History
French people are the descendants of Gauls (a western European Celtic people), as well as Italic people, Sarmatian peoples (Alans, Taifals), Bretons, Aquitanians (Basques), Iberians, and Greeks in southern France, mixed with the Germanic people arriving at the end of the Roman Empire such as the Franks, the Belgae, the Visigoths, the Suebi, the Marcomanni, the Vandals, the Saxons, the Allemanni and the Burgundians, and later Germanic tribes such as the Vikings (known as Normans), who settled mostly in Normandy 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.
Some regions were immensely affected by mass migrations of different peoples: Celtics in Brittany, and Germanics in Alsatia (Alemanni) before the existence of the Frankish kingdoms, and the languages and culture of these regions continue through self-perpetuation until this day.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The history of our era is the nauseating and repulsive history of the crucifixion of the procreative body for the glorification of the spirit.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)