1.

France (French: [fʁɑ̃s]  ), officially the French Republic (French: République française),[1] is

a transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories.
[XIII]
 Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean
Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South
America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. France
borders Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland, Monaco and Italy to the
east, Andorra and Spain to the south, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the
Americas. Its eighteen integral regions (five of which are overseas) span a combined area of
643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and over 67 million people (as of May 2021).[12] France is
a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main
cultural and commercial centre; other major urban
areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, and Nice. Including its overseas territories,
France has twelve time zones, the most of any country.
Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, France was settled by Celtic tribes known as Gauls during
the Iron Age. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture that laid
the foundation of the French language. The Germanic Franks arrived in 476 and formed
the Kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of
Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia becoming the Kingdom of France in 987. In
the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but highly decentralized feudal kingdom; a distinct
French identity emerged only during the Hundred Years' War of the 14th and 15th centuries.
The French Renaissance saw a flowering of art and culture, various wars with rival powers, and the
establishment of a global colonial empire, which by the 20th century would become the second
largest in the world.[13] Severely weakened by the Thirty Years' War and religious civil wars of the
17th century, under Louis XIV, France reemerged as the dominant cultural, political, and military
power in Europe by the early 18th century.[14] The losses of the Seven Years' War and
costly involvement in the American Revolution precipitated the French Revolution of 1789, which
overthrew the absolute monarchy, replaced the Ancien Régime with one of history's first
modern republics, and produced the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which
expresses the nation's ideals to this day.
France reached its political and military zenith in the early 19th century under Napoleon Bonaparte,
subjugating much of continental Europe and establishing the First French Empire. The French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of European and world history. The collapse
of the empire initiated a period of relative decline, in which France endured a tumultuous succession
of governments until the founding of the French Third Republic during the Franco-Prussian War of
1870. Subsequent decades saw a period of optimism, cultural and scientific flourishing, and
economic prosperity known as the Belle Époque. France was one of the major participants of World
War I, from which it emerged victorious at great human and economic cost. It was among the Allied
powers of theWorld War II, but was soon occupied by the Axis in 1940. Following liberation in 1944,
the short-lived Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian
War. The current Fifth Republic was formed in 1958 by Charles de Gaulle. Algeria and most French
colonies became independent in the 1960s, with the majority retaining close economic and military
ties with France.
France retains its centuries-long status as a global centre of art, science, and philosophy. It hosts
the fifth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the world's leading tourist
destination, receiving over 89 million foreign visitors in 2018.[15] France is a developed country with
the world's seventh-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by PPP; in terms of
aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world.[16] France performs well in international
rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, and human development.[17][18] It remains a great
power in global affairs,[19] being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council and an official nuclear-weapon state. France is a founding and leading member of the
European Union and the Eurozone,[20] as well as a key member of the Group of Seven, North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
and La Francophonie.
Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam, [vîət nāːm] ( listen)), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
[a]
 is a country in Southeast Asia. It is located at the eastern edge of the Indochinese Peninsula, and
is divided into 58 provinces and five municipalities, covering 331,699 square kilometres, with a
population of over 96 million inhabitants, making it the world's sixteenth-most populous country.
Vietnam shares borders with China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west; whilst
maintaining maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and
the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia through the South China Sea.[n 5] Its capital is Hanoi and
its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Archaeological excavations indicate that Vietnam was inhabited as early as the Paleolithic age. The
ancient Vietnamese nation, which was centered on the Red River valley and nearby coastal areas,
was annexed by the Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC, which subsequently made Vietnam a
division of Imperial China for over a millennium. The first independent monarchy emerged in the 10th
century AD. This paved the way for successive imperial dynasties as the nation expanded
southward until the Indochina Peninsula was colonised by the French in the late 19th century.
Modern Vietnam was born upon the Proclamation of Independence from France in 1945
following Japanese occupation. Following Vietnamese victory against the French in the First
Indochina War, which ended in 1954, the nation was divided into two rival states:
communist North and anti-communist South. Conflicts intensified in the Vietnam War, which
saw extensive American intervention in support of South Vietnam, while the Soviets and
the PRC supported the North, which ended with North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
After North and South Vietnam were reunified as a communist state under
a unitary socialist government in 1976, the country became economically and politically isolated until
1986, when the Communist Party initiated a series of economic and political reforms that facilitated
Vietnamese integration into world politics and the global economy. As a result of the successful
reforms, Vietnam has enjoyed high economic growth rate, consistently ranked amongst the fastest
growing economies of the world.
Vietnam is a regional power,[10] and is considered a middle power in global affairs.[11][12] Vietnam is a
part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including
the United Nations, the ASEAN, the APEC, the CPTPP, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIF,
the RCEP, and the World Trade Organization, and has also assumed a seat on the United Nations
Security Council twice. Vietnam was listed as a developing country by the UN until 2019, and by the
US until 2020.[13]
Corruption in Vietnam, including rampant bribery, is a major issue.[14][15] Surveys of Vietnamese urban
citizens rated Vietnam's corruption transparency as poor in surveys conducted in 2005 and 2010,
and the bribing of officials, health workers, and civil servants was highly prevalent. The practice
of red envelope payments, normally a practice of informal payment reserved for festivities, became
common in the health sector when the country was attempting to transition to a market economy in
1986. Anti-corruption measures have been implemented and whilst there have been improvements,
control of corruption was still rated poorly in 2015–2017.[16][17] Plans made for anti-corruption drive
continue for 2021–2025.[18]