France National Holiday

Fete de la Federation

The French National Day commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on the 14 July 1789, as well as the Fête de la Fédération which celebrated the unity of the French people on the 14 July 1790. Celebrations are held all over France.

France, officially the French Republic (French: République française, is a sovereign country in Western Europe that includes overseas regions and territories. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of only three countries (besides Morocco and Spain) to have both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. Due to its shape, it is often referred to in French as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon"). According to Article 2 of the Constitution, the official language of France is French, a Romance language derived from Latin.

France is the largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the third-largest in Europe as a whole. With a total population of around 66 million, it is the third most-populous European country. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the nation's largest city and the main cultural and commercial centre. The current Constitution of France, adopted by referendum on 4 October 1958, establishes the country as secular and democratic, with its sovereignty derived from the people. The nation's ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the world's earliest documents on human rights, which was formulated during the seminal French Revolution of the late 18th century.