Curated category
Countries and territories where French is an official language
- DjiboutiCut stones dated about 3 million years old have been collected in the area of Lake Abbe. In the Gobaad plain, between Dikhil and Lake Abbe, the remains of…
- MauritiusIn 1507, Portuguese sailors blown off course from their route to India via the Mozambique channel landed on an uninhabited island.
- Burkina FasoArchaeological excavations in 1973 uncovered scrapers, chisels, and arrowheads dating back to the period between 14,000 BC and 5,000 BC.
- SenegalIn 1444, the Portuguese explorer Dinis Dias stepped onto Gorée Island, marking the first European contact with what is now Senegal.
- HaitiOn the 6th of December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola and named the area Môle-Saint-Nicolas.
- Democratic Republic of the CongoThe Congo rainforest stretches across the central basin of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, covering most of the country's vast territory.
- CanadaIn 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the shores of Gaspé Bay and declared possession of New France in the name of King Francis I.
- FranceThe name France comes from the Latin word Francia, meaning realm of the Franks. This tribal identity emerged as a Late Latin borrowing of the reconstructed…
- WalloniaThe word Wallonia first appeared in a political context in 1842, according to historical records. Before that date, the term existed only as a geographical…
- BelgiumIn 54 BCE, Julius Caesar marched his legions into the northern part of Gaul to confront a people he called the Belgae. These tribes inhabited an area…
- Ivory CoastPortuguese merchant-explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries divided the west coast of Africa into four regions based on available resources.
- BrusselsSaint Vindicianus, the Bishop of Cambrai, made the first recorded reference to the place in 695 when it was still a hamlet.
- QuebecOn the 24th of July 1534, Jacques Cartier landed on the shores of Gaspé and claimed the land for King Francis I of France.
- SwitzerlandThe name Switzerland derives from the canton of Schwyz, a small territory in the central Alps. The word Switzer appeared in English during the 16th century…