Did You Know

Interesting Facts about France

Trivia, oddities, and curious tidbits about France.

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Did You Know?

19 curious facts about France.

When a child loses a tooth they put their tooth under their pillow. A mouse called La Pettie Souris, will come to take it and leave a gift.
France is the top tourist country with over 71.4 million visitors each year.
St. Pierre and Miquelon are the only remaining French territories in North America. These two small islands are located off the south coast of Newfoundland.
The Camargue is a region in southern France at the Rhône River delta, made up of 140,000 hectares of wetlands, pastures, dunes and salt flats. This fragile ecological area includes rare animal species like egrets and ibises and a unique breed of small white horses.

Paris gets its name from the Parisii, a Celtic tribe that lived on the banks of the River Seine in the 3rd century B.C.
Although today French women and men have equal rights in political and economic affairs, French women did not get the vote until 1945. Before 1964, when the Matrimonial Act was passed, women could not open a bank account or start a business without their husbands' permission.
Since the 16th century, French parents have been required to register the names of their children with a government official. By law, only officially recognized first names could be registered. Non-French or unconventional names were not allowed. Recently, this law has been relaxed.
Paris has one of the oldest subway systems in the world, known as the Métro. Construction began in 1898 and the first line opened in 1900. In 1998, the fourteenth line was inaugurated. It features a driverless train called the Météor.
In 1892, Pierre Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, rallied support for the revival of the Olympics. On June 23, 1894, in Paris, he founded the International Olympic Committee and established the structure of today's Olympic Games.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is an international humanitarian aid organization founded in France. MSF doctors provide medical services to people endangered by war, civil strife, epidemics or natural disasters. In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize for its work.