France

**France**, officially called the **French Republic**, country of northwestern Europe. Historically and culturally among the most important nations in the Western world, France has also played a highly significant role in international affairs, with former colonies in every corner of the globe. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps and the Pyrenees, France has long provided a geographic, economic, and linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. It is Europe’s most important agricultural producer and one of the world’s leading industrial powers.

France is among the globe’s oldest nations, the product of an alliance of duchies and principalities under a single ruler in the Middle Ages. Today, as in that era, central authority is vested in the state, even though a measure of autonomy has been granted to the country’s *régions* in recent decades. The French people look to the state as the primary guardian of liberty, and the state in turn provides a generous program of amenities for its citizens, from free education to health care and pension plans. Even so, this centralist tendency is often at odds with another long-standing theme of the French nation: the insistence on the supremacy of the individual. On this matter historian Jules Michelet remarked, “England is an empire, Germany is a nation, a race, France is a person.” Statesman Charles de Gaulle, too, famously complained, “Only peril can bring the French together. One can’t impose unity out of the blue on a country that has 265 kinds of cheese.”

## Appearances in Disney

### Films

* *102 Dalmatians*
* *Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)*
* *Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas*
* *Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World*
* *Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)*
* *The Nightmare Before Christmas (mentioned)*
* *Bon Voyage!*
* *Cars 2*
* *Cinderella (2015 film)*
* *Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo*
* *Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers*
* *Monsters, Inc.* (briefly)
* *Ratatouille*
* *The Aristocats*
* *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*
* *The Hunchback of Notre Dame II*
* *The Three Musketeers*

### TV Shows

* *Gargoyles*
* *Little Einsteins*
* *Mickey Mouse* - "Croissant de Triomphe"
* *Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures*
* *Phineas and Ferb* - "Rollercoaster", "Summer Belongs to You!"
* *Schoolhouse Rock!* - "The Shot Heard 'Round the World"
* *Special Agent Oso* - "Dr. Juice"
* *The Suite Life on Deck*
* *Loki* - "Glorious Purpose"
* *Parallels*

## Cities and Locations

* Paris (capital)
* Marne-la-Vallée
* Mont St. Michel
* Musketeer Building
* Musketeer Headquarters
* Beast's Castle
* Belle's Cottage
* Tavern
* Village
* Notre Dame de Paris

## Attractions

* France Pavilion
* Disneyland Paris
	+ Disneyland Park (Paris)
	+ Walt Disney Studios Park
	+ Disney Village

## Actors/Actresses and Crew born in France

* Napoleon Bonaparte
* Sylvain Caruso
* Kaycie Chase
* Maurice Chevalier
* Christian Clavier
* Camille Cottin
* Jamel Debbouze
* Julie Delpy
* Gérard Depardieu
* Alexandre Dumas
* Eva Green
* Ethann Isidore
* Jean Lafitte
* Yo-Yo Ma
* Anne Meson
* Jean-Jaques Perrey
* Daft Punk
* Yeardley Smith
* Jules Verne
* Emma Watson

## Characters originating in France

* Marie
* Toulouse
* Berlioz
* Madame Adelaide Bonfamille
* Roquefort
* Frou-Frou
* Scat Cat
* Edgar Balthazar
* Georges Hautecourt
* Napoleon and Lafayette
* Belle
* The Beast/Prince
* Gaston
* Joan of Arc
* Cogsworth
* Lumiere
* Chip Potts
* Maurice
* Featherduster
* The Bimbettes
* LeFou
* Monsieur D'Arque
* Claude Frollo
* Archdeacon
* Quasimodo
* Phoebus
* Esmeralda
* Victor, Hugo, and Laverne
* Djali
* Achilles
* Clopin

## Trivia

* In the *Dinosaurs* episode "Getting to Know You", while France is not named, the birdlike creatures that appear on the show are heavily implied to be French.