French people - wikipedia French people `` Frenchman '' redirects here. For other uses, see Frenchman ( disambiguation ). `` Frenchmen '' redirects here. For the street in New Orleans, see Frenchmen Street. French people Français Total population c. 93 million ( Full or partial French ancestry and citizenship worldwide ) Regions with significant populations France 66,991,000 ( Including all the overseas departments ) United States 10,329,465 ( Includes French Canadian Americans ) Canada 8,790,250 Argentina 6,800,000 Brazil 1,000,000 -- 2,000,000 Chile 700,000 Uruguay 300,000 Peru 255,000 Italy 250,000 Switzerland 158,862 Germany 126,739 ( French citizens ) United Kingdom 126,049 Madagascar 124,000 Belgium 123,076 Spain 122,385 Australia 118,000 Other countries Morocco 100,000 estimated 85,000 Mexico 60,000 Algeria 32,000 China 31,000 Luxembourg 31,000 Hong Kong 25,000 Netherlands 23,000 Senegal 20,000 Mauritius 15,000 Monaco 10,000 Sweden 9,005 Austria 8,246 Languages French and other languages ( Langues d'oïl Occitan Auvergnat Corsican Catalan Franco - Provençal German ( Alsatian & Franconian ) Dutch ( French Flemish ) Breton Basque ) Religion Predominantly Roman Catholicism Minority : Protestantism Judaism Related ethnic groups Celtic peoples Romance peoples Germanic peoples The French ( French : Français ) are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural. Historically the French people 's heritage is diverse, including populations of Gauls, Ligures, Latins, Franks, Iberians, Alamans and Norsemen. France has long been a patchwork of local customs and regional differences, and while most French people still speak the French language as their mother tongue, languages like Norman, Occitan, Catalan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Basque, French Flemish, Lorraine Franconian, Alsatian and Breton remain spoken in some regions. Modern French society is a melting pot. From the middle of the 19th century, it experienced a high rate of inward migration and the government, defining France as an inclusive nation with universal values, advocated assimilation through which immigrants were expected to adhere to French values and cultural norms. Nowadays, while the government has let newcomers retain their distinctive cultures since the mid-1980s and requires from them a mere integration, French citizens still equate their nationality with citizenship as does French law. In addition to mainland France, French people and people of French descent can be found internationally, in overseas departments and territories of France such as the French West Indies ( French Caribbean ), and in foreign countries with significant French - speaking population groups or not, such as Switzerland ( French Swiss ), the United States ( French Americans ), Canada ( French Canadians ), Argentina ( French Argentines ), Brazil ( French Brazilians ) or Uruguay ( French Uruguayans ). Contents 1 Citizenship and legal residence 2 History 2.1 Celtic and Roman Gaul 2.2 Frankish Kingdom 2.3 Kingdom of France 2.4 French Republic 2.5 20th century 3 Languages 3.1 In France 3.2 Abroad 4 Nationality, citizenship, ethnicity 4.1 Genetics 4.2 Nationality and citizenship 4.3 Multiculturalism versus universalism 4.4 Ernest Renan 's What is a Nation ? ( 1882 ) 4.5 Jus soli and jus sanguinis 4.6 European citizenship 4.7 Citizenship of foreigners 4.8 Statistics 4.9 Immigration 5 Populations with French ancestry 5.1 Canada 5.2 United States 5.3 Argentina 5.4 Uruguay 5.5 United Kingdom 5.6 Costa Rica 5.7 Mexico 5.8 Chile 5.9 Brazil 5.10 Guatemala 5.11 Latin America 5.12 Huguenots 5.13 Asia 5.14 Elsewhere 6 See also 7 Notes and references 8 External links Citizenship and legal residence To be French, according to the first article of the French Constitution, is to be a citizen of France, regardless of one 's origin, race, or religion ( sans distinction d'origine, de race ou de religion ). According to its principles, France has devoted itself to the destiny of a proposition nation, a generic territory where people are bounded only by the French language and the assumed willingness to live together, as defined by Ernest Renan 's `` plébiscite de tous les jours '' ( ' everyday plebiscite ' ) on the willingness to live together, in Renan 's 1882 essay `` Qu'est - ce qu'une nation ? '' ). The debate concerning the integration of this view with the principles underlying the European Community remains open. A large number of foreigners have traditionally been permitted to live in France and succeeded in doing so. Indeed, the country has long valued its openness, tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries ( for instance, this is the case with Switzerland : one can be both French and Swiss ). The European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in the state sector ( though not as trainees in reserved branches, e.g., as magistrates ). Seeing itself as an inclusive nation with universal values, France has always valued and strongly advocated assimilation. However, the success of such assimilation has recently been called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno - cultural enclaves ( communautarisme ). The 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs ( les quartiers sensibles ) were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts ( as appeared before in other countries like the USA and the UK ) but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration. History Main article : History of France French people are the descendants of Gauls and Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples, as well as Bretons, Aquitanians, Ligurians and to a lesser extent, Germanic people arriving at the beginning of the Frankish Empire such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi, the Saxons, the Allemanni and the Burgundians, and later Germanic groups such as the Vikings ( known as Normans ), who settled in Normandy and to a lesser extent in Brittany in the 9th century. The name `` France '' etymologically derives from the word Francia, the territory of the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire. Celtic and Roman Gaul Map of Gaul before complete Roman conquest ( circa 58 BCE ) and its five main regions : Celtica, Belgica, Cisalpina, Narbonensis and Aquitania. Main articles : Celts, Gaul, Gauls, and Roman Empire In the pre-Roman era, all of Gaul ( an area of Western Europe that encompassed all of what is known today as France, Belgium, part of Germany and Switzerland, and Northern Italy ) was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes. Their ancestors were Celts who came from Central Europe in the 7th century BCE ( and even before, according to new research ), and dominated native peoples which ca n't be clearly identified except the Ligures ( Alps and Provence ), the Iberians at the eastern bottom of the Pyrenees ( south of Agde according to Avenius ) and Aquitanic people ( among them, the Basques ) in Aquitaine. Some, particularly in the northern and eastern areas, had Germanic admixture ( the Belgae ) ; many of these peoples had already spoken Celtic ( Gaulish ) by the time of the Roman conquest, but others seem to have spoken a Celto - Germanic creole. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58 - 51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar ( except the south - east which had already been conquered about one century earlier ). The area then became part of the Roman Empire. Over the next five centuries the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo - Roman culture. The Gaulish vernacular language disappeared step by step to be replaced everywhere by Vulgar Latin, which would later develop under Frankish influence into the French language in the North of France. Today, the last redoubt of Celtic culture and language in France can be found in the northwestern region of Brittany, although this is not the result of a survival of Gaulish language but of a 5th - century AD migration of Brythonic speaking Celts from Britain. Frankish Kingdom Main articles : Franks and Frankish Kingdom With the decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture : the Franks, from which the word `` French '' derives. The Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti, already during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present - day Netherlands and Germany between the third to the 7th century. At the beginning, they served in the Roman army and reached high commands. Their language is still spoken as a kind of Dutch ( Flemish - Low Frankish ) in northern France ( Westhoek ) and Frankish ( Central Franconian ) in German speaking Lorraine. Another Germanic people immigrated massively to Alsace : the Alamans, which explains the Alemannic German spoken there. They were competitors of the Franks ; that 's why it became at the Renaissance time the word for German in French : Allemand. By the early 6th century the Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern - day France, the country to which they gave their name. The other major Germanic people to arrive in France ( after the Burgundians and the Visigoths ) were the Norsemen or Northmen, ( which was shortened to Norman in France ), Viking raiders from modern Denmark and Norway, who settled with Anglo - Scandinavians and Anglo - Saxons from the Danelaw definitely in the northern region known today as Normandy in the 9th and 10th century, and which was given in fiefdom of the kingdom of France by king Charles III. The Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process. It was the Normans who, two centuries later, would go on to conquer England and Southern Italy. Eventually, though, the largely autonomous duchy of Normandy was incorporated back into the royal domain ( i.e. the territory under direct control of the French king ) in the Middle Ages. In the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, founded in 1099, at most 120 000 Franks ( predominantly French - speaking Western Christians ) ruled over 350,000 Muslims, Jews, and native Eastern Christians. Kingdom of France See also : Medieval demography Louis XIV of France `` The Sun - King '' In the roughly 900 years after the Norman invasions France had a fairly settled population. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, France experienced relatively low levels of emigration to the Americas, with the exception of the Huguenots, due to a lower birthrate than in the rest of Europe. However, significant emigration of mainly Roman Catholic French populations led to the settlement of the Province of Acadia, Canada ( New France ) and Louisiana, all ( at the time ) French possessions, as well as colonies in the West Indies, Mascarene islands and Africa. On 30 December 1687 a community of French Huguenots settled in South Africa. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but have since been quickly absorbed into the Afrikaner population. After Champlain 's founding of Quebec City in 1608, it became the capital of New France. Encouraging settlement was difficult, and while some immigration did occur, by 1763 New France only had a population of some 65,000. From 1713 to 1787, 30,000 colonists immigrated from France to the Saint - Domingue. In 1805, when the French were forced out of Saint - Domingue ( Haiti ), 35,000 French settlers were given lands in Cuba. By the beginning of the 17th century, some 20 % of the total male population of Catalonia was made up of French immigrants. In the 18th century and early 19th century, a small migration of French emigrated by official invitation of the Habsburgs to the Austro - Hungarian Empire, now the nations of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia and Romania. Some of them, coming from French - speaking communes in Lorraine or being French Swiss Walsers from the Valais canton in Switzerland, maintained for some generations the French language and a specific ethnic identity, later labelled as Banat ( French : Français du Banat ). By 1788 there were 8 villages populated by French colonists. French Republic Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix The French First Republic appeared following the 1789 French Revolution. It replaced the ancient kingdom of France, ruled by the divine right of kings. Hobsbawm highlighted the role of conscription, invented by Napoleon, and of the 1880s public instruction laws, which allowed mixing of the various groups of France into a nationalist mold which created the French citizen and his consciousness of membership to a common nation, while the various regional languages of France were progressively eradicated. The 1870 Franco - Prussian War, which led to the short - lived Paris Commune of 1871, was instrumental in bolstering patriotic feelings ; until World War I ( 1914 -- 1918 ), French politicians never completely lost sight of the disputed Alsace - Lorraine region which played a major role in the definition of the French nation and therefore of the French people. The decrees of 24 October 1870 by Adolphe Crémieux granted automatic and massive French citizenship to all Jewish people of Algeria. 20th century Successive waves of immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries were rapidly assimilated into French culture. France 's population dynamics began to change in the middle of the 19th century, as France joined the Industrial Revolution. The pace of industrial growth attracted millions of European immigrants over the next century, with especially large numbers arriving from Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. In the period from 1915 to 1950, many immigrants came from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Russia, Scandinavia and Yugoslavia. Small but significant numbers of Frenchmen in the North and Northeast regions have relatives in Germany and Great Britain. Between 1956 and 1967, about 235,000 North African Jews from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco also immigrated to France due to the decline of the French empire and following the Six - Day War. Hence, by 1968, Jews of North African origin comprised the majority of the Jewish population of France. As these new immigrants were already culturally French they needed little time to adjust to French society. French law made it easy for thousands of settlers ( colons in French ), national French from former colonies of North and East Africa, India and Indochina to live in mainland France. It is estimated that 20,000 settlers were living in Saigon in 1945, and there were 68,430 European settlers living in Madagascar in 1958. 1.6 million European pieds noirs settlers migrated from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 pied noir settlers left Algeria in the most massive relocation of population in Europe since the World War II. In the 1970s, over 30,000 French settlers left Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime as the Pol Pot government confiscated their farms and land properties. In the 1960s, a second wave of immigration came to France, which was needed for reconstruction purposes and for cheaper labour after the devastation brought on by World War II. French entrepreneurs went to Maghreb countries looking for cheap labour, thus encouraging work - immigration to France. Their settlement was officialized with Jacques Chirac 's family regrouping act of 1976 ( regroupement familial ). Since then, immigration has become more varied, although France stopped being a major immigration country compared to other European countries. The large impact of North African and Arab immigration is the greatest and has brought racial, socio - cultural and religious questions to a country seen as homogenously European, French and Christian for thousands of years. Nevertherless, according to Justin Vaïsse, professor at Sciences Po Paris, integration of Muslim immigrants is happening as part of a background evolution and recent studies confirmed the results of their assimilation, showing that `` North Africans seem to be characterized by a high degree of cultural integration reflected in a relatively high propensity to exogamy '' with rates ranging from 20 % to 50 %. According to Emmanuel Todd the relatively high exogamy among French Algerians can be explained by the colonial link between France and Algeria. A small French descent group also subsequently arrived from Latin America ( Argentina, Chile and Uruguay ) in the 1970s. Languages In France Main articles : French language and Languages of France A map showing the ethno - linguistic groups in Metropolitan France : Alemannic Germans Arpitan speakers Basques Bretons Catalans Corsicans Flemings Occitan speakers Langues d'oil speakers Most French people speak the French language as their mother tongue, but certain languages like Norman, Occitan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Euskara, French Flemish and Breton remain spoken in certain regions ( see Language policy in France ). There have also been periods of history when a majority of French people had other first languages ( local languages such as Occitan, Catalan, Alsatian, West Flemish, Lorraine Franconian, Gallo, Picard or Ch'timi and Arpitan ). Today, many immigrants speak another tongue at home. According to historian Eric Hobsbawm, `` the French language has been essential to the concept of ' France ', '' although in 1789, 50 percent of the French people did not speak it at all, and only 12 to 13 percent spoke it fairly well ; even in oïl languages zones, it was not usually used except in cities, and even there not always in the outlying districts. Abroad This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( July 2008 ) The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom has two French mottos : Dieu et mon droit and Honi soit qui mal y pense. Abroad, the French language is spoken in many different countries -- in particular the former French colonies. Nevertheless, speaking French is distinct from being a French citizen. Thus, francophonie, or the speaking of French, must not be confused with French citizenship or ethnicity. For example, French speakers in Switzerland are not `` French citizens ''. Native English - speaking Blacks on the island of Saint - Martin hold French nationality even though they do not speak French as a first language, while their neighbouring French - speaking Haitian immigrants ( who also speak a French - creole ) remain foreigners. Large numbers of people of French ancestry outside Europe speak other first languages, particularly English, throughout most of North America ( except French Canada ), Spanish or Portuguese in southern South America, and Afrikaans in South Africa. The adjective `` French '' can be used to mean either `` French citizen '' or `` French - speaker '', and usage varies depending on the context, with the former being common in France. The latter meaning is often used in Canada, when discussing matters internal to Canada. Nationality, citizenship, ethnicity The modern ethnic French are the descendants of Celts, Iberians, Ligurians and Greeks in southern France, mixed with Germanic peoples arriving at the end of the Roman Empire such as the Franks and the Burgundians, and some Vikings who mixed with the Normans and settled mostly in Normandy in the 9th century. According to Dominique Schnapper, `` The classical conception of the nation is that of an entity which, opposed to the ethnic group, affirms itself as an open community, the will to live together expressing itself by the acceptation of the rules of a unified public domain which transcends all particularisms ''. This conception of the nation as being composed by a `` will to live together, '' supported by the classic lecture of Ernest Renan in 1882, has been opposed by the French far - right, in particular the nationalist Front National ( `` National Front '' - FN ) party which claims that there is such a thing as a `` French ethnic group ''. The discourse of ethno - nationalist groups such as the Front National ( FN ), however, advances the concept of Français de souche or `` indigenous '' French. French people in Paris, August 1944 The conventional conception of French history starts with Ancient Gaul, and French national identity often views the Gauls as national precursors, either as biological ancestors ( hence the refrain nos ancêtres les Gaulois ), as emotional / spiritual ancestors, or both. Vercingetorix, the Gaulish chieftain who tried to unite the various Gallic tribes of the land against Roman encroachment but was ultimately vanquished by Julius Caesar, is often revered as a `` first national hero ''. In the famously popular French comic Asterix, the main characters are patriotic Gauls fight against Roman invaders while in modern days the term Gaulois is used in French to distinguish the `` native '' French from French of immigrant origins. However, despite its occasional nativist usage, the Gaulish identity has also been embraced by French of non-native origins as well : notably, Napoleon III, whose family was ultimately of Corsican and Italian roots, identified France with Gaul and Vercingetorix, and declared that `` New France, ancient France, Gaul are one and the same moral person. '' It has been noted that the French view of having Gallic origins has evolved over history. Before the French Revolution, it divided social classes, with the peasants identifying with the native Gauls while the aristocracy identified with the Franks. During the early nineteenth century, intellectuals began using the identification with Gaul instead as a unifying force to bridge divisions within French society with a common national origin myth. Myriam Krepps of the University of Nebraska - Omaha argues that the view of `` a unified territory ( one land since the beginning of civilization ) and a unified people '' which de-emphasized `` all disparities and the succession of waves of invaders '' was first imprinted on the masses by the unified history curriculum of French textbooks in the late 1870s. Since the beginning of the Third Republic ( 1871 -- 1940 ), the state has not categorized people according to their alleged ethnic origins. Hence, in contrast to the United States Census, French people are not asked to define their ethnic appartenance, whichever it may be. The usage of ethnic and racial categorization is avoided to prevent any case of discrimination ; the same regulations apply to religious membership data that can not be compiled under the French Census. This classic French republican non-essentialist conception of nationality is officialized by the French Constitution, according to which `` French '' is a nationality, and not a specific ethnicity. Genetics Haplogroup R1b ( Y - DNA ), typical in all West European populations. France has been influenced by the many different human migrations that wide - crossed Europe over time. Prehistoric and Neolithic population movements could have influenced the genetic diversity of this country. A study in 2009 analysed 555 French individuals from 7 different regions in mainland France and found the following Y - DNA Haplogroups. The five main haplogroups are R1 ( 63.41 % ), E ( 11.41 % ) ( traced mostly in the Paris area ), I ( 8.88 % ), J ( 7.97 % ) and G ( 5.16 % ). R1b ( particularly R1b1b2 ) was found to be the most dominant Y chromosomal lineage in France, covering about 60 % of the Y chromosomal lineages. The high frequency of this haplogroup is typical in all West European populations. Haplogroups I and G are also characteristic markers for many different West European populations. Haplogroups J and E1b1b ( M35, M78, M81 and M34 ) consist of lineages with differential distribution within Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Only adults with French surnames were analyzed by the study. Region Nb BD E * E-M35 * E-M78 E-M81 E-M34 J1 J2 N1c P * R1a R1b1 1 Alsace 80 0 0 0 6.25 0 3.75 2.50 8.75 1.25 8.75 1.25 0 0 3.75 58.75 5 2 Auvergne 89 0 2.25 0 3.37 5.62 1.12 8.99 4.49 3.37 7.87 1.12 0 0 5.62 52.80 3.37 3 Brittany 115 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.74 13.04 0.87 2.61 0 0 0 0.87 80.88 0 4 Île - de-France 91 0 10.99 0 4.40 5.49 1.10 4.40 7.69 1.10 5.49 0 1.10 0 2.20 56.05 0 5 Midi - Pyrénées 67 0 1.49 1.49 2.99 1.49 1.49 4.48 10.45 4.48 7.46 0 0 0 2.99 59.69 1.49 6 Nord - Pas - de-Calais 68 0 1.47 1.47 5.88 4.41 0 7.35 8.82 0 5.88 0 0 0 2.94 61.76 0 7 Provence - Alpes - Côte d'Azur 45 2.22 0 2.22 8.89 2.22 0 6.67 8.89 0 6.67 0 0 4.44 0 55.55 2.22 Mainland France 555 0.32 2.31 0.74 4.54 2.75 1.07 5.16 8.88 1.58 6.39 0.34 0.16 0.63 2.62 60.78 1.73 Provence, a province of southern France was colonized by Ancient Greeks who founded the cities of Marseilles and Nice. A study in 2011 found that 17 % of the Y - chromosomes ( exclusive to males ) of Marseilles may be attributed to Greek colonization, predicting a maximum of a 10 % Greek contribution into the local population as opposed to Celto - Ligurian autochthonous input, suggesting a Greek male elite - dominant input into the Iron Age Provence population. There was also some evidence for limited Greek influence in Corsica. Nationality and citizenship Further information : Nationality and Citizenship French nationality has not meant automatic citizenship. Some categories of French people have been excluded, throughout the years, from full citizenship : Women : until the Liberation, they were deprived of the right to vote. The provisional government of General de Gaulle accorded them this right by the 21 April 1944 prescription. However, women still suffer from under - representation in the political class. The 6 June 2000 law on parity attempted to address this question. Military : for a long time, it was called `` la grande muette '' ( `` the great mute '' ) in reference to its prohibition from interfering in political life. During a large part of the Third Republic ( 1871 -- 1940 ), the Army was in its majority anti-republican ( and thus counterrevolutionary ). The Dreyfus Affair and the 16 May 1877 crisis, which almost led to a monarchist coup d'état by MacMahon, are examples of this anti-republican spirit. Therefore, they would only gain the right to vote with the 17 August 1945 prescription : the contribution of De Gaulle to the interior French Resistance reconciled the Army with the Republic. Nevertheless, militaries do not benefit from the whole of public liberties, as the 13 July 1972 law on the general statute of militaries specify. Young people : the July 1974 law, voted at the instigation of president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, reduced from 21 to 18 the age of majority. Naturalized foreigners : since the 9 January 1973 law, foreigners who have acquired French nationality do not have to wait five years after their naturalization to be able to vote anymore. Inhabitants of the colonies : the 7 May 1946 law meant that soldiers from the `` Empire '' ( such as the tirailleurs ) killed during World War I and World War II were not citizens. the special case of foreign citizens of an EU member state who, even if not French, are allowed to vote in French local elections and may turn to any French consular or diplomatic mission. France was one of the first countries to implement denaturalization laws. Philosopher Giorgio Agamben has pointed out this fact that the 1915 French law which permitted denaturalization with regard to naturalized citizens of `` enemy '' origins was one of the first example of such legislation, which Nazi Germany later implemented with the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. Furthermore, some authors who have insisted on the `` crisis of the nation - state '' allege that nationality and citizenship are becoming separate concepts. They show as example `` international '', `` supranational citizenship '' or `` world citizenship '' ( membership to international nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International or Greenpeace ). This would indicate a path toward a `` postnational citizenship ''. Beside this, modern citizenship is linked to civic participation ( also called positive freedom ), which implies voting, demonstrations, petitions, activism, etc. Therefore, social exclusion may lead to deprivation of citizenship. This has led various authors ( Philippe Van Parijs, Jean - Marc Ferry, Alain Caillé, André Gorz ) to theorize a guaranteed minimum income which would impede exclusion from citizenship. Multiculturalism versus universalism Alfred - Amédée Dodds, a mixed - race French general and colonial administrator born in Senegal In France, the conception of citizenship teeters between universalism and multiculturalism, especially in recent years. French citizenship has been defined for a long time by three factors : integration, individual adherence, and the primacy of the soil ( jus soli ). Political integration ( which includes but is not limited to racial integration ) is based on voluntary policies which aims at creating a common identity, and the interiorization by each individual of a common cultural and historic legacy. Since in France, the state preceded the nation, voluntary policies have taken an important place in the creation of this common cultural identity. On the other hand, the interiorization of a common legacy is a slow process, which B. Villalba compares to acculturation. According to him, `` integration is therefore the result of a double will : the nation 's will to create a common culture for all members of the nation, and the communities ' will living in the nation to recognize the legitimacy of this common culture ''. Villalba warns against confusing recent processes of integration ( related to the so - called `` second generation immigrants '', who are subject to discrimination ), with older processes which have made modern France. Villalba thus shows that any democratic nation characterize itself by its project of transcending all forms of particular memberships ( whether biological - or seen as such, ethnic, historic, economic, social, religious or cultural ). The citizen thus emancipates himself from the particularisms of identity which characterize himself to attain a more `` universal '' dimension. He is a citizen, before being a member of a community or of a social class Therefore, according to Villalba, `` a democratic nation is, by definition, multicultural as it gathers various populations, which differs by their regional origins ( Auvergnats, Bretons, Corsicans or Lorrains... ), their national origins ( immigrant, son or grandson of an immigrant ), or religious origins ( Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics or Atheists... ). '' Ernest Renan 's what is a nation ? ( 1882 ) Ernest Renan described this republican conception in his famous 11 March 1882 conference at the Sorbonne, Qu'est - ce qu'une nation ? ( `` What is a Nation ? '' ). According to him, to belong to a nation is a subjective act which always has to be repeated, as it is not assured by objective criteria. A nation - state is not composed of a single homogeneous ethnic group ( a community ), but of a variety of individuals willing to live together. Renan 's non-essentialist definition, which forms the basis of the French Republic, is diametrically opposed to the German ethnic conception of a nation, first formulated by Fichte. The German conception is usually qualified in France as an `` exclusive '' view of nationality, as it includes only the members of the corresponding ethnic group, while the Republican conception thinks itself as universalist, following the Enlightenment 's ideals officialized by the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. While Ernest Renan 's arguments were also concerned by the debate about the disputed Alsace - Lorraine region, he said that not only one referendum had to be made in order to ask the opinions of the Alsatian people, but also a `` daily referendum '' should be made concerning all those citizens wanting to live in the French nation - state. This plébiscite de tous les jours ( ' everyday plebiscite ' ) might be compared to a social contract or even to the classic definition of consciousness as an act which repeats itself endlessly. Henceforth, contrary to the German definition of a nation based on objective criteria, such as race or ethnic group, which may be defined by the existence of a common language, among other criteria, the people of France is defined as all the people living in the French nation - state and willing to do so, i.e. by its citizenship. This definition of the French nation - state contradicts the common opinion, which holds that the concept of the French people identifies with one particular ethnic group. This contradiction explains the seeming paradox encountered when attempting to identify a `` French ethnic group '' : the French conception of the nation is radically opposed to ( and was thought in opposition to ) the German conception of the Volk ( `` ethnic group '' ). This universalist conception of citizenship and of the nation has influenced the French model of colonization. While the British empire preferred an indirect rule system, which did not mix the colonized people with the colonists, the French Republic theoretically chose an integration system and considered parts of its colonial empire as France itself and its population as French people. The ruthless conquest of Algeria thus led to the integration of the territory as a Département of the French territory. This ideal also led to the ironic sentence which opened up history textbooks in France as in its colonies : `` Our ancestors the Gauls... ''. However, this universal ideal, rooted in the 1789 French Revolution ( `` bringing liberty to the people '' ), suffered from the racism that impregnated colonialism. Thus, in Algeria, the Crémieux decrees at the end of the 19th century gave French citizenship to north African Jews, while Muslims were regulated by the 1881 Indigenous Code. Liberal author Tocqueville himself considered that the British model was better adapted than the French one and did not balk before the cruelties of General Bugeaud 's conquest. He went as far as advocating racial segregation there. This paradoxical tension between the universalist conception of the French nation and the racism inherent in colonization is most obvious in Ernest Renan himself, who went as far as advocating a kind of eugenics. In a 26 June 1856 letter to Arthur de Gobineau, author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races ( 1853 -- 55 ) and one of the first theoreticians of `` scientific racism '', he wrote : `` You have written a remarkable book here, full of vigour and originality of mind, only it 's written to be little understood in France or rather it 's written to be misunderstood here. The French mind turns little to ethnographic considerations : France has little belief in race, (... ) The fact of race is huge originally ; but it 's been continually losing its importance, and sometimes, as in France, it happens to disappear completely. Does that mean total decadence ? Yes, certainly from the standpoint of the stability of institutions, the originality of character, a certain nobility that I hold to be the most important factor in the conjunction of human affairs. But also what compensations ! No doubt if the noble elements mixed in the blood of a people happened to disappear completely, then there would be a demeaning equality, like that of some Eastern states and in some respects China. But it is in fact a very small amount of noble blood put into the circulation of a people that is enough to ennoble them, at least as to historical effects ; this is how France, a nation so completely fallen into commonness, in practice plays on the world stage the role of a gentleman. Setting aside the quite inferior races whose intermingling with the great races would only poison the human species, I see in the future a homogeneous humanity. '' Jus soli and jus sanguinis Main article : French nationality law During the Ancien Régime ( before the 1789 French revolution ), jus soli ( or `` right of territory '' ) was predominant. Feudal law recognized personal allegeance to the sovereign, but the subjects of the sovereign were defined by their birthland. According to the 3 September 1791 Constitution, those who are born in France from a foreign father and have fixed their residency in France, or those who, after being born in foreign country from a French father, have come to France and have sworn their civil oath, become French citizens. Because of the war, distrust toward foreigners led to the obligation on the part of this last category to swear a civil oath in order to gain French nationality. However, the Napoleonic Code would insist on jus sanguinis ( `` right of blood '' ). Paternity, against Napoléon Bonaparte 's wish, became the principal criterion of nationality, and therefore broke for the first time with the ancient tradition of jus soli, by breaking any residency condition toward children born abroad from French parents. However, according to Patrick Weil, it was not `` ethnically motivated '' but `` only meant that family links transmitted by the pater familias had become more important than subjecthood ''. With the 7 February 1851 law, voted during the Second Republic ( 1848 -- 1852 ), `` double jus soli '' was introduced in French legislation, combining birth origin with paternity. Thus, it gave French nationality to the child of a foreigner, if both are born in France, except if the year following his coming of age he reclaims a foreign nationality ( thus prohibiting dual nationality ). This 1851 law was in part passed because of conscription concerns. This system more or less remained the same until the 1993 reform of the Nationality Code, created by the 9 January 1973 law. The 1993 reform, which defines the Nationality law, is deemed controversial by some. It commits young people born in France to foreign parents to solicit French nationality between the ages of 16 and 21. This has been criticized, some arguing that the principle of equality before the law was not complied with, since French nationality was no longer given automatically at birth, as in the classic `` double jus soli '' law, but was to be requested when approaching adulthood. Henceforth, children born in France from French parents were differentiated from children born in France from foreign parents, creating a hiatus between these two categories. The 1993 reform was prepared by the Pasqua laws. The first Pasqua law, in 1986, restricts residence conditions in France and facilitates expulsions. With this 1986 law, a child born in France from foreign parents can only acquire French nationality if he or she demonstrates his or her will to do so, at age 16, by proving that he or she has been schooled in France and has a sufficient command of the French language. This new policy is symbolized by the expulsion of 101 Malians by charter. The second Pasqua law on `` immigration control '' makes regularisation of illegal aliens more difficult and, in general, residence conditions for foreigners much harder. Charles Pasqua, who said on 11 May 1987 : `` Some have reproached me of having used a plane, but, if necessary, I will use trains '', declared to Le Monde on 2 June 1993 : `` France has been a country of immigration, it does n't want to be one anymore. Our aim, taking into account the difficulties of the economic situation, is to tend toward ' zero immigration ' ( '' immigration zéro `` ) ''. Therefore, modern French nationality law combines four factors : paternality or ' right of blood ', birth origin, residency and the will expressed by a foreigner, or a person born in France to foreign parents, to become French. European citizenship Main article : Citizenship of the European Union The 1992 Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of European citizenship, which comes in addition to national citizenships. Citizenship of foreigners By definition, a `` foreigner '' is someone who does not have French nationality. Therefore, it is not a synonym of `` immigrant '', as a foreigner may be born in France. On the other hand, a Frenchman born abroad may be considered an immigrant ( e.g. former prime minister Dominique de Villepin who lived the majority of his life abroad ). In most of the cases, however, a foreigner is an immigrant, and vice versa. They either benefit from legal sojourn in France, which, after a residency of ten years, makes it possible to ask for naturalisation. If they do not, they are considered `` illegal aliens ''. Some argue that this privation of nationality and citizenship does not square with their contribution to the national economic efforts, and thus to economic growth. In any cases, rights of foreigners in France have improved over the last half - century : 1946 : right to elect trade union representative ( but not to be elected as a representative ) 1968 : right to become a trade - union delegate 1972 : right to sit in works council and to be a delegate of the workers at the condition of `` knowing how to read and write French '' 1975 : additional condition : `` to be able to express oneself in French '' ; they may vote at prud'hommes elections ( `` industrial tribunal elections '' ) but may not be elected ; foreigners may also have administrative or leadership positions in tradeunions but under various conditions 1982 : those conditions are suppressed, only the function of conseiller prud'hommal is reserved to those who have acquired French nationality. They may be elected in workers ' representation functions ( Auroux laws ). They also may become administrators in public structures such as Social security banks ( caisses de sécurité sociale ), OPAC ( which administers HLMs ), Ophlm... 1992 : for European Union citizens, right to vote at the European elections, first exercised during the 1994 European elections, and at municipal elections ( first exercised during the 2001 municipal elections ). Statistics The INSEE does not collect data about language, religion, or ethnicity -- on the principle of the secular and unitary nature of the French Republic. Nevertheless, there are some sources dealing with just such distinctions : The CIA World Factbook defines the ethnic groups of France as being `` Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North African, Sub-Saharan African, Indochinese, and Basque minorities. Overseas departments : black, white, mulatto, East Indian, Chinese, Amerindian ''. Its definition is reproduced on several Web sites collecting or reporting demographic data. The U.S. Department of State goes into further detail : `` Since prehistoric times, France has been a crossroads of trade, travel, and invasion. Three basic European ethnic stocks -- Celtic, Latin, and Teutonic ( Frankish ) -- have blended over the centuries to make up its present population... Traditionally, France has had a high level of immigration... In 2004, there were over 6 million Muslims, largely of North African descent, living in France. France is home to both the largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe. '' The Encyclopædia Britannica says that `` the French are strongly conscious of belonging to a single nation, but they hardly constitute a unified ethnic group by any scientific gauge '', and it mentions as part of the population of France the Basques, the Celts ( called Gauls by Romans ), and the Germanic ( Teutonic ) peoples ( including the Norsemen or Vikings ). France also became `` in the 19th and especially in the 20th century, the prime recipient of foreign immigration into Europe... '' It is said by some that France adheres to the ideal of a single, homogeneous national culture, supported by the absence of hyphenated identities and by avoidance of the very term `` ethnicity '' in French discourse. Immigration Main article : Immigration to France As of 2008, the French national institute of statistics INSEE estimated that 5, 3 million foreign - born immigrants and 6, 5 million direct descendants of immigrants ( born in France with at least one immigrant parent ) lived in France representing a total of 11.8 million and 19 % of the total population in metropolitan France ( 62, 1 million in 2008 ). Among them, about 5, 5 million are of European origin and 4 million of North African origin. Populations with French ancestry See also : French diaspora Between 1848 and 1939, 1 million people with French passports emigrated to other countries. The main communities of French ancestry in the New World are found in the United States, Canada and Argentina while sizeable groups are also found in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Australia. Canada See also : French Canadian Acadians celebrating the Tintamarre and National Acadian Day in Caraquet, New Brunswick. There are nearly seven million French speakers out of nine to ten million people of French and partial French ancestry in Canada. The Canadian province of Quebec ( 2006 census population of 7,546,131 ), where more than 95 percent of the people speak French as either their first, second or even third language, is the center of French life on the Western side of the Atlantic ; however, French settlement began further east, in Acadia. Quebec is home to vibrant French - language arts, media, and learning. There are sizable French - Canadian communities scattered throughout the other provinces of Canada, particularly in Ontario, which has about 1 million people with French ancestry ( 400 000 who have French as their mother tongue ), Manitoba, and New Brunswick, which is the only fully bilingual province and is 33 percent Acadian. United States See also : French American The United States is home to an estimated 13 to 16 million people of French descent, or 4 to 5 percent of the US population, particularly in Louisiana, New England and parts of the Midwest. The French community in Louisiana consists of the Creoles, the descendants of the French settlers who arrived when Louisiana was a French colony, and the Cajuns, the descendants of Acadian refugees from the Great Upheaval. Very few creoles remain in New Orleans in present times. In New England, the vast majority of French immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries came not from France, but from over the border in Quebec, the Quebec diaspora. These French Canadians arrived to work in the timber mills and textile plants that appeared throughout the region as it industrialized. Today, nearly 25 percent of the population of New Hampshire is of French ancestry, the highest of any state. English and Dutch colonies of pre-Revolutionary America attracted large numbers of French Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in France. In the Dutch colony of New Netherland that later became New York, northern New Jersey, and western Connecticut, these French Huguenots, nearly identical in religion to the Dutch Reformed Church, assimilated almost completely into the Dutch community. However, large it may have been at one time, it has lost all identity of its French origin, often with the translation of names ( examples : de la Montagne > Vandenberg by translation ; de Vaux > DeVos or Devoe by phonetic respelling ). Huguenots appeared in all of the English colonies and likewise assimilated. Even though this mass settlement approached the size of the settlement of the French settlement of Quebec, it has assimilated into the English - speaking mainstream to a much greater extent than other French colonial groups and has left few traces of cultural influence. New Rochelle, New York is named after La Rochelle, France, one of the sources of Huguenot emigration to the Dutch colony ; and New Paltz, New York, is one of the few non-urban settlements of Huguenots that did not undergo massive recycling of buildings in the usual redevelopment of such older, larger cities as New York City or New Rochelle. Argentina See also : French Argentine French Argentines form the third largest ancestry group in Argentina, after Italian and Spanish Argentines. Most of French immigrants came to Argentina between 1871 and 1890, though considerable immigration continued until the late 1940s. At least half of these immigrants came from Southwestern France, especially from the Basque Country, Béarn ( Basses - Pyrénées accounted for more than 20 % of immigrants ), Bigorre and Rouergue but also from Savoy and the Paris region. Today around 6.8 million Argentines have some degree of French ancestry or are of partial or wholly of French descent ( up to 17 % of the total population ). French Argentines had a considerable influence over the country, particularly on its architectural styles and literary traditions, as well as on the scientific field. Some notable Argentines of French descent include writer Julio Cortázar, physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Bernardo Houssay or activist Alicia Moreau de Justo. With something akin to Latin culture, the French immigrants quickly assimilated into mainstream Argentine society. Uruguay Main article : French Uruguayan French Uruguayans form the third largest ancestry group in Uruguay, after Italian and Spanish Uruguayans. During the first half of the 19th century, Uruguay received mostly French immigrants to South America. It constituted back then the second receptor of French immigrants in the New World after the United States. Thus, while the United States received 195,971 French immigrants between 1820 and 1855, 13,922 Frenchmen, most of them from the Basque Country and Béarn, left for Uruguay between 1833 and 1842. The majority of immigrants were coming from the Basque Country, Béarn and Bigorre. Today, there are an estimated at 300,000 French descendants in Uruguay. United Kingdom Main article : French British French migration to the United Kingdom is a phenomenon that has occurred at various points in history. Many British people have French ancestry, and French remains the foreign language most learned by British people. Much of the UK 's mediaeval aristocracy was descended from Franco - Norman migrants at the time of the Norman Conquest of England, and also during the Angevin Empire of the Plantagenet dynasty. According to a study by Ancestry.co.uk, 3 million British people are of French descent. Among those are television presenters Davina McCall and Louis Theroux. There are currently an estimated 400,000 French people in the United Kingdom, most of them in London. Costa Rica The first French emigration in Costa Rica was a very small number to Cartago in the mid-nineteenth century. Due to World War II, a group of exiled French ( mostly soldiers and families orphaned ) migrated to the country. Mexico See also : French immigration to Mexico In Mexico, a sizeable population can trace its ancestry to France. After Spain, this makes France the second largest European ethnicity in the country. The bulk of French immigrants arrived in Mexico during the 19th and early 20th centuries. From 1814 to 1955, inhabitants of Barcelonnette and the surrounding Ubaye Valley emigrated to Mexico by the dozens. Many established textile businesses between Mexico and France. At the turn of the 20th century, there were 5,000 French families from the Barcelonnette region registered with the French Consulate in Mexico. While 90 % stayed in Mexico, some returned, and from 1880 to 1930, built grand mansions called Maisons Mexicaines and left a mark upon the city. In the 1860s, during the Second Mexican Empire ruled by Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico -- which was part of Napoleon III 's scheme to create a Latin empire in the New World ( indeed responsible for coining the term of `` Amérique latine '', `` Latin America '' in English ) -- many French soldiers, merchants, and families set foot upon Mexican soil. Emperor Maximilian 's consort, Carlota of Mexico, a Belgian princess, was a granddaughter of Louis - Philippe of France. Many Mexicans of French descent live in cities or states such as Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Monterrey, Puebla, Guadalajara, and the capital, Mexico City, where French surnames such as Chairez / Chaires, Renaux, Pierres, Michel, Betancourt, Alaniz, Blanc, Ney, Jurado ( Jure ), Colo ( Coleau ), Dumas, or Moussier can be found. Chile Main article : French Chilean The French came to Chile in the 18th century, arriving at Concepción as merchants, and in the mid-19th century to cultivate vines in the haciendas of the Central Valley, the homebase of world - famous Chilean wine. The Araucanía Region also has an important number of people of French ancestry, as the area hosted settlers arrived by the second half of the 19th century as farmers and shopkeepers. With something akin to Latin culture, the French immigrants quickly assimilated into mainstream Chilean society. From 1840 to 1940, around 25,000 Frenchmen immigrated to Chile. 80 % of them were coming from Southwestern France, especially from Basses - Pyrénées ( Basque country and Béarn ), Gironde, Charente - Inférieure and Charente and regions situated between Gers and Dordogne. Most of French immigrants settled in the country between 1875 and 1895. Between October 1882 and December 1897, 8,413 Frenchmen settled in Chile, making up 23 % of immigrants ( second only after Spaniards ) from this period. In 1863, 1,650 French citizens were registered in Chile. At the end of the century they were almost 30,000. According to the census of 1865, out of 23,220 foreigners established in Chile, 2,483 were French, the third largest European community in the country after Germans and Englishmen. In 1875, the community reached 3,000 members, 12 % of the almost 25,000 foreigners established in the country. It was estimated that 10,000 Frenchmen were living in Chile in 1912, 7 % of the 149,400 Frenchmen living in Latin America. In World War II, a group of over 10,000 Chileans of French descent, the majority have French relatives joined the Free French Forces and fought the Nazi occupation of France. Today it is estimated that 500,000 Chileans are of French descent. Current president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet is of French origin, as was dictator Augusto Pinochet. A large percentage of politicians, businessmen, professionals and entertainers in the country are of French ancestry. Brazil Main article : French Brazilian French immigrants to Brazil from 1913 to 1924 Year French immigrants 1913 1,532 1914 696 1915 410 1916 292 1917 273 1918 226 1919 690 1920 838 1921 633 1922 725 1923 609 1924 634 Total 7,558 It is estimated that there are 1 million to 2 million or more Brazilians of French descent today. This gives Brazil the second largest French community in South America. From 1819 to 1940, 40,383 Frenchmen immigrated to Brazil. Most of them settled in the country between 1884 and 1925 ( 8,008 from 1819 to 1883, 25,727 from 1884 to 1925, 6,648 from 1926 to 1940 ). Another source estimates that around 100,000 French people immigrated to Brazil between 1850 and 1965. The French community in Brazil numbered 592 in 1888 and 5,000 in 1915. It was estimated that 14,000 Frenchmen were living in Brazil in 1912, 9 % of the 149,400 Frenchmen living in Latin America, the second largest community after Argentina ( 100,000 ). The Brazilian Imperial Family originates from the Portuguese House of Braganza and the last emperor 's heir and daughter, Isabella, married Prince Gaston d'Orleans, Comte d'Eu, a member of the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the Bourbons, the French Royal Family. Guatemala See also : French Guatemalan The first French immigrants were politicians such as Nicolas Raoul and Isidore Saget, Henri Terralonge and officers Aluard, Courbal, Duplessis, Gibourdel and Goudot. Later, when the Central American Federation was divided in 7 countries, Some of them settled to Costa Rica, others to Nicaragua, although the majority still remained in Guatemala. The relationships start to 1827, politicians, scientists, painters, builders, singers and some families emigrated to Guatemala. Later in a Conservative government, annihilated nearly all the relations between France and Guatemala, and most of French immigrants went to Costa Rica, but these relationships were again return to the late of the nineteenth century. Latin America Further information : Rubber boom Elsewhere in the Americas, French settlement took place in the 16th to 20th centuries. They can be found in Haiti, Cuba ( refugees from the Haitian Revolution ) and Uruguay. The Betancourt political families who influenced Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and Panama have some French ancestry. Huguenots Large numbers of Huguenots are known to have settled in the United Kingdom ( ab 50 000 ), Ireland, in Protestant areas of Germany ( especially the city of Berlin ) ( ab 40 000 ), in the Netherlands ( ab 50 000 ), in South Africa and in North America. Many people in these countries still bear French names. Asia Building of the École française d'Extrême - Orient in Pondicherry In Asia, a proportion of people with mixed French and Vietnamese descent can be found in Vietnam. Including the number of persons of pure French descent. Many are descendants of French settlers who intermarried with local Vietnamese people. Approximately 5,000 in Vietnam are of pure French descent, however, this number is disputed. A small proportion of people with mixed French and Khmer descent can be found in Cambodia. These people number approximately 16,000 in Cambodia, among this number, approximately 3,000 are of pure French descent. An unknown number with mixed French and Lao ancestry can be found throughout Laos. A few thousand French citizens of Indian, European or creole ethnic origins live in the former French possessions in India ( mostly Pondicherry ). In addition to these Countries, small minorities can be found elsewhere in Asia ; the majority of these living as expatriates. French people born in New Caledonia Elsewhere Apart from Québécois, Acadians, Cajuns, and Métis, other populations with some French ancestry outside metropolitan France include the Caldoches of New Caledonia, Louisiana Creole people of the United States, the so - called Zoreilles and Petits - blancs of various Indian Ocean islands, as well as populations of the former French colonial empire in Africa. See also Armenians in France Cagot Ethnic groups in Europe Franco - Mauritian French Australian French Peruvian Peruvians in France French people in Madagascar Genetic history of Europe History of the Jews in France List of French people List of French people of immigrant origin Pied - Noir - French citizens in French Algeria Notes and references Jump up ^ The total figure is merely an estimation ; sum of all the referenced populations below. Jump up ^ `` Démographie - Population au début du mois - France ''. Insee.fr. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. Retrieved 28 February 2016. Jump up ^ `` 2013 ACS Ancestry estimates ''. Factfinder2.census.gov. 2013. Retrieved 2015 - 10 - 15. Jump up ^ Statistics Canada. `` 2011 National Household Survey : Data tables ''. Retrieved 8 March 2014. Jump up ^ `` Les merveilleux francophiles argentins ''. Canalacademie.com. Retrieved 2009 - 01 - 18. Jump up ^ `` La influencia francesa en la vida social de Chile de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX '' ( PDF ). Los datos que poseía el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Francia en Chile al año 2008, tal como lo consignaba el Ministerio Plenipotenciario Francés en Chile, a un número cercano a los 700.000 descendientes de franceses en Chile... ^ Jump up to : `` Vivre à l'étranger ''. Ils ont été 100 000 à émigrer dans ce pays entre 1850 et 1965 et auraient entre 500 000 et 1 million de descendants. ^ Jump up to : `` Migration - Uruguay ''. Nationsencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 12 December 2017. ^ Jump up to : Erwin Dopf. `` Inmigración francesa al Perú ''. Espejodelperu.com.pe. Retrieved 2012 - 06 - 06. Jump up ^ `` French Ethnic People in all Countries ''. Joshua Project. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. ^ Jump up to : `` Les Français établis hors de France ''. Au 31 décembre 2012, 1 611 054 de nos compatriotes étaient inscrits au registre mondial des Français établis hors de France. Jump up ^ `` Etat et structure de la population -- Données détaillées, Population résidante selon le sexe et la nationalité par pays, ( su - f - 01.01. 01.03 ), Office fédéral de la statistique OFS ''. Bfs.admin.ch. 2010 - 01 - 29. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Anzahl der Ausländer in Deutschland nach Herkunftsland ( Stand : 31. Dezember 2014 ) ''. Jump up ^ `` Federal Statistical Office Germany ''. Genesis.destatis.de. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ Kevin Shillington, Encyclopedia of African History, CRC Press, 2005, pp. 878 - 883 Jump up ^ SPF Intérieur - Office des Étrangers Archived 7 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Avance del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero de 2011. Datos provisionales. 2011. INE '' ( PDF ). Ine.es. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` 20680 - Ancestry ( full classification list ) by Sex - Australia ''. 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original ( Microsoft Excel download ) on 10 March 2008. Retrieved 2008 - 05 - 19. Jump up ^ `` 20680 - Country of Birth of Person ( full classification list ) by Sex - Australia '' ( Microsoft Excel download ). 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2008 - 05 - 27. Jump up ^ `` Jew, French Speaking Ethnic People in all Countries ''. Joshua Project. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Les Barcelonnettes au Mexique ''. On estime à 60 000 les descendants des Barcelonnettes, dispersés sur tout le territoire mexicain. Jump up ^ `` État de la population ( x1000 ) 1981, 1991, 2001 -- 2007 ''. Statistiques.public.lu. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Message from Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau ''. Scmp.com. Retrieved 12 December 2017. Jump up ^ `` Présidentielle française 2012 -- À Maurice, Sarkozy l'emporte devant Hollande '' ( in French ). Le Défi Media Group. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2014. Jump up ^ `` General Population Census 2008 : Population Recensee et Population Estimee '' ( PDF ) ( in French ). Government of the Principality of Monaco. 2008. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2011 - 06 - 14. Retrieved 7 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Foreign born after country of birth and immigration year ''. Statistics Sweden. Jump up ^ `` Bevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeit und Geburtsland ''. Statistik Austria ( in German ). Retrieved 1 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` CIA Factbook - France ''. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Roman Catholic 83 % - 88 % Jump up ^ Kertzer, David I. ; Arel, Dominique ( 2002 ). Census and Identity : The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. Cambridge University Press. p. 80. ISBN 0521004276. Jump up ^ `` Ethnic Diversity Survey : portrait of a multicultural society '' ( PDF ). Statistics Canada. 2003. Jump up ^ Jantzen, Lorna ( 2005 ). `` The Advantages of Analyzing Ethnic Attitudes Across Generation -- Results from the Ethnic Diversity Survey ''. In Adsett, Margaret ; Mallandain, Caroline ; Stettner, Shannon. Canadian and French perspectives on diversity : Conference proceedings, October 16, 2003 ( PDF ). Ottawa : Canadian Heritage, Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. p. 111. ISBN 0 - 662 - 38231 - 5. Retrieved 19 May 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Les Gaulois figurent seulement parmi d'autres dans la multitude de couches de peuplement fort divers ( Ligures, Ibères, Latins, Francs et Alamans, Nordiques, Sarrasins... ) qui aboutissent à la population du pays à un moment donné ``, Jean - Louis Brunaux, Nos ancêtres les Gaulois, éd. Seuil, 2008, p. 261 Jump up ^ French historian Gérard Noiriel uses the phrase `` creuset français '' to express the idea, in his pioneering work Le Creuset français ( 1988 ). See Noiriel, Gérard ( 1996 ). The French melting pot : immigration, citizenship, and national identity. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816624194. ; translated from French by Geoffroy de Laforcade. Jump up ^ `` French Government Revives Assimilation Policy ''. Migrationpolicy.org. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 12 December 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion '', Constitution of 4 October 1958 Jump up ^ Alexandra Hughes, Alex Hughes, Keith A Reader, Keith Reader - Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture - p 232. Retrieved 12 April 2013. Jump up ^ Countries and Their Cultures French Canadians - everyculture.com Retrieved 12 April 2013. Jump up ^ One point of friction can be the status of minority languages. However, though almost extinct, such regional languages are preserved in France and one can learn them at school as a second language ( enseignement de langue regionale ). Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica `` in the 19th and especially in the 20th century, ( France has become ) the prime recipient of foreign immigration into Europe '' Encyclopædia Britannica Article : French ethnic groups. Jump up ^ Josephine Baker, one of the most famous American residents in France, has said : the USA is my country but Paris is my home. Jump up ^ For instance, the World Health Organization found that France provided the `` best overall health care '' in the world World Health Organization Assesses the World 's Health Systems Jump up ^ Hughes LAGRANGES, Emeutes, renovation urbaine et alienation politique, Observatoire sociologique du changement, Paris, 2007 ( 1 ) ^ Jump up to : The normans Archived 26 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jersey heritage trust Jump up ^ W. Kruta, Dictionnaire des Celtes Jump up ^ Benjamin Z. Kedar, `` The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant '', in The Crusades : The Essential Readings, ed. Thomas F. Madden, Blackwell, 2002, pg. 244. Originally published in Muslims Under Latin Rule, 1100 -- 1300, ed. James M. Powell, Princeton University Press, 1990. Kedar quotes his numbers from Joshua Prawer, Histoire du royaume latin de Jérusalem, tr. G. Nahon, Paris, 1969, vol. 1, pp. 498, 568 - 72. Jump up ^ British North America : 1763 -- 1841. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Jump up ^ Hispanics in the American Revolution Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ John Huxtable Elliott ( 1984 ). The revolt of the Catalans : a study in the decline of Spain ( 1598 -- 1640 ). Cambridge University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0 - 521 - 27890 - 2. Jump up ^ `` French villages in Banat ''. Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Smaranda Vultur, De l'Ouest à l'Est et de l'Est à l'Ouest : les avatars identitaires des Français du Banat, Texte presenté a la conférence d'histoire orale `` Visibles mais pas nombreuses : les circulations migratoires roumaines '', Paris, 2001 ``. Memoria.ro. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. III. French Government and the Refugees ''. American Philosophical Society, James E. Hassell ( 1991 ). p. 22. ISBN 0 - 87169 - 817 - X Jump up ^ Esther Benbassa, The Jews of France : A History from Antiquity to the Present, Princeton University Press, 1999 Jump up ^ `` The educated African : a country - by - country survey of educational development in Africa ''. Helen A. Kitchen ( 1962 ). p. 256. Jump up ^ Markham, James M. ( 1988 - 04 - 06 ). `` For Pieds - Noirs, the Anger Endures ''. New York Times. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ Raimondo Cagiano De Azevedo ( 1994 ). `` Migration and development co-operation. ''. p. 25. Jump up ^ Unrest in France, November 2005 : immigration, islam and the challenge of integration Archived 6 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine., Justin Vaïsse, Presentation to Congressional Staff, 10 and 12 January 2006, Washington, DC Jump up ^ `` Compared with the Europeans, the Tunisians belong to a much more recent wave of migration and occupy a much less favourable socioeconomic position, yet their pattern of marriage behaviour is nonetheless similar (... ). Algerian and Moroccan immigrants have a higher propensity to exogamy than Asians or Portuguese but a much weaker labour market position. (... ) Confirming the results from other analyses of immigrant assimilation in France, this study shows that North Africans seem to be characterized by a high degree of cultural integration ( reflected in a relatively high propensity to exogamy, notably for Tunisians ) that contrasts with a persistent disadvantage in the labour market. '', Intermarriage and assimilation : disparities in levels of exogamy among immigrants in France, Mirna Safi, Volume 63 2008 / 2 Jump up ^ Emmanuel Todd, Le destin des immigrés : assimilation et ségrégation dans les démocraties occidentales, Paris, 1994, p. 307 Jump up ^ Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780 : programme, myth, reality ( Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990 ; ISBN 0 - 521 - 43961 - 2 ) chapter II `` The popular protonationalism '', pp. 80 - 81 French edition ( Gallimard, 1992 ). According to Hobsbawm, the base source for this subject is Ferdinand Brunot ( ed. ), Histoire de la langue française, Paris, 1927 -- 1943, 13 volumes, in particular the tome IX. He also refers to Michel de Certeau, Dominique Julia, Judith Revel, Une politique de la langue : la Révolution française et les patois : l'enquête de l'abbé Grégoire, Paris, 1975. For the problem of the transformation of a minority official language into a mass national language during and after the French Revolution, see Renée Balibar, L'Institution du français : essai sur le co-linguisme des Carolingiens à la République, Paris, 1985 ( also Le co-linguisme, PUF, Que sais - je ?, 1994, but out of print ) ( `` The Institution of the French language : essay on colinguism from the Carolingian to the Republic '' ). Finally, Hobsbawm refers to Renée Balibar and Dominique Laporte, Le Français national : politique et pratique de la langue nationale sous la Révolution, Paris, 1974. Jump up ^ Éric Gailledrat, Les Ibères de l'Èbre à l'Hérault ( VIe - IVe s. avant J. - C. ), Lattes, Sociétés de la Protohistoire et de l'Antiquité en France Méditerranéenne, Monographies d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne - 1, 1997 Jump up ^ Dominique Garcia : Entre Ibères et Ligures. Lodévois et moyenne vallée de l'Hérault protohistoriques. Paris, CNRS éd., 1993 ; Les Ibères dans le midi de la France. L'Archéologue, n ° 32, 1997, pp. 38 -- 40 Jump up ^ `` Notre Midi a sa pinte de sang sarrasin '', Fernand Braudel, L'identité de la France - Les Hommes et les Choses ( 1986 ), Flammarion, 1990, p. 215 Jump up ^ `` Les premiers musulmans arrivèrent en France à la suite de l'occupation de l'Espagne par les Maures, il ya plus d'un millénaire, et s'installèrent dans les environs de Toulouse - et jusqu'en Bourgogne. À Narbonne, les traces d'une mosquée datant du VIIIe siècle sont le témoignage de l'ancienneté de ce passé. Lors de la célèbre, et en partie mythologique, bataille de Poitiers en 732, dont les historiens reconsidèrent aujourd'hui l'importance, Charles Martel aurait stoppé la progression des envahisseurs arabes. Des réfugiés musulmans qui fuyaient la Reconquista espagnole, et plus tard l'Inquisition, firent souche en Languedoc - Roussillon et dans le Pays basque français, ainsi que dans le Béarn '', Justin Vaïsse, Intégrer l'Islam, Odile Jacob, 2007, pp. 32 -- 33 Jump up ^ Dominique Schnapper, `` La conception de la nation '', `` Citoyenneté et société '', Cahiers Francais, n ° 281, mai - juin 1997 ^ Jump up to : `` What Is France ? Who Are the French ? ''. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2010. ^ Jump up to : Dr. Myriam Krepps ( 7 -- 9 October 2011 ). French Identity, French Heroes : From Vercingétorix to Vatel ( PDF ). Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas. ^ Jump up to : Hugh Schofield ( 26 August 2012 ). `` France 's ancient Alesia dispute rumbles on ''. BBC News. Jump up ^ Ramos - Luisa et al. ( 2009 ), `` Phylogeography of French male lineages ( supplemental data from 23rd International ISFG Congress held from 14 to 18 September 2009 in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires ) '', Forensic Science International 2 : 439 - 441, doi : 10.1016 / j. fsigss. 2009.09. 026 Jump up ^ `` Sample collection was performed drawing blood of unrelated male individuals with French surname after informed consent '', Ramos - Luisa et al. ( 2009 ) Jump up ^ Chiaroni, Jacques ( 2011 ). The coming of the Greeks to Provence and Corsica : Y - chromosome models of archaic Greek colonization of the western Mediterranean. BMC Evolutionary Biology. doi : 10.1186 / 1471 - 2148 - 11 - 69. The process of Greek colonization of the central and western Mediterranean during the Archaic and Classical Eras has been understudied from the perspective of population genetics. To investigate the Y chromosomal demography of Greek colonization in the western Mediterranean, Y - chromosome data consisting of 29 YSNPs and 37 YSTRs were compared from 51 subjects from Provence, 58 subjects from Smyrna and 31 subjects whose paternal ancestry derives from Asia Minor Phokaia, the ancestral embarkation port to the 6th century BCE Greek colonies of Massalia ( Marseilles ) and Alalie ( Aleria, Corsica ). Results 19 % of the Phokaian and 12 % of the Smyrnian representatives were derived for haplogroup E-V13, characteristic of the Greek and Balkan mainland, while 4 % of the Provencal, 4.6 % of East Corsican and 1.6 % of West Corsican samples were derived for E-V13. An admixture analysis estimated that 17 % of the Y - chromosomes of Provence may be attributed to Greek colonization. Using the following putative Neolithic Anatolian lineages : J2a - DYS445 = 6, G2a - M406 and J2a1b1 - M92, the data predict a 0 % Neolithic contribution to Provence from Anatolia. Estimates of colonial Greek vs. indigenous Celto - Ligurian demography predict a maximum of a 10 % Greek contribution, suggesting a Greek male elite - dominant input into the Iron Age Provence population. Jump up ^ Loi n 2000 - 493 du 6 juin 2000 tendant à favoriser l'égal accès des femmes et des hommes aux mandats électoraux et fonctions électives ( in French ) ^ Jump up to : B. Villalba. `` Chapitre 2 - Les incertitudes de la citoyenneté '' ( in French ). Catholic University of Lille, Law Department. Retrieved 2006 - 05 - 03. Jump up ^ if living in France Jump up ^ if there is no such representations of their own country Jump up ^ See Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer : Sovereign Power and Bare Life, Stanford University Press ( 1998 ), ISBN 0 - 8047 - 3218 - 3. Jump up ^ ( in French ) P. Hassenteufel, `` Exclusion sociale et citoyenneté '', `` Citoyenneté et société '', Cahiers Francais, n ° 281, mai - juin 1997 ), quoted by B. Villalba of the Catholic University of Lille, op. cit. Jump up ^ See Eric Hobsbawm, op. cit. Jump up ^ Even the biological conception of sex may be questioned : see gender theory Jump up ^ It may be interesting to refer to Michel Foucault 's description of the discourse of `` race struggle '', as he shows that this medieval discourse - held by such people as Edward Coke or John Lilburne in Great Britain, and, in France, by Nicolas Fréret, Boulainvilliers, and then Sieyès, Augustin Thierry and Cournot -, tended to identify the French noble classes to a Northern and foreign race, while the `` people '' was considered as an aborigine - and `` inferior '' races. This historical discourse of `` race struggle '', as isolated by Foucault, was not based on a biological conception of race, as would be latter racialism ( aka `` scientific racism '' ) Jump up ^ ( 2 ) Archived 16 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ See John Locke 's definition of consciousness and of identity. Consciousness is an act accompanying all thoughts ( I am conscious that I am thinking this or that... ), and which therefore doubles all thoughts. Personal identity is composed by the repeated consciousness, and thus extends so far in time ( both in the past and in the future ) as I am conscious of it ( An Essay Concerning Human Understanding ( 1689 ), Chapter XXVII `` Of Identity and Diversity '', available here ( 3 ) ) Jump up ^ See e.g. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism ( 1951 ), second part on `` Imperialism '' Jump up ^ Olivier LeCour Grandmaison ( June 2001 ). `` Torture in Algeria : Past Acts That Haunt France - Liberty, Equality and Colony ''. Le Monde diplomatique. Jump up ^ Ernest Renan 's 26 June 1856 letter to Arthur de Gobineau, quoted by Jacques Morel in Calendrier des crimes de la France outre - mer, L'esprit frappeur, 2001 ( Morel gives as source : Ernest Renan, Qu'est - ce qu'une nation ? et autres textes politiques, chosen and presented by Joël Roman, Presses Pocket, 1992, p 221. ) Jump up ^ `` In eighteenth - century Europe, jus soli was the dominant criterion of nationality law in the two most powerful kingdoms : France and United Kingdom. It was the transfer of a feudal tradition to the state level : human beings were linked to the lord who held the land where they were born. The French Revolution broke from this feudal tradition. Because jus soli connoted feudal allegiance, it was decided, against Napoléon Bonaparte 's wish, that the new Civil Code of 1804 would grant French nationality at birth only to a child born to a French father, either in France or abroad. It was not ethnically motivated ; it only meant that family links transmitted by the pater familias had become more important than subjecthood '', Patrick Weil, Access to citizenship : A comparison of twenty five nationality laws, dans T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer ( ed. ), Citizenship Today : Global Perspectives and Practices, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, 2001, p. 17 - 35. Jump up ^ This ten - year clause is threatened by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy 's law proposition on immigration. Jump up ^ Ethnic, Religious and Language Groups : Towards a Set of Rules for Data Collection and Statistical Analysis, Werner Haug Jump up ^ `` CIA Factbook - France ''. Cia.gov. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ France Population - Nation by Nation Jump up ^ Background Notes : France - U.S. Department of State Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Article : French ethnic groups. Retrieved July 2003 2008 Jump up ^ Race, Ethnicity, and National Identity in France and the United States : A Comparative Historical Overview Archived 8 December 2003 at the Wayback Machine. George M. Fredrickson, Stanford University, 2003. Retrieved 17 March 2008 Jump up ^ Être né en France d'un parent immigré, Insee Première, n ° 1287, mars 2010, Catherine Borrel et Bertrand Lhommeau, Insee Jump up ^ Répartition des immigrés par pays de naissance 2008, Insee, October 2011 Jump up ^ Pastor, José Manuel Azcona ( 2004 ). Possible paradises : Basque emigration to Latin America. University of Nevada Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 87417 - 444 - 1. In any event, between 1848 and 1939, one million people with French passports headed definitively abroad ( page 296 ). Jump up ^ Canal Académie : Les merveilleux francophiles argentins Archived 5 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ L'immigration française en Argentine, 1850 -- 1930. L'Uruguay capta seulement 13.922 ( immigrants français ) entre 1833 et 1842, la plupart d'entre eux originaires du Pays Basque et du Béarn. Jump up ^ Wardrop, Murray ( 12 April 2010 ). `` Britons can trace French ancestry after millions of records go online ''. The Daily Telegraph. London. The documents disclose that despite our rivalry with our continental counterparts, 3 million Britons - one in 20 -- can trace their ancestry back to France. Jump up ^ `` London, France 's sixth biggest city ''. BBC News. 2012 - 05 - 30. Retrieved 2013 - 02 - 23. The French consulate in London estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 French citizens live in the British capital Jump up ^ `` Sarkozy raises hopes of expats ''. Baltimoresun.com. 2011 - 10 - 19. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ Los franco - ticos la genealogía y la paz Archived 24 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine. October 2008, ISSN 1659 - 3529. Jump up ^ `` La emigración francesa en Chile, 1875 -- 1914 ''. El 80 % de los colonos que llegan a Chile provienen del País Vasco, del Bordelais, de Charentes y de las regiones situadas entre Gers y Périgord. Jump up ^ `` La influencia francesa en la vida social de Chile de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX '' ( PDF ). Los datos que poseía el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Francia ya en 1863, cuando aúno se abría Agencia General de Colonización del Gobierno de Chile en Europa, con sede en París, daban cuenta de 1.650 ciudadanos franceses residentes. Esta cifra fue aumentando paulatinamente hasta llegar, tal como lo consignaba el Ministerio Plenipotenciario Francés en Chile, a un número cercano a los 30.000 franceses residentes a fines del siglo. Jump up ^ Paris, Société d'éConomie Politique of ; Paris, Société de Statistique de ( 1867 ). Journal des économistes. Le recensement de la population du Chili a constaté la présence de 23,220 étrangers. (... ) Nous trouvons les étrangers établis au Chili répartis par nationalité de la manière suivante : Allemands ( 3,876 ), Anglais ( 2,818 ), Français ( 2,483 ), Espagnols ( 1,247 ), Italiens ( 1,037 ), Nord - Américains ( 831 ), Portugais ( 313 ) ( page 281 ). Jump up ^ Collier, Simon ; Sater, William F ( 2004 ). A history of Chile, 1808 -- 2002. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 53484 - 0. p. 29. The census of twenty - one years later put the total at around 25,000 - including 3,000 French. Jump up ^ Eeuwen, Daniel van ( 2002 ). L'Amérique latine et l'Europe à l'heure de la mondialisation. ISBN 978 - 2 - 84586 - 281 - 4. p. 194. Chili : 10 000 ( 7 % ). Jump up ^ Possible paradises : Basque emigration to Latin America. The French colony in this country numbered 592 in 1888 and 5,000 in 1915 ( page 226 ). Jump up ^ L'Amérique latine et l'Europe à l'heure de la mondialisation. p. 194. Brésil : 14 000 ( 9 % ). Jump up ^ Asociación para el Fomento de los Estudios Históricos en Centroamérica ( AFEHC ) Relaciones entre Francia y Guatemala ( 1823 -- 1954 ) Guatemala, 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2014. Jump up ^ `` The Population of Bolivia. People and Culture. Demographics. Bolivia Population ''. Boliviabella.com. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Jump up ^ Naissances selon le pays de naissance des parents 2010, Insee, septembre 2011 Jump up ^ `` Ethnic People Groups of Cambodia ''. Joshua Project. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. ^ Jump up to : `` Afghani, Tajik of Afghanistan Ethnic People Profile ''. Joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 12. Abélès, Marc ( 1999 ). `` How the Anthropology of France Has Changed Anthropology in France : Assessing New Directions in the Field ''. Cultural Anthropology. American Anthropological Association. 14 ( 3 ) : 404 -- 8. ISSN 1548 - 1360. JSTOR 656657 -- via JSTOR. ( Registration required ( help ) ). 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Question: when did france first come to latin america
Answer: 16th to 20th centuries