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1、PREHISTORIC PEOPLENeanderthals were the first people to live in France. Out and about during the Middle Palaeolithic period, these early Homo sapiens hunted animals, made crude flake-stone tools and lived in caves. In the late 19th century Neanderthal skeletons were found in caves at Le Bugue in the

2、 Vézère Valley (see p630in Dordogne.Cro-Magnons, a taller Homo sapiens variety who notched up 1.7m on the height chart, followed 35,000 years ago. These people had larger brains than their ancestors, long and narrow skulls, and short, wide faces. Their hands were nimble, and with the aid o

3、f improved tools they hunted reindeer, bison, horses and mammoths to eat. They played music, danced and had fairly complex social patterns. You can view archeological treasures from this period in S trasbourg ( p 379 .Cro-Magnons were also artists. A tour of Grotte de Lascaux II ( p 635 a replica of

4、 the Lascaux cave where one of the worlds best examples of Cro-Magnon drawings was found in 1940 demonstrates how initial simplistic drawings and engravings of animals gradually became more detailed and realistic. Dubbed Périgords Sistine Chapel, the Lascaux cave is one of 25 known decorated ca

5、ves in Dordognes Vézère Valley, the prehistory of which is covered in Les Eyzies de Tayacs Musée National de P réhistoire ( p 630 .The Neolithic Period produced Frances incredible collection of menhirs and dolmens: the Morbihan Coast in Brittany ( p 341 is an ode to megalithic mo

6、numents. During this era, warmer weather caused great changes in flora and fauna, and ushered in farming and stock rearing. Cereals, peas, beans and lentils were grown, and villages were settled. Decorated pottery, woven fabrics and polished stone tools became commonplace h ousehold items. G AULS &a

7、mp; ROMANSThe Celtic G auls moved into the region between 1500 and 500 BC, establish-ing trading links by about 600 BC with the Greeks, whose colonies included Massilia (Marseille on the Mediterranean c oast.It was from Wissant in far northern France that J ulius Caesar launched his invasion of Brit

8、ain in 55 BC. Centuries of conflict between the Gauls and the R omans ended in 52 BC when Caesars legions crushed a revolt by many Gallic tribes led by C eltic Arverni tribe chief V ercingétorix at Gergovia near present-day Clermont-Ferrand. For the next couple of years the Gauls hounded the Ro

9、mans with guerrilla warfare and stood up to them in several match-drawn pitched battles. But gradually Gallic resistance collapsed and Roman rule in Gaul reigned supreme. Vercingétorix see him on Clermont-Ferrands placeHistoryAround 30,000 BC, during the Middle Palaeolithic Period, Cro-Magnons

10、start decorating their homes in the Vézère Valley, Dordogne, with a riot of bestial scenes that remain among the worlds best c ave paintings.c 30,000 BCc 70004000 BC1500500 BCNeolithic man turns his handto menhirs and dolmen during the New Stone Age, creating a particularly fine collection

11、 in Brittany that continues to baffle historians the tallest stands 20m tall.The Celtic Parisii tribe build a handful of wattle-and-daub huts on what is now the Île de la Cité in Paris; their capital city is christened Lutetia by the R omans.© Lonely Planet PublicationsThe French inve

12、ntedthe first digitalcalculator, the hot-air balloon, Braille and margarine, not to mention Grand Prix racing and the first public interactive computer network. Find out what else at http:/inventors inventors.29HISTORY Dynastyde Jaude ( p 585 meanwhile was captured and carted off to Rome, where he w

13、as paraded in chains in Caesars triumphal procession. As a final insult he was left languishing in prison for six years before b eing strangled.Roman France is magnificent, climaxing with the almighty Pont du Gard ( p 766 aqueduct, built to bring water to the city of Nîmes in southern France. S

14、tand like a plebeian or sit like a Roman patrician in awe-inspiring theatres and amphitheatres at Autun ( p 489 , Lyon ( p 501 , Vienne ( p 518 , Arles ( p 827 and Orange ( p 845 . Lyon also has an excellent Gallo-Roman civilisation museum ( p 502 . In the Dordogne, Périgueux 1st-century Roman

15、amphitheatre ( p 622 was dismantled in the 3rd century and its stones used to build the city walls. The towns stunningly contemporary Musée Gallo-Romain Vesunna ( p 622 is a feast t o behold.Post-Romans, the F ranks adopted important elements of Gallo-Roman civilisation (including Christianity,

16、 and their eventual assimilation resulted in a fusion of Germanic culture with that of the Celts and t he Romans.DYNASTYThe Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties ruled from the 5th to the 10th centuries, with the Carolingians wielding power from Laon in far northern France. The Frankish tra

17、dition, by which the king was succeeded by all of his sons, led to power struggles and the eventual disintegration of the kingdom into a collection of small f eudal states.Charles Martels grandson, C harlemagne (742814, extended the bounda-ries of the kingdom and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor (Empe

18、ror ofthe West in 800. But during the 9th century Scandinavian Vikings (also called Norsemen, thus N ormans raided Frances western coast, settling in the lower Seine Valley and forming the duchy of Normandy a century later. The coronation of H ugh Capet in 987 heralded the birth of the C apetian dyn

19、asty, the kings then-modest domain being a humble parcel of land around Paris a nd Orléans.The tale of how W illiam the Conqueror and his Norman forces occupied England in 1066 is told on the Bayeux Tapestry, showcased inside Bayeux Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux ( p 279 . In 1152 E lean

20、or of Aquitaine wed H enry of Anjou (see ornate polychrome effigies of the royal couple in Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, p 447 , bringing a further third of France under the control of the English crown. The subsequent rivalry between France and England for control of Aquitaine and the vast English t

21、erritories in France lasted t hree centuries. T HE H UNDRED YEARS WARDuring the Hundred Y ears War (13371453 the French suffered particularly nasty defeats at Crécy and Agincourt. Abbey-studded Mont St-Michel ( p 302 was the only place in northern and western France not to fall into E nglish ha

22、nds.Celtic Gauls move into theregion and establish trading links with the Greeks, whose colonies included Massilia (Mar-seille on the Mediterranean coast; the latter bring grapes and olives.1500500 BC5552 BCc AD 100300Julius Caesar launches his inva-sion of Britain from the Côte dOpale in far n

23、orthern France; the Gauls defeat the Romans at Gergovia near present-day Clermont-Ferrand.The Romans revel in their heyday with a riot of splendid public buildings: magnificent baths, temples and aqueducts of almighty proportions such as the Pont du Gard near Nîmes in southern F rance.La Reine

24、Margot (Queen Margot by Alexander Dumas (180270 is a compelling tale of murder and intrigue in the Renaissance royal French court. The lead character is based on the queen of King Henri IV.30 HISTORY Renaissance to Reformation Five years later the dukes of Burgundy (allied with the English occupied

25、Paris and in 1422 J ohn Plantagenet, duke of Bedford, was made regent of France for Englands King Henry VI, then an infant. Less than a decade later he was crowned king of France at Paris Notre D ame ( p 145 .Luckily for the French, a 17-year-old virginal warrior called Jeanne dArc (Joan of Arc came

26、 along; her tale is told at Orléans Maison de Jeanne dArc ( p 420 . At Château de Chinon ( p 444 in 1429 she persuaded French legitimist C harles VII that she had a divine mission from God to expel the English from France and bring about Charles coronation in Reims. Convicted of witchcraft

27、 and heresy by a tribunal of French ecclesiastics following her capture by the Burgundians and subsequent sale to the English in 1430, Joan was burned at the stake: the square ( p 268 where she was burned as a w itch remains.Charles VII returned to Paris in 1437, but it wasnt until 1453 that the Eng

28、lish were driven from French territory (with the exception of Calais. At Château de Langeais ( p 442 in 1491 C harles VIII wed A nne de Bretagne, marking the unification of independent Brittany w ith France.RENAISSANCE TO REFORMATIONWith the arrival of Italian R enaissance culture during the re

29、ign of F rançois I (r 151547, the focus shifted to the Loire Valley. Italian artists decorated royal castles in Amboise ( p 437 , Blois ( p 424 , Chambord ( p 429 and Chaumont ( p 430 , with Leonardo da Vinci making Le Clos Lucé ( p 439 in Amboise his home from 1516 until his death. Artist

30、 and architect disciples of Michelangelo and Raphael were influential, as were writers such as Rabelais, Marot and Ronsard. Renaissance ideas of scientific and geographic scholarship and discovery assumed a new importance, as did the value of secular matters over r eligious life.T he R eformation sw

31、ept through Europe in the 1530s. The ideas of J ean (John Calvin (150964, a Frenchman born in Noyon (Picardie but exiled to Geneva, strengthened it in France. Following the E dict of Jan (1562, which afforded the Protestants certain rights, the W ars of Religion (156298 broke out between the Hugueno

32、ts (French Protestants who received help from the English, the Catholic League (led by the House of Guise and the C atholic monarchy.H enri IV (r 15891610 kicked off the Bourbon dynasty, issuing the con-troversial E dict of Nantes (1598 to guarantee the Huguenots many civil and political rights, not

33、ably freedom of conscience. Ultra-Catholic Paris refused to allow the new Protestant king entry to the city, and a siege of the capital continued for almost five years. Only when Henri IV embraced Catholicism at the cathedral in St-Denis ( p 208 did the capital submit t o him.Throughout most of his

34、undistinguished reign, Fontainebleau-born L ouis XIII (r 161043 remained firmly under the thumb of his ruthless chief min-ister, C ardinal Richelieu, best known for his untiring efforts to establish an all-powerful monarchy in France and French supremacy i n Europe.France remains under Roman rule un

35、til the 5th century, when the Franks (hence the name France and the Alemaniiinvade and overrun the country from t he east.c 45570732800Somewhere near Poitiers, mid-way along the Atlantic Coast,C harles Martel and his cavalry repel the Muslim Moors and stop them from conquering France a nd Spain.Char

36、les Martels grandson,Charlemagne (742814 extends the boundaries of the kingdom and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor (Emperor of the West.Track France in thenews, learn about its history and catch up on stacks more background info with www.discover .31HISTORY The Virgin Warrior Scandinavian Vikings (als

37、o called Norsemen, thusNormans raid Frances western coast. They settle in the lower Seine Valley and later form the Duchy of Normandy.8009009871066Five centuries of Merovingian and Carolingian rule ends with the crowning of Hugh Capet; a dynasty that will rule one of Europes most powerfulcountries f

38、or the next 800 years is born.Duke of Normandy William the Conqueror and his Norman forces occupy England, making Normandy and, later,Plantagenet-ruled England for-midable rivals of the kingdom of France.32 HISTORY The Sun K ing THE SUN KINGAt the tender age of five, the Roi Soleil (Sun King ascende

39、d the throne as Louis XIV (r 16431715. Bolstered by claims of divine right, he involved France in a rash of wars that gained it territory but terrified its neighbours and nearly bankrupted the Treasury. At home he quashed the ambitious, feuding aristocracy and created the first centralised French st

40、ate. In Versailles, Louis XIV built an extravagant palace ( p 211 and made his courtiers compete with each other for royal favour, reducing them to ineffectual sycophants. In 1685 he revoked the E dict o f Nantes.Grandson L ouis XV (r 171574 was an oafish buffoon whose regent, the duke of Orléa

41、ns, shifted the royal court back to Paris. As the 18th century progressed, the ancien régime (old order became increasingly at odds with the needs of the country. Enlightened anti-establishment and anticlerical ideas expressed by Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu further threatened the r oyal

42、regime.The S even Years War (175663, fought by France and Austria against Britain and Prussia, was one of a series of ruinous wars pursued by Louis XV, leading to the loss of Frances flourishing colonies in Canada, the West Indies and India to the British. The war cost a fortune and, even more ruino

43、us for the monarchy, it helped to disseminate in France the radical democratic ideas that had been thrust onto the world stage by the A merican Revolution.REVOLUTION TO REPUBLICSocial and economic crises marked the 18th century. With the aim of warding off popular discontent, Louis XVI called a meet

44、ing of the États Généraux (Estates General in 1789, made up of representatives of the nobility (First Estate, clergy (Second Estate and the remaining 90% of the population (Third Estate. When the Third Estates call for a system of proportional voting failed, it proclaimed itself a Nat

45、ional Assembly and demanded a constitution. On the streets, a Parisian mob took the matter into its own hands by raiding the Invalides ( p 151 for weapons and storming the prison at Bastille (now a very busy roundabout; p 144 . Said to be something of a clueless idiot, L ouis XVI is reckoned to have

46、 written rien (nothing hap-pened in his diary t hat day.France was declared a constitutional monarchy and reforms enacted. But as the new government armed itself against the threat posed by Austria, Prussia and the many exiled French nobles, patriotism and nationalism mixed with revolutionary fervou

47、r. Before long the moderate republican Girondins lost power to the radical Jacobins led by Robespierre, Danton and Marat, and in September 1792 Frances First Republic was declared. Louis XVI was publicly guillotined in January 1793 on Paris place de la Concorde ( p 154 and the head of his queen, the

48、 vilified M arie-Antoinette, rolled several m onths later.Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade in Clermont-Ferrand, prompting France to play aleading role in the Crusades and giving rise to some splendid cathedrals Reims, Strasbourg, Metz and Chartres a mong them.109511521309Eleanor of Aquitaine

49、 wedsHenry of Anjou, bringing a fur-ther third of France under the control of the English Crown and sparking a FrenchEnglish rivalry that will last at least three c enturies.French-born Pope C lément Vmoves the papal headquarters from Rome to the Provençal city of Avignon, where the Holy S

50、ee remains until 1377; home is the resplendent Palais des Papes built under Benoît XII (133442.Winner of the 2008 Ondaatje Prize, Graham Robbs much-lauded The Discovery of France is an epic portrait of contemporary France as a re-emerging land of a thousand pays (lands; his in-country research

51、saw him cycle some 20,000km around rural France.33HISTORY Napoléon Bonapar te Incessant struggles betweenthe Capetians and EnglandsKing Edward III, a Plantagenet,over the powerful Frenchthrone degenerate into theHundred Years War, which willlast u ntil 1453.133714221431John Plantagenet, duke of

52、 Bedford, is made regent of France for Englands King Henry VI, then an infant. Less than a decade later he is crowned king of France at Paris N otre Dame.Jeanne dArc (Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy; the English are not driven out of France until 1453.34 HISTORY Second Republic

53、 to Second Empire Charles VIII weds Anne deBretagne at Château deLangeais in the castle-studdedLoire Valley. Their marriagemarks the unification of inde-pendent Brittany w ith France.149115151530s With the reign of François I the royal court moves to the Loire Valley, where a rash of stun-

54、ning Renaissance châteaux and hunting lodges enough to last several lifetimes over are built.The Reformation sweeps through France, prompting the core of Catholicism to be ques-tioned, pitting Catholic against Protestant and eventually leading to the Wars of Religion (156298.35HISTORY A Beautif

55、ul Age The Catholic League forcesHenri III (r 157489, the lastof the Valois kings, to flee theroyal court at the Louvre, Paris,and the next year he isassassinated by a fanaticalDominican f riar.1588159816431715Bourbon king Henry IV gives French Protestants freedom of conscience with the Edict of Nan

56、tes much to the horror of staunchly Catholic Paris, which refuses to accept the king until he accepts C atholicism.The Roi Soleil (Sun King, Louis XIV, assumes the French throne and shifts his royal court from Paris 23km west to a fabulous palace in V ersailles.36 HISTORY Wwii The Seven Years War, f

57、oughtby France and Austria againstBritain and Prussia, is one of aseries of ruinous wars pursuedby Louis XV, leading to the lossof Frances colonies in Canada,the West Indies and India.175663178994179599Revolutionaries storm the Bastille, leading to the public beheading of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoine

58、tte and the Reign of Terror, during which religious freedoms a re revoked. A five-man delegation of moderate republicans led by Paul Barras sets itself up as a Directoire (Directory and rules the Republic for five y ears.37HISTORY Postwar Devastation Enter a dashing youngCorsican soldier calledNapoléon Bonaparte(17691821 who, as consul ofthe First Empire, commissionsParis most famous triumphalarch to b e built.1799181518511858Louis Napoléon leads a coup détat and proclaims hims