GeographyFrance is about 80% the size of Texas. In the
Alps near the Italian and Swiss borders is western Europe's highest
point—Mont Blanc (15,781 ft; 4,810 m). The forest-covered Vosges
Mountains are in the northeast, and the Pyrénées are along
the Spanish border. Except for extreme northern France, the country may be
described as four river basins and a plateau. Three of the streams flow
west—the Seine into the English Channel, the Loire into the
Atlantic, and the Garonne into the Bay of Biscay. The Rhône flows
south into the Mediterranean. For about 100 mi (161 km), the Rhine is
France's eastern border. In the Mediterranean, about 115 mi (185 km)
east-southeast of Nice, is the island of Corsica (3,367 sq mi; 8,721 sq
km).
HistoryArcheological excavations indicate that France
has been continuously settled since Paleolithic times. The Celts, who were
later called
Gauls
by the Romans, migrated from the Rhine valley
into what is now France. In about 600
B.C.
,
Greeks and Phoenicians established settlements along the Mediterranean,
most notably at Marseille. Julius Caesar conquered part of Gaul in
57–52
B.C.
, and it remained Roman until
Franks invaded in the 5th century
A.D.
The Treaty of Verdun (843) divided the
territories corresponding roughly to France, Germany, and Italy among the
three grandsons of Charlemagne. Charles the Bald inherited
Francia
Occidentalis,
which became an increasingly feudalized kingdom. By 987,
the crown passed to Hugh Capet, a princeling who controlled only the
Ile-de-France, the region surrounding Paris. For 350 years, an unbroken
Capetian line added to its domain and consolidated royal authority until
the accession in 1328 of Philip VI, first of the Valois line. France was
then the most powerful nation in Europe, with a population of 15
million.