps is estimated at around 10,000 animals. The alpine ibex has a head-trunk length of about 130 to 150 cm, with a shoulder height of 70 to about 90 cm. The females (goats) are significantly smaller than the males (buck). The bucks have up to 100 cm long and curved horns, while the goats have only about 20 cm short and barely curved horns. It is interesting that the goats have a goatee. In summer the bucks are dark brown in color and the goats are more reddish or golden brown. In winter, the fur of both sexes is rather gray and very dense. In summer you can find the pure herbivores up to heights of approx. 3,500 m. They are excellent climbers. The Swiss canton of Graubünden has the animal in its coat of arms.

In France you can find the Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica), which is closely related to the Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra). Pyrenean chamois reach a head-trunk length of 90 to 130 cm, with a shoulder height of about 80 cm. Their weight varies between 25 and 50 kg. Their fur is short in summer with a reddish tinge, while their winter fur is long, dense, and dark brown – with white spots on the neck, shoulders, and sides. Both the males and the females have horns up to 20 cm in length. These animals are excellent climbers who hike up to higher regions in summer. They are pure herbivores that feed on herbs, grasses, mosses, lichens and other parts of plants, depending on the season. You can also find foxes here.

Mouflons are rather shy animals and are also known as European wild sheep. They reach a size of 65 to 90 cm and live on average 8 to 10 years. Typical is the gray to yellowish saddle spot on the brown fur and the horns of the males, which grow throughout life and can reach a length of 0.45 m. The horns of the females are much shorter or nonexistent. The mouflons have a strong sense of hearing and smell, but the sense of sight is best developed. Their diet includes grasses, herbs and woody plants, but also mushrooms and fruits.

The brown bears are a rarity, of which there are only a few animals left in France. There weren’t any

wolves in France for a long time. For some time now some animals, most likely immigrants, seem to have settled again. Most of the currently around 300 wolves live in the Alps, but also in the south of France in the mountains of the Var region – the animals can be found between Nice and Marseille and in the Pyrenees. As in Germany, all cattle breeders defend themselves against the predators.

The gorse cat, of which there are several species, was worshiped as a feline deity in ancient Egypt. The gorse cat is the only European species, and it also lives in France.

With an average height of around 100 cm, the bushy and ringed tail alone accounts for 45 cm. The fur is gray or brown with a black patch pattern. The pointed muzzle is typical. In addition to mice and birds, their prey also includes insects and fruits.

The lynx population in France is estimated to be just over 100 animals. These big cats reach a head-torso length between 80 and 110 cm with a shoulder height of 50 to 70 cm. Their weight is between 20 to 25 kg.

Their prey includes – depending on the occurrence of the lynx – deer and chamois, red fox, martens, rabbits, young wild boars, squirrels, mice, rats, marmots and even fish.

The smaller mammals include marmots, ermines, hedgehogs, foxes and the Eurasian beaver. The latter is at the top of the ranking of the largest rodents with its 60-80 cm height. He is mainly on the water, and mostly on rivers and lakes. Its ability to cut down entire trees is unique among rodents.

Wild horses live in the Camargue. The local Camarguais are one of the oldest horse breeds that can only be found in the Camargue. They are rather small with a shoulder height between approx. 1.35 and 1.5 m, but they are strong and can easily carry an adult. They are born dark brown to black, but then become lighter every year until they are white when they are around ten years old. The horses live semi-wild in the marshland and you can see them on the beaches every now and then and watch them run through the waves.

Reptiles

The European pond turtle lives in southern France. It has a shell length of less than 25 cm, rarely 30 cm. Her belly armor has a transverse joint, which enables her to fold this armor in front and rear in case of danger and thus protect herself from predators.

Their habitat is limited to standing or flowing water with dense bank vegetation. Their diet consists mainly of animal food such as tadpoles, small frogs, newts, water snails, crabs, dead or dying fish.

In addition to France, she is also in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Sicily, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Northern Iran, Cyprus, Israel and Northern Lebanon. But despite this widespread distribution, the number of European pond turtles is in decline.

The Greek tortoise is also found in France. You can see them in the Massif des Maures.

In the rocky landscapes of Provence, the emerald lizard is a typical resident. With a body length of around 50 cm, it is one of the four largest lizards in the world, even if two-thirds of them are on the tail. Their diet consists of insects, spiders, worms and snails.

A special feature that it has in common with some other lizard species is that it can actively detach its tail from its body in a dangerous situation. This wriggles for around 20 minutes and thus distracts the robber from the fleeing lizard. After a while the tail grows back, but then it can no longer be separated. The green lizard predominantly inhabits dry terrain, exposed to sunlight, meadows with bushes, scree slopes, light hedges and rocky slopes.

The pearl lizard, geckos and skinks are also reptiles native to France.

To the local non-venomous snakes include the Aesculapian snake, the grass snake, the smooth snakes and dice snakes.

The poisonous snakes include the aspic viper and the adder, the meadow viper, which only occurs in scattered populations, and the European lizard snake.

Birds

Depending on its various regions, France has around 450 different bird species, around three-quarters of which are found in the Camargue. Therefore, for the sake of clarity, only a brief overview can be given here.

Flamingos are the highlight in the Camargue. Several thousand animals can be admired here. Flamingos form their own family, which are divided into three genera with six species. They are also common in Africa, western Asia, and Bolivia. The up to 130 cm tall birds are immediately recognizable by their long and thin neck, by their thin legs and by their thick, downwardly curved pink beak with a black tip.

This is used as a sieve when searching for food. The menu includes worms, algae and, above all, small crustaceans. The crabs are also responsible for the pink plumage of the flamingos. The red dye absorbed with them is stored in the feathers.

Birds of prey in France include buzzards, hawks, marsh harriers, tawny owls, black kites and eagle owls. The rare and now endangered bearded vulture can be seen in the Parc National du Mercantour.

There are also golden eagles, lammergeiers and kestrels here.

Blackbirds, sparrows, tits as well as finches and stilts as well as many other songbirds inhabit the hedged landscape of the Cotentin.

Gray herons, ducks, shelduck and bitterns can usually be found in bodies of water such as rivers or lakes.

Various species of seagulls dominate the coast. The seagulls (Laridae) form a family of birds that is divided into 10 genus and around 55 species. The most famous gulls are certainly the black-backed gulls, black-headed gulls, herring gulls and common gulls. The Mediterranean seagull can also be found on the Mediterranean coast and the Biscay.

Underwater world

Numerous worms, mussels and crustaceans cavort in the coastal area. Crustaceans such as lobster, small prawns and edible crabs as well as oysters are particularly popular in the kitchen.

Sea fish include mackerel, herring, monkfish, cod, rays and various types of flatfish.

Conger eels, lobsters, coral fish, dentex, moray eels, scorpionfish and striped groupers live further out at sea. The squids are particularly fascinating and the gurnard is one of the stranger creatures, which is always close to the bottom at a depth of 10 m to 200 m. The triangular and armored head is typical.

Sharks and whales rarely come into the local waters.

It is very unpleasant to touch the tentacles of the Portuguese galley, which are up to 30 m long – a very poisonous jellyfish that consists of an entire colony of mutually dependent polyps. The animals are very rare off the Atlantic coast of France, but have been observed in the waters of Corsica. The animals have a bluish shimmer. The Portuguese galley has around 1,000 nettle cells per centimeter, which contain a poison made up of various proteins that lead to overexcitation when the nerve cells come into contact with the skin. The result is very severe pain and red wheals on the skin, which are reminiscent of the welts after a lash. The pain subsides after about one to two hours, while the wheals only go away after two or three days.

For seafood lovers

Brittany is the main fishing region of France France and offers a rich variety of seafood. Norway lobster and lobster in Finistère, scallops and squid in Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Malo, edible crabs in Morlaix or clams, clams and periwinkles. Special delicacies are also oysters and mussels. There are 12 types of oysters here, the most famous being the Morlaisienne, the Paimpolaise, the rock oysters from Cancale, the Belon oysters and the Fines de Claire. The local mussels are mainly grown according to the so-called “Bouchot” method – these are 4 to 6 m high oak stakes set up in rows in the water. The strongholds of mussel cultivation are in the bay of Saint-Brieuc near Saint-Cast-Le-Guildo and Paimpol.

France: plants

Trees

Larger forests can be found in the south of Normandy in France. Oak, beech, ash, maple and chestnut grow here. The Aleppo pine grows frequently in Provence and cork oak forests are typical of the Massif des Maures. Holm oaks, pines, plane trees, cedars and junipers are also represented in this area.

Umbrella pines and olive groves are typical for the entire south of France. The trees that grow on Mont Ventoux are reforestation projects made from pine and Lebanon cedar. The original vegetation has been almost completely destroyed by frequent forest fires. In Corsica there are large forests of chestnut trees.

One of the largest yew trees is in La Haye. There is even room for a chapel in its hollow trunk.

Crops

Unsurprisingly, Provence spices and herbs are grown in Provence. But numerous other herbs also grow here.

These include thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram, as well as tarragon, lavender, fennel, basil and sage.

At the beginning of the 20th century, rice fields were created in the northern Camargue.

There are more and more wine-growing areas, with some well-known and excellent wines as well as large and olive groves.

In addition to many types of mushrooms, the famous truffles should not go unmentioned. They grow mainly in Provence on Mont Ventoux, with the high season in winter. You can find these little treasures under holm oaks and hazelnut trees.

The hackberry trees belong to the elm family and reach a height of around 25 m. The round, brown fruits are edible and also quite tasty. The wood is often used to make flutes, walking sticks and especially whips.

Medicinal plants

The gentian is well known as a medicinal plant, but only the yellow gentian. It grows up to a meter high and has golden-yellow flowers. Only the roots of the herbaceous mountain plants that grow in the Alps at an altitude of 1000 – 2000 m are used medicinally. As it stimulates the secretion of saliva and gastric juice, it is used, among other things, for loss of appetite, indigestion and flatulence.

The red saxifrage belongs to the saxifrage family and is a cushion plant. The small blue-green leaves are characteristic. The flowers are colored from wine-red to blue-violet. The plant is used for a wide variety of diseases. It is used for arthritis, gout, rheumatism as well as for diarrhea, fever, flu and headaches.

The numerous herbs growing in France also have some healing properties.

True sage reduces perspiration, relieves coughs, has an antiseptic and wound healing effect and is also used for abdominal diseases. It also alleviates diarrhea and indigestion and reduces milk production (e.g. when weaning). Oregano has an expectorant, antispasmodic, cholagogue, appetite-stimulating and digestive effect.

The essential oil of the plant is used for Candida mycoses (fungal diseases).

Rosemary also has an antispasmodic and stimulant effect, helps with low blood pressure, indigestion and rashes.

Thyme supports the digestion of fatty and heavy foods, it relieves coughs and is expectorant. The essential oil is used as a disinfectant. The Egyptians are said to have used the plant to embalm the dead.

Externally, thyme is used for inflammation of the mouth and throat mucosa.

Poisonous plants

The common thorn apple is a bushy annual plant. The plants reach a height of 0.2 to 1.2 m, rarely up to 2 m. All parts of the plant are poisonous, especially the roots and seeds.

The gorse grows in bright and sunny spots on rocky or stony soils in Provence. All parts of the plant are poisonous and it can lead to abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and cardiovascular disorders. However, the gorse, which belongs to the butterfly family, also has healing properties.

The most poisonous parts of the yew tree are its needles. For humans, the toxic dose is one gram per kilogram of body weight. The dose should be set lower for children.

Introduced plants

Both the olive trees and the vines are not native to France, but were introduced a long time ago. Various palm species such as the Canary Island date palm also originally come from the southeastern United States and the Canary Islands. The agaves growing on the coast are also not native.

More plants

The lavender fields, which are particularly widespread around the Cistercian monastery Sénanque, are a common sight in Provence and are often the subject of advertisements in this area.

Equally characteristic is the maquis-like garrigue (an open Mediterranean shrub heather formation on shallow soils) made of rock roses, various types of gorse, orchids and thistles, which has spread on dry soils.

Other typical plants of Provence are countless types of lilies, juniper bushes as well as stone herbs and numerous herbs. Steppe-like landscape also extends around the Rhône Delta.

Alpine plants such as the gentian, edelweiss and saxifrage thrive in the Maritime Alps.

The edelweiss belongs to the daisy family and grows on sunny, calcareous lawn slopes, on stony meadows, on limestone cliffs and in crevices in mountains up to 2500 m. The plant grows to a height of 3 – 20 cm and has a characteristic flower consisting of 5 – 6 small yellow flower heads surrounded by white star-shaped leaves.

The edelweiss is common in the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians and also in Central Asia.