Culture In Francia

Religion in France

Since the establishment France is considered as an officially secular state, as well as secular and having religious freedom, even this position is a constitutional right, but not any sect is considered a religion in this country as in the case of Church of Scientology, the Unification Church, or the Family or Family International, so in this country are under the title nonprofit organization.

According to a survey in 2007 statistics which put the population at any religion under a strong loss of territory by the Catholic religion, which in ancient times was ranked as the most popular with 80% of the population while in this study only has about 51%.

Another of the most striking appearances on this list was atheism, which ranked second with 31% when previously only had 23% of the population, immediately after the Muslim religion were 6% and then with the Jewish 1.5%, finally reaching the Buddhist and Orthodox among other religions that are practiced freely among the population.

Literature

France is the country with more Nobel Prizes for Literature (fifteen). Both French citizens, as francógrafos other countries (such as the Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck or Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor) make up what is known as French literature, which has influenced the work of important foreign authors, and literature from many countries. Such is the case of the Cuban Alejo Carpentier or called Latin American boom. You can also mention the great writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince.

Music

In French music from before 1000 Gregorian chant used in the liturgies stands. In France polyphony was created. In so-called Ars Antiqua, is attributed to Charlemagne the Scholae Cantorum (783). The Oaths of Strasbourg is the most important French lyrical work of the Middle Ages, a period in which the Song of Gesta develop as the Song of Roland. France was the cradle of the troubadours in the twelfth century, and the Ars Nova two centuries later. During the Romantic Paris becomes the musical center of the world and today France has a special place in musical creation thanks to new generations of composers. Among the exponents of French popular music of the second half of the twentieth century, are figures such as Edith Piaf, Dalida, Charles Aznavour, Gilbert Becaud, Georges Brassens, Serge Gainsbourg, Jean-Michel Jarre or Barbara.

Sport

Throughout its history, France has had great athletes that have raised the French tricolor flag. Among them are the Formula 1 champion, Alain Prost, Romain Grosjean, the tennis player Mary Pierce, a tennis player Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquets, the baloncetistas NBA Tony Parker, Joakim Noah and [[Boris Diaw. The best participation of France at the Olympics was in 1900, when the appointment was made in Paris, which again hosted the event in 1924. In this event, the gala delegation has never fallen from the top 10 to be a of major world powers to Olympic level and why not, a sporting level.

Individual sports are well established in France. Thus for example the Tour de France, held annually in July since 1903, is the most prestigious professional cycling race calendar. The Roland Garros tournament in Paris is one of the most cosmopolitan tournaments Grand Slam.123 regard to martial arts, France also stands among one of the best in Europe. For the most dominating until today is karate, judo and savate (French box), the latter one of the most popular in the world mainly in tournaments Knock Out. In Judo out as one of the most important in the history of the world, Frenchman David Douillet with different appearances and awards throughout his career in the sport.

The Tour de France is the most prestigious bicycle race in the world.

As for team sports, the soccer team of France is one of the most important national teams worldwide. He won the world championship in 1998 and in 2006 won the second place thanks to the golden generation led by Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane. This same set won Euro 2000 and the Confederations Cup in 2001 and 2003.

The league, known as the Ligue 1 is one of the best in Europe. Highlights clubs like Olympique Marseille club only winner of the prestigious Champions League and Olympique Lyon won seven league titles uninterruptedly in the early twenty-first century club. Other major teams are Paris Saint-Germain, AS Monaco, Girondins Bordeaux, among others.

Meanwhile the France national rugby union team is one of the best in the world. He is the current World Cup runners and with more titles, along with England. Handball is one of the most followed sports, taking the France national handball team as a major player internationally. Among his achievements include that title in the 2010 European Cup, the World Championships 2009 and 2011 and the gold medal of the Beijing Olympics 2008, the first handball team in achieving these three titles, the most in the world in this sport, consecutively. Also the France national basketball team is also one of the most important best national teams worldwide. He earned fifth place in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Geography

The French territory has an area of 675,417 km², representing 0.50% of the land area of the planet (Since 40th in the world). The metropolitan France, ie European, has 551,695 km² (data from the French National Geographic Institute), while overseas France has other 123,722 km² (excluding Adélie Land by the Antarctic Treaty in 1959 that suspended the recognition of all sovereignty in that region). Its larger islands are New Caledonia, Corsica, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The political demarcation of European continental France relies on its "natural frontiers" being these (counterclockwise): the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay); Pyrenees (border with Spain and Andorra); Mediterranean (Gulf of Lion, Costa Azul) sea; the Alps; the Jura mountains; the Rhine. The Rhine River is border only a part of its course, the point from which and to the North Sea, there are no landforms that delimit "naturally" the border with Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The most important French island in Europe is Corsica, located in the Mediterranean Sea. In metropolitan France borders extending over 2889 km coastline and other 3427 km. In Africa, Asia, Oceania, North America and the Caribbean, French territory is insular. French Guiana is the only mainland outside Europe, bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean (378 km); west with Suriname (510 km), to the east by Brazil (673 km). The Saint Martin has a southern border with the Netherlands Antilles (10.2 km).

France has some of the Pyrenees and the Alps, both

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