France

Article Outline

Introduction; Land and Resources; People and Society; Culture; Economy; Government; History

Ethnic Groups

The predominant ethnic stock in France is mixed, the result of thousands of years of ethnic mixing. A succession of migrating and invading groups, including Celts, Romans (see Roman Empire), and Germanic peoples, have left their ethnic imprint among the French people. The very name for the nation, France, comes from the Germanic Franks, who invaded the area as the Roman Empire collapsed.

The French government has long pursued an active campaign of assimilating ethnic minorities. The expansion of the French state, completed by the mid-17th century, brought centralized rule over diverse peripheral ethnic groups. As late as the French Revolution in 1789, less than half the population spoke French. After the revolution, the French government sought to build a unified nation-state based on a common language. The “law of the soil” (droit du sol), a key part of this effort, held that residency and ethnic identity were inseparable—that is, if a person lived in France, he or she was French. Only in recent years, under the prodding of the European Union (EU), did France extend any noteworthy rights or privileges to ethnic minorities. Instead, every effort was made to absorb them into the French mainstream, with considerable success.

Indigenous Ethnic Minorities

The indigenous ethnic minorities of France inhabit ancient homelands, all of which lie on the nation’s frontiers. In the far northern part of France live a people of Flemish descent, in and around the marshland town of Dunkerque in the historic region of Flanders. Flemings, many of whom speak a dialect of Dutch, harbor no separatist sentiment and have largely been assimilated. In the western peninsular region of Brittany live the Bretons, a people of Celtic descent (see Celts). Many Bretons seek cultural autonomy and resent French dominance. They present an overtly Celtic image to visitors, incorporating bagpipes and Celtic harps into their local musical traditions. Dozens of Breton-language schools have opened in Brittany since the early 1990s.

In southwestern France, where the Pyrenees and Atlantic Ocean meet, live the French Basques. Many French Basques share the separatist sentiments of the Basques across the border in Spain, but the French Basque country has not experienced the terrorist violence that has occurred for decades in Spanish territory. At the eastern end of the Pyrenees, in the Mediterranean region, is the Catalan homeland. French Catalonians share a language (see Catalan Language) and culture with the peoples of eastern Spain, where Catalan autonomy has been achieved and separatist sentiment is common. The French Catalonians, however, are not nearly so numerous, and they do not desire to secede from France. In recent decades, bilingual French-Catalan signs have become common.

Immigrants

Immigrants account for about 7.5 percent of the total population of France. French immigrants come from diverse places, including Europe, North and Central Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, and Asia. The largest immigrant group in France consists of people from the largely Islamic nations of North Africa, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Many Muslims from Turkey have also immigrated to France. An estimated 4 million Muslims, or followers of Islam, live in France, mainly within the nation’s largest cities.

France has a long history of immigration. A strong tradition of readily accepting immigrants as citizens dates to the French Revolution, which popularized new notions of citizenship and universal rights. During the 19th century, the French government recruited many immigrants to work the nation’s farmlands and in its expanding coal, steel, and textile industries. Until the mid-20th century, immigrants came largely from other Christian European countries, including Belgium, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Most of these immigrants were rapidly assimilated into the French population and culture.

Immigration significantly increased after World War II (1939-1945), when the nation’s postwar economic expansion generated an enormous need for workers. By the 1950s the main source of immigration had shifted from European countries to the largely Islamic countries of North Africa, the heart of France’s former colonial empire. In the mid-1970s France began to tighten its immigration policies in response to a slowing economy.

By the late 1970s immigration had become a controversial social issue in France. Many people worried that large numbers of recent immigrants appeared unwilling to adopt French customs and culture. Unlike earlier generations of European immigrants, the newcomers were often distinguishable by their skin color and Islamic religion, as well as by their food, dress, and music. Nationalist political movements, such as the National Front, emerged to promote anti-immigrant policies, including repatriation. These groups argued that immigration threatened French culture and social cohesion.

By the 1980s, heated political debate had arisen over the wearing of traditional Islamic head coverings by girls in public schools. In 2004 the French government passed legislation prohibiting students in primary and secondary schools from wearing conspicuous religious symbols. Although no specific religious symbols were mentioned in the legislation, many Muslims viewed the law as targeting the wearing of headscarves. Hostility toward immigrants has led to discrimination, social tensions, and episodes of violence.

Language

French is the official language of France and is spoken by the vast majority of people in the country. Modern French is a dialect of the langue d’oïl, a form of the French language that originated in northern France. This dialect developed in the Île de France, a historic province that includes Paris and much of the surrounding Paris Basin. Beginning in medieval times, the language of the Île de France gradually began to supplant other French dialects. Today it enjoys overwhelming dominance in French daily life, including in commerce, education, government, and culture.

In addition to French, regional languages are spoken in many areas. The most widely spoken regional language is Occitan, also called the langue d’oc (Languedoc), which is prevalent in southern France. Perhaps 5 or 6 million people speak Provençal, the major dialect of the langue d’oc. Virtually all of these speakers speak the dominant French language as well. The languages spoken north and south of the Loire River began diverging in the early Middle Ages and by the late 13th century had emerged as distinct languages. The langue d’oc is rooted in a Latin-derived regional culture that was once much more Mediterranean and Roman-influenced than the German-influenced culture of northern France. The French state’s historical drive to create a unified French language, in part by requiring state primary schools to teach in the language of the Île de France, has succeeded in assimilating the langue d’oc. In 1993, in a show of greater tolerance, the French government permitted state schools to teach regional languages, including the langue d’oc.

Several other regional languages are spoken in France. About 1 million people living in Alsace speak a dialect of High German. Perhaps 600,000 people speak Breton, a Celtic language based in Brittany. (See also Breton Literature). About 250,000 people speak Catalan in the Pyrenees region. Some 80,000 people speak Basque, another language based in the Pyrenees. Flemish, a Dutch dialect used in the French portion of Flanders in the north, is spoken by perhaps 60,000 people. Corse, an Italian dialect used on the island of Corsica, is spoken by about 100,000 people. Many of France’s various immigrant populations also retain their separate languages, including Arabic and Turkish.

Religion

Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in France. More than 80 percent of the French population officially identifies with this faith, although only a minority claim to be practicing Catholics. About 5 percent of the population practices Islam, France’s second most popular religion. A small minority, about 2 percent of the population, is Protestant. Many Protestants fled France during the 16th and 17th centuries to escape Catholic persecution, and few parishes survived. About 1 percent of the population is Jewish (see Judaism). More than 10 percent of the people claim no religion.

Secularization has made deep inroads in France, greatly diminishing the role of the once-powerful Catholic Church. The extent of secularization varies from one region to another. The most highly secularized regions are the Paris Basin and the Mediterranean coast. The largest percentages of practicing Catholics live in rural areas, including Flanders to the north, Brittany to the west, Alsace to the east, and the Basque country in the southwest. The great pilgrimage town of Lourdes in the southwest, at the foot of the Pyrenees, draws millions of visitors annually.

The French Jewish community, although small, has long played an important role in the nation’s economy and culture. An estimated 530,000 French citizens are Jewish, accounting for about one-third of the total Jewish population in Europe. In recent decades, many Muslim immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa have settled in France, leading to a significant expansion of the Islamic faith there. Immigrants have also brought other religions to France, including Buddhism and Hinduism.

The church and state have been officially separated in France since 1905. During the 19th century, the Christian and Jewish religions were subsidized by the state. Popular opposition to the Catholic Church, and to church control of public education, resulted in legislation prohibiting the payment of public funds to Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish clergy. This legislation, and subsequent measures, led to the withdrawal of official state recognition of any religion.

Windows Live® Search Results

Ethnic Groups

Indigenous Ethnic Minorities

Immigrants

Language

Religion