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Jacques Marquette

Jacques Marquette

Father Jacques Marquette (French: Père Jacques Marquette) (10 June, 1637 – May 18, 1675) and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to see and map the Mississippi River. Father Marquette was a Jesuit missionary born in Laon, France, who joined the Society of Jesus at age seventeen. After working and teaching in France for several years, he was dispatched to Quebec in 1666 to preach to the Native Americans, where he showed great proficiency in the local languages, especially Huron. Huron In 1668 Father Marquette was redeployed by his superiors to missions farther up the St. Lawrence River in the western Great Lakes. He worked at Sault Ste. Marie and at the Mission of the Holy Spirit in La Pointe, on Lake Superior, near the present-day town of Ashland, Wisconsin. Here, he came into contact with members of the Illinois tribes, who told him of the existence of the Mississippi River and invited him to come teach further south. Due to wars between the Hurons at La Pointe and the neighboring Dakota people, however, Father Marquette had to relocate to the Mackinac Straits, where he informed his superiors about the rumored river, and requested permission to explore it. Leave was granted, and in 1673 Marquette was joined by Louis Joliet, a French Canadian explorer. They departed from Mackinac on May 17, with two canoes and five other voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry. They followed Lake Michigan to the Bay of Green Bay and up the Fox River. From here, they portaged to the Wisconsin River, which they were told led to the river they sought. On June 17 they entered the Mississippi near Prairie du Chien, becoming the first Europeans to enter the river. Prairie du Chien The Joliet-Marquette expedition travelled to within 435 miles (700 km) of the Gulf of Mexico, but turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. By this point they had encountered a number of natives carrying European trinkets, and they feared any encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain. They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they learned from local natives was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. They returned to Lake Michigan at the point of modern-day Chicago, Illinois. Marquette stopped at the mission of St. Francis Xavier in Green Bay in September, while Joliet returned to Quebec to relate the good news of their discoveries. Marquette returned to the Illinois River in 1674 to found a mission among the Illinois people at Kaskaskia, and preached at Starved Rock. Returning north, his party wintered on the shore of Lake Michigan, the first Europeans to visit the site of modern-day Michigan Avenue in Chicago. A bout of dysentery picked up during the Mississippi expedition, however, had sapped his health. On the return trip to Mackinack he died near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan, although the precise date and location are unknown. Father Marquette is memorialized in several towns and rivers that bear his name (such as Marquette, Michigan), as well as the Father Marquette National Memorial near St. Ignace, Michigan. He is also the namesake of Marquette University in Milwaukee.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34519 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- [http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/ The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 1610 to 1791, including Marquette's journal] Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Hacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques

French language

French (French: français) is the third of the Romance languages in terms of number of speakers, after Spanish and Portuguese, being spoken by about 67 million people as a mother tongue, and altogether by some 128 million people, which includes second-language speakers who use French for daily communication. French is thus the 18^th most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, and 9^th in terms of daily speakers. It is an official language in 29 countries. It is also an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations (such as the European Union, IOC, United Nations and Universal Postal Union). Before World War II, French was considered the international language, particularly in such fields as diplomacy, trade, shipping, and transportation.

History

The Roman invasion of Gaul

The French language is a Romance language, meaning that it is descended from Latin. Before the Roman invasion of what is modern-day France by Julius Cæsar (58–52 BC), France was inhabited largely by a Celtic people that the Romans referred to as Gauls, although there were also other linguistic/ethnic groups in France at this time, such as the Iberians in southern France and Spain, the Ligurians on the Mediterranean coast, Greek colonies such as Massalia (i.e. present-day Marseille), Phoenician outposts, and the Vascons on the Spanish/French border. Although in the past many Frenchmen liked to refer to their descent from Gallic ancestors (nos ancêtres les Gaulois), perhaps fewer than 200 words with a Celtic etymological origin remain in French today (largely place and plant names and words dealing with rural life and the earth). In the reverse direction, some words for Gallic objects which were new to the Romans and for which there were no words in Latin were imported into Latin – for example, clothing items such as les braies. Latin quickly became the lingua franca of the entire Gallic region for mercantile, official and educational purposes, yet it should be remembered that this was Vulgar Latin, the colloquial dialect spoken by the Roman army and its agents and not the literary dialect of Cicero.

The Franks

From the third century on, Western Europe was invaded by Germanic tribes from the east, and some of these groups settled in Gaul. For the history of the French language, the most important of these groups are the Franks in northern France, the Alemanni in the German/French border, the Burgundians in the Rhone valley and the Visigoths in the Aquitaine region and Spain. These Germanic-speaking groups had a profound effect on the Latin spoken in their respective regions, altering both the pronunciation and the syntax. They also introduced a number of new words: perhaps as much as 15% of modern French comes from Germanic words, including many terms and expressions associated with their social structure and military tactics.

Langue d'Oïl

Linguists typically divide the languages spoken in medieval France into three geographical subgroups: Langue d'oïl and Langue d'oc are the two major groups; the third group, Franco-Provençal, is considered a transitional language between the two other groups. The Oïl–Oc divide is broadly comparable to the divide illustrated by the use of "yes" in English and "aye" in Scots. Langue d'oïl, the languages which use oïl (in modern usage, oui) for "yes", is the language group in the north of France. These languages, like Picard, Walloon, Francien and Norman, were influenced by the Germanic languages spoken by the Frankish invaders. From the time period Clovis I on, the Franks extended their rule over northern Gaul. Over time, the French language developed from either the Oïl language found around Paris (the Francien theory) or from a standard administrative language based on common characteristics found in all Oïl languages (the lingua franca theory). Langue d'oc, the languages which use oc for "yes", is the language group in the south of France and northern Spain. These languages, such as Gascon and Provençal, have relatively little Frankish influence. (Modern French has two words for "yes", oui and si; the latter is used to contradict negative statements. Si derives from Latin sic "thus", and is cognate to the word for "yes" in Spanish, Italian, and Catalan. Oïl/oui derive, according to Larousse, from Latin hoc ille "thus he (did)".)

Other linguistic groups

The early middle ages also saw the influence of other linguistic groups on the dialects of France: From the 5th to the 8th centuries, Celtic-speaking peoples from southwestern Britain (Wales, Cornwall, Devon) travelled across the English Channel, both for reasons of trade and as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England. They established themselves in Bretagne (Brittany). Their language was a dialect of the Brythonic languages, which has been named Breton in more recent centuries. It is part of the larger Celtic language family, though the modern dialects reflect a noticeable influence from French in their vocabulary. From the 6th to the 7th centuries, the Vascons crossed over the Pyrénées, a mountain range in the south of France. Their presence influenced the Occitan language spoken in southwestern France, resulting in the dialect called Gascon. Scandinavian vikings invaded France from the 9th century onwards and established themselves in what would come to be called Normandie (Normandy). They took up the langue d'oïl spoken there and contributed many words to French related to maritime activities, amongst other things. With their conquest of England in 1066, the Normans brought their language. The dialect that developed there as a language of administration and literature is referred to as Anglo-Norman. Anglo-Norman served as the language of the ruling classes and commerce in England from the time of the conquest until 1362, when the use of English became dominant again. Because of the Norman Conquest, the English language has borrowed a considerable amount of its vocabulary from French. The Arab peoples also supplied many words to French around this time period, including words for luxury goods, spices, trade stuffs, sciences and mathematics.

History of French

For the period up to around 1300, some linguists refer to the oïl languages collectively as Old French (ancien français). The earliest extant text in French is the Oaths of Strasbourg from 842; Old French became a literary language with the chansons de geste that told tales of the paladins of Charlemagne and the heroes of the Crusades. By the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts in 1539 King Francis I made French the official language of administration and court proceedings in France, ousting the Latin that had been used before then. With the imposition of a standardised chancery dialect and the loss of the declension system, the dialect is referred to as Middle French (moyen français). Following a period of unification, regulation and purification, the French of the 17th to the 18th centuries is sometimes referred to as Classical French (français classique), although many linguists simply refer to French language from the 17th century to today as Modern French (français moderne). The foundation of the Académie française (French Academy) in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu created an official body whose goal has been the purification and preservation of the French language. This group of 40 members is known as the Immortals, not, as some erroneously believe, because they are chosen to serve for the extent of their lives (which they are), but because of the inscription engraved on the official seal given to them by their founder Richelieu—"À l'immortalité" ("to the Immortality (of the French language)"). The foundation still exists and contributes to the policing of the language and the adaptation of foreign words and expressions. Some recent modifications include the change from software to logiciel, packet-boat to paquebot, and riding-coat to redingote. The word ordinateur for computer was however not created by the Académie, but by a linguist appointed by IBM (see :fr:ordinateur). From the 17th to the 19th centuries, France was the leading power of continental Europe; thanks to this, together with the influence of the Enlightenment, French was the lingua franca of educated Europe, especially with regards to the arts, literature, and diplomacy; monarchs like Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia could both speak and write in French. Through the Académie, public education, centuries of official control and the role of media, a unified official French language has been forged, but there remains a great deal of diversity today in terms of regional accents and words. For some critics, the "best" pronunciation of the French language is considered to be the one used in Touraine (around Tours and the Loire River valley), but such value judgments are fraught with problems, and with the ever increasing loss of lifelong attachments to a specific region and the growing importance of the national media, the future of specific "regional" accents is difficult to predict.

Modern issues

There is some debate in today's France about the preservation of the French language and the influence of English (see franglais), especially with regard to international business, the sciences and popular culture. There have been laws (see Toubon law) enacted which require that all print ads and billboards with foreign expressions include a French translation and which require quotas of French-language songs (at least 40%) on the radio. There is also pressure, in differing degrees, from some regions as well as minority political or cultural groups for a measure of recognition and support for their regional languages.

Geographic distribution

regional language
French is an official language in the following countries or parts thereof: La Francophonie is an international organization of French-speaking countries and governments.

Legal status in France

Per the Constitution of France, French is the official language of the Republic since 1792 [http://www.languefrancaise.net/dossiers/dossiers.php?id_dossier=50]. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education outside of specific cases (though these dispositions are often ignored) and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. See Toubon Law. Contrary to a misunderstanding common in the American and British media, France does not prohibit the use of foreign words in websites or any other private publication, which would anyway contradict constitutional guarantees on freedom of speech. The misunderstanding may have arisen from a similar prohibition in the Canadian province of Quebec which made strict application of the Charter of the French Language between 1977 and 1993, although these regulations addressed language used in advertising and the provision of commercial services offered within the province, not the language of private communication. There exist in addition to French a variety of languages spoken in France by minorities; see Languages of France.

Legal status in Canada

About 12% of the world's francophones are Canadian, and French is one of Canada's two official languages, with English; various provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms deal with the right of Canadians to access services in English and French all across Canada. By law, the federal government must operate and provide services in both English and French; proceedings of the Parliament of Canada must be translated into both English and French; and all Canadian products must be labelled in both English and French. Overall about 22% of Canadians speak French as a first language and 18% are bilingual. French has been the only official language of Quebec since 1974, although it is commonly (and incorrectly) believed that the designation of French as the sole official language occurred in 1977 with the adoption of the Charter of the French Language (which is popularly referred to as Bill 101). By far the provision of Bill 101 with the most significant impact has been that which mandates French-language education, unless a child's parents or siblings have received the major part of their own education in English within Canada. That provision has reversed a historical trend whereby a large number of immigrant children were being sent to English schools by their parents. In so doing, Bill 101 has greatly contributed to the "visage français" (French face) of Quebec. Other provisions of Bill 101, on the other hand, have been ruled unconstitutional over the years, including those mandating French-only commercial signs, court proceedings, and debates in the legislature. Some of those provisions have remained in effect, for a while, using the constitutional "notwithstanding" clause that permits a non-compliant law to temporarily remain. No "notwithstanding provision" is currently in effect. In 1993 the Charter was changed to allow signage in other languages so long as French is markedly "predominant". The Charter also provides for a measure of access by Anglophones to health and social services in their own language. The only province which has French as an official language is New Brunswick. In Ontario and Manitoba, French does not have full official status, although the provincial governments do provide full French-language services in all communities where significant numbers of francophones live. All of the other provinces do make some effort to accommodate the needs of their francophone citizens, although the level and quality of French-language service varies significantly from province to province.

Legal status in Switzerland

French is an official language in Switzerland. It is spoken in the part of Switzerland called Romandy.

Dialects of French

- Acadian French
- African French
- Belgian French
- Cajun French
- Canadian French
- Cambodian French
- Louisiana Creole French
- français d'Aoste
- français-germanique
- Indian French
- Levantine French
- Maghreb French
- Newfoundland French
- North American French
- Oceanic French
- Quebec French
- South East Asian French
- Swiss French
- West Indian French
- [http://www.linguasphere.org/langues_romanes.pdf linguasphere on Romance languages]

Languages derived from French

- Antillean Creole
- Haitian Creole
- Lanc-Patuá
- Mauritian Creole
- Michif
- Louisiana Creole French
- Réunionese Creole
- Seychellois Creole
- Tay Boi

Sounds

:Main article: French phonology and orthography French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:
- liaison or linking: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally silent. (The final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally pronounced.) When the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant may once again be pronounced, to provide a "link" between the two words and avoid a glottal stop between them. Some liaisons are mandatory, for example the s in les amants or vous avez; some are optional, depending on dialect and register, for example the first s in deux cents euros or euros irlandais; and some are forbidden, for example the s in beaucoup d'hommes aiment. The t of et is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in set phrases like pied-à-terre. Doubling a final consonant and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. Parisien → Parisienne) makes it clearly pronounced, always.
- elision or vowel dropping: Monosyllabic words such as je or que drop their final vowel before another word beginning with a vowel. The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → j'ai)
- nasal "n" and "m". When "n" or "m" follows a vowel combination, the "n" and "m" become silent and cause the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to allow part of the air to leave through the nostrils). Exceptions are when the "n" or "m" is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
- digraphs French does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended. (See French phonology and orthography or [http://www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/ French Pronunciation Guide] for more details.)
- accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone.
- Accents that affect pronunciation:
- "é", is pronounced instead of the defaults or,
- "è" (e.g., secrète) means that the vowel is pronounced (as usual),
- dieresis (e.g. naïve, Noël) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one (or following one in some cases), not combined,
- the "ç" means that the letter c is pronounced in front of A, O, or U. ("c" is otherwise hard before a hard vowel.)
- The circumflex (e.g. pâté, forêt) shows that an e is pronounced and that an o is pronounced . In some dialects it also signifies a pronunciation of for the letter a, but this differentiation is disappearing. It usually indicates a former long vowel created by the dropping of an "s" from the Latin root (as in English "paste", "forest"),
- Accents with no pronunciation effect:
- The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well.
- All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words or for etymological reasons, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la and the conjunction ou ("the fem. sing.", "or") respectively.

Grammar

:Main article: French grammar French grammar shares several notable features with most other Romance languages, including:
- the loss of Latin's declensions
- only two grammatical genders
- the development of grammatical articles from Latin demonstratives
- new tenses formed from auxiliaries French word order is Subject Verb Object, except when the object is a pronoun, in which case the word order is Subject Object Verb.

Vocabulary

Word origins

The majority of French words derive from vernacular or "vulgar" Latin or were constructed from Latin or Greek roots. There are often pairs of words, one form being popular (noun) and the other one savant (adjective), both originating from Latin. Example:
- brother: frère (brother) / fraternel
- finger: doigt / digital
- faith: foi (faith) / fidèle
- cold: froid / frigide
- eye: œil / oculaire The French words which have developed from Latin are usually less recognisable than Italian words of Latin origin because as French developed into a separate language from Vulgar Latin, the unstressed final syllable of many words was dropped or elided into the following word. It is estimated that 12 percent (4,200) of common French words found in a typical dictionary such as the Petit Larousse or Micro-Robert Plus (35,000 words) are of foreign origin. About 25 percent (1,054) of these foreign words come from English and are fairly recent borrowings. The others are some 707 words from Italian, 550 from ancient Germanic languages, 481 from ancient Gallo-Romance languages, 215 from Arabic, 164 from German, 160 from Celtic languages, 159 from Spanish, 153 from Dutch, 112 from Persian and Sanskrit, 101 from Native American languages, 89 from other Asian languages, 56 from Afro-Asiatic languages, 55 from Slavic languages and Baltic languages, and 144 from other languages (3 percent of the total). Source: Henriette Walter, Gérard Walter, Dictionnaire des mots d'origine étrangère, 1998.

Levels of register

French, like many other languages, possesses a continuum of several levels of register. The colloquial register is used in almost any circumstance of life, and should not be confused with slang or rude talk. Formal French is used in writing or in formal occasions (when people make official speeches or when they are interviewed on television, for instance). Some level of formality is also normally used in classrooms in France, although colloquial French is now spoken by more and more professors with their students. Colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of grammar. For instance, the negation in formal French is "ne... pas", whereas in colloquial French it is simply "... pas", such as "I don't think so", which is "Je ne crois pas" in formal French, and "Je crois pas" in colloquial French. Another example of change in grammar is the way to ask a question: by inverting verb and subject in formal French, or also by using "est-ce que", whereas in colloquial French a question is phrased exactly as an affirmation, with the voice rising in the end. E.g.: "Is he sick?" would be "Est-il malade?" or "Est-ce qu'il est malade?" in formal French, and "Il est malade?" in colloquial French. On the other hand, questions with "est-ce que" are more colloquial than using inversion. Secondly, colloquial French differs from formal French in terms of pronunciation. Some words undergo shortening, or sound change, whereas some syllables are dropped altogether. For instance, "yes" is "oui" in formal French, and becomes "ouais" in colloquial French; "I" is "je" in formal French, but becomes "j' " in colloquial French; so a sentence like "I think he'll come" is "Je pense qu'il viendra" in formal French, and "J'pense qu'i'viendra" in colloquial French. There are many instances of shortening of words, such as "teacher", which is "professeur" in formal French, but becomes "prof'" in colloquial French.

Counting system

The French counting system is partially vigesimal: twenty () is used as a base number in the names of numbers from 70-99. So for example, means 4 times 20, i.e. is the French word for 80, and (literally "sixty-fifteen") means 75. This is comparable to archaic English use of "score", as in "fourscore and seven" (87), or "threescore and ten" (70). Belgian French and Swiss French are different in this respect.

Writing system

French is written using the Latin alphabet, plus five diacritics (the circumflex accent, acute accent, grave accent, diaeresis, and cedilla) and two ligatures (æ, œ). French spelling, like English spelling, tends to preserve obsolete pronunciation rules. This is mainly due to extreme phonetic changes since the Old French period, without a corresponding change in spelling. However, some conscious changes were also made to restore Latin orthography:
- Old French doit > French doigt "finger" (Latin digitum)
- Old French pie > French pied "foot" (Latin pedem) As a result, it is nearly impossible to predict the spelling on the basis of the sound alone. Final consonants are generally silent, except when the following word begins with a vowel. For example, all of these words end in a vowel sound: nez, pied, aller, les, finit, beaux. The same words followed by a vowel, however, may sound the consonants, as they do in these examples: beaux-arts, les amis, pied-à-terre. On the other hand, a given spelling will almost always lead to a predictable sound, and the Académie française works hard to enforce and update this correspondence. In particular, a given vowel combination or diacritic predictably leads to one phoneme. The diacritics have phonetic, semantic, and etymological significance.
- grave accent (à, è, ù): Over a or u, used only to distinguish homophones: à ("to") vs. a ("has"), ou ("or") vs. où ("where"). Over an e, indicates the sound .
- acute accent (é): Over an e, indicates the sound , the ai sound in such words as English hay or neigh. It often indicates the historical deletion of a following consonant (usually an s): écouter < escouter.
- circumflex (â, ê, î, ô û): Over an e or o, indicates the sound or , respectively. Most often indicates the historical deletion of an adjacent letter (usually an s or a vowel): château < castel, fête < feste, sûr < seur, dîner < disner. By extension, it has also come to be used to distinguish homophones: du ("of the") vs. dû (past participle of devoir "to owe"; note that dû is in fact written thus because of a dropped e: deu).
- diaeresis or tréma (ë, ï, ü): Indicates that a vowel is to be pronounced separately from the preceding one: naïve, Noël. Diaeresis on ÿ only occurs in some proper names (such as l'Haÿ-les-Roses) and in modern editions of old French texts. Since the 1990 orthographic rectifications, the diaeresis in words containing guë (such as aiguë or ciguë) was moved onto the u: aigüe, cigüe. Words coming from German retain the old Umlaut if applicable but uses French pronounciation, such as capharnaüm(mess).
- cedilla (ç): Indicates that an etymological c is pronounced when it would otherwise be pronounced /k/. Thus je lance "I throw" (with c = before e), je lançai "I threw" (c would be pronounced before a without the cedilla). The ligature œ is a mandatory contraction of oe in certain words (sœur "sister" , œuvre "work [of art]" , cœur "heart" , cœlacanthe "Coelacanth" ), sometimes in words of Greek origin, spelled with an οι diphthong which became oe in Latin, pronounced in French (and other Romance languages): œsophage , œnologie . It may also appear in œu digraph (or œ alone in œil "eye"), in words that were once written with eu digraph (which could be read or , depending on the word): bœuf "ox" (Old French buef or beuf), mœurs "custom", œil "eye" , etc. In these cases, the Latin etymon must be spelled with an o where the French word has œu: bovem > bœuf, mores > mœurs, oculum > œil. Some attempts have been made to reform French spelling, but few major changes have been made over the last two centuries.

Some common phrases

- French: français ("fran-seh")
- hello: bonjour ("bon-zhoor")
- I love you.: Je t'aime. ("jhe tem")
- My name is _____: Je m'appelle _____ ("jhe-ma-pelle")
- good-bye: au revoir ("o-ruh-vwar")
- please: s'il vous plaît (Literally: if it please you) ("sill voo pleh")
- thank you: merci ("mairr-see")
- you are welcome: de rien (Literally: Of nothing) ("duh ryeh"), je vous en prie, il n'y a pas de quoi (France); bienvenue ("byeh-venuh") (Quebec)
- that one: celui-là ("su-lwee la"), colloq. ("swee la"), or celle-là (feminine) ("cell-la")
- how much?: combien? ("kom-byen")
- English: anglais ("ahng-gleh")
- yes: oui ("wee"), colloq. ouais (seldom written) ("way")
- no: non ("non")
- I am sorry: Je suis désolé(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine); ("zhahn swee deh-zo-leh"), colloq. ("shswee deh-zo-leh"). Pardon ("par-dohn")
- I do not understand: Je ne comprends pas. ("zhuh nuh comprahn pa"), colloq. Je comprends pas (with dropping of "ne") ("shcomprahn pa")
- Where are the toilets?: Où sont les toilettes ? ("oo son leh twa-let")
- Cheers (toast to someone's health): Tchin ("chin"), Santé ("san-teh") or À la vôtre ("a la votr")
- Do you speak English?: Parlez-vous anglais ? ("par-leh voo ang-gleh") OR "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" ("voo par-leh ang-leh")
- Excuse me: Excusez-moi. ("eh-skyu-zay mwa")
- Good night: Bonne nuit ("bun nwee")
- Hi!: Salut ! ("sal-oo")
- I am tired: Je suis fatigué(e). (add the "e" if the speaker is feminine) ("jhe swee fah-tee-gay")
- Are you coming?: Venez vous ?, Est-ce que vous venez ? (or with close friends and relatives: tu viens?)
- I am thinking about it: J'y pense. ("jhee pahnss")
- I am going to the grocery store: Je vais à l'épicerie. ("jhe vay a lay-pee-ser-ee")
- We are going to school: On va à l'école. (colloquial) ("ohn va a lay-cohl")
- She is so pretty.: Elle est si jolie. ("el ay see jho-lee")
- our neighbors to the South: Nos voisins du sud ("noh vwah-zen due sued")
- Could you help me?: Pourriez-vous m'aider ? ("poo-ree-ay voo may-day")
- May I help you?: Puis-je vous aider? ("pwee-jha voo zay-day")
- It is the best of worlds: C'est le meilleur des mondes. ("say le may-yuhr day mohnd")
- Go to bed!: Va te coucher ! ("vah te coo-shay")
- I'm watching TV.: Je regarde la télé. ("jhe re-gard lah tay-lay")
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. ("wee-kee-pay-dee-ah, lahns-ee-kloh-pay-dee lee-bruh")
- I am the state.: L'État, c'est moi. ("leh-tah seh-mwa")

External links

-
- [http://www.dicts.info/dictlist1.php?k1=33 All free French dictionaries] Collection of free French dictionaries.
- [http://www.declan-software.com/french French language learning audio software]
- [http://www.window.to/french/ Learn French online]
- [http://www.academie-francaise.fr/ Académie Française]
- [http://french.about.com/library/begin/bl_begin_vocab.htm Beginning French Vocabulary]
- [http://radio-canada.ca/education/francaismicro/ Capsules linguistiques - Radio-Canada.ca]
- [http://www.moelc.moe.edu.sg/french/ Département de Français, Ministry of Education Language Centre, Singapore]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra Ethnologue report for French]
- [http://www.sprachprofi.de.vu/english/f.htm Free online resources for learners]
- [http://www.lexilogos.com/french_language_dictionary.htm French-English : all online dictionaries]
- [http://www.jump-gate.com/languages/french/ French Language Course]
- [http://www.ielanguages.com/french.html French Language Tutorial at ielanguages.com]
- [http://www.intuxication.org/~webtypo/le_francais_facile.htm Le français facile]
- [http://portal.wikinerds.org/rapidfrench How to learn French in 10 months]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=French_accentuation_rules Basic tips of French accentuation]
- [http://www.languagehelpers.com/words/french/basics.html LanguageHelpers]
- [http://www.lightandmatter.com/french/ Liberté, an online first-year French textbook]
- [http://www.listenandlearn.org/learn/french/index.php Learn French by reading and listening]
- [http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/french/index.html A profile of the French language]
- [http://dhost.info/defu/wiki/index.php?id=Virtual_French_Keyboard A virtual French keyboard]
- [http://linearb.co.uk:8080/memory/ Searchable French-English dictionary, with example sentences]
- [http://atilf.atilf.fr/ Le Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé] (very comprehensive)
- [http://truckspeak.monsite.wanadoo.fr Truck Drivers' French - English, English - French Dictionary]
- [http://www.loecsen.com/travel/discover_pop.php?lang=en&to_lang=3&learn-French/ Listen to useful French expressions]
- [http://www.FrenchLanguageTips.com/ Learn French Fast & Easy]
- [http://www.wordreference.com/ Wordreference.com dictionary]
- [http://www.my-french-dictionary.com/ My French Picture Dictionary] Category:French language Category:Oïl languages Category:Languages of Belgium Category:Languages of Canada Category:Languages of France Category:Languages of Luxembourg Category:Languages of Switzerland Category:Languages of French Guiana Category:Languages of Morocco Category:Languages of French Polynesia Category:Languages of Wallis and Futuna Category:Languages of New Caledonia Category:Synthetic languages Category:Guttural R als:Französische Sprache zh-min-nan:Hoat-gí ko:프랑스어 ja:フランス語 simple:French language th:ภาษาฝรั่งเศส

1637

Events

- February 3 - Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) by government order
- February 15 - Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor
- December 17 - Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan
- Pierre de Fermat makes a marginal claim to have proof of what would become known as Fermat's last theorem.
- France places a few missionaries in the Côte d'Ivoire, a country it would come to rule more than 200 years later.
- England wages war against the Mashantucket Pequots
- First opera house, Teatro San Cassiona, opens in Venice
- René Descartes - Discours de la Methode
- Elizabeth Poole becomes the first woman to have founded a town (Taunton, Massachusetts) in the Americas.

Births

- January 1 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (d. 1685)
- February 12 - Jan Swammerdam, Dutch scientist (d. 1680)
- June 10 - Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (d. 1675)
- August 27 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (d. 1715)
- November 30 - Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian (d. 1698)
- December 6 - Edmund Andros, English governor in North America (d. 1714)
- December 7 - Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
- Dietrich Buxtehude, German composer (d. 1707)
- Pierre Jurieu, French protestant leader (d. 1713) See also :Category:1637 births.

Deaths

- February 15 - Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1578)
- March 19 - Peter Pazmany, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (b. 1570)
- April 1 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (b. 1571)
- May 19 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
- June 24 - Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (b. 1580)
- August 6 - Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572)
- August 10 - Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (b. 1582)
- August 14 - Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet (b. 1552)
- September 8 - Robert Fludd, English mystic (b. 1574)
- September 27 - Lorenzo Ruiz, Filipino saint
- Nicholas Ferrar, English trader (b. 1592) See also :Category:1637 deaths. Category:1637 ko:1637년

May 18

May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). There are 227 days remaining. Cliff Arnall, lecturer in the Department of Lifelong Learning at Cardiff University, Wales, announced in 2005 that May 18 was the best date in the year on which to make a resolution. He calculated this using a formula which took into account the factors of motivation, opportunity, proximity to a Bank Holiday, increasing hours of daylight, reflection time and success.

Events

- 1152 - Henry II marries Eleanor of Aquitaine
- 1268 - The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Battle of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.
- 1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
- 1631 - In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
- 1765 - Fire destroys a large part of Montreal, Quebec.
- 1783 - First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after leaving the United States.
- 1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
- 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
- 1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins, ending on July 4.
- 1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.
- 1876 - Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas under Marshall Larry Deger.
- 1896 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional.
- 1900 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- 1910 - The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
- 1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress giving the President the power of conscription.
- 1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California, beach.
- 1927 - The Bath School Disaster: Forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
- 1933 - New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
- 1944 - Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
- World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.
- 1948 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
- 1953 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour (1049.835 km/h) at Rogers Dry Lake, California).
- 1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).
- 1959 - Launching of the National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 launches.
- 1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
- Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.
- 1980 - 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
- Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
- Peru: Terrorist group Shining Path attacked a voting poll in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho starting their activities.
- 1992 - The Archivist of the United States issues a proclamation to officially announce that the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been ratified, despite more than 200 years for completion of the ratification process by the state legislatures.
- 1995 - Alain Juppé becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
- 2004 - Randy Johnson pitches a perfect game for the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Atlanta Braves.

Births

1048 to 1899

- 1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian poet (d. 1123)
- 1186 - Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218)
- 1474 - Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539)
- 1610 - Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (d. 1664)
- 1616 - Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (d. 1667)
- 1662 O.S. - George Smalridge, English Bishop of Bristol (d. 1719)
- 1692 O.S. - Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)
- 1711 - Ruđer Josip Bošković, Croatian atomic theorist (d. 1787)
- 1778 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
- 1785 - John Wilson, Scottish writer (d. 1854)
- 1797 - Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
- 1850 - Oliver Heaviside, English physicist (d. 1925)
- 1872 - Lord Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)
- 1883 - Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (d. 1974)
- 1883 - Walter Gropius, German architect (d. 1969)
- 1889 - Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (d. 1944)
- 1891 - Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (d. 1970)
- 1892 - Ezio Pinza, Italian-born bass (d. 1957)
- 1897 - Frank Capra, American producer, director, and writer (d. 1991)

1900 to 1999

- 1901 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- 1902 - Meredith Willson, American composer (d. 1984)
- 1905 - Hedley Verity, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1911 - Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (d. 1985)
- 1912 - Perry Como, American singer (d. 2001)
- 1912 - Walter Sisulu, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 2003)
- 1918 - George Welch, American pilot and war hero (d. 1954)
- 1919 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (d. 1991)
- 1920 - Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
- 1922 - Kai Winding, Danish-born musician (d. 1983)
- 1923 - Hugh Shearer, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Priscilla Pointer, American actress
- 1926 - Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)
- 1928 - Pernell Roberts, American actor
- 1929 - Jack Sanford, baseball player
- 1931 - Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
- 1931 - Robert Morse, American actor
- 1937 - Brooks Robinson, baseball player
- 1937 - Jacques Santer, Luxembourg statesman
- 1942 - Albert Hammond, British musician and compose
- 1943 - James Reiher, American professionsal wrestler
- 1946 - Reggie Jackson, baseball player
- 1947 - John Bruton, ninth Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
- 1949 - Rick Wakeman, English composer and musician (Yes)
- 1949 - Bill Wallace, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
- 1950 - Thomas Gottschalk, German television show host
- 1950 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (d. 1997)
- 1950 - Mark Mothersbaugh, American composer, musician, and singer (Devo)
- 1952 - George Strait, American musician
- 1955 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
- 1960 - Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player
- 1960 - Yannick Noah, French tennis player
- 1969 - Martika, Cuban-American singer
- 1970 - Tina Fey, Left-handed american writer, comedienne, and actress (Saturday Night Live)
- 1971 - Brad Friedel, American soccer player
- 1975 - John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
- 1975 - Jack Johnson, American musician
- 1977 - Lee Hendrie, English footballer
- 1977 - Danny Mills, English footballer
- 1978 - Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
- 1982 - Eric West, American singer and actor

Deaths

1450 to 1899

- 1450 - Sejong the Great of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1397)
- 1550 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (b. 1498)
- 1584 - Ikeda Motosuke, Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559)
- 1675 - Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (b. 1623)
- 1675 - Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
- 1692 - Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)
- 1780 - Charles Hardy, British governor of Newfoundland
- 1799 - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (b. 1732)
- 1800 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
- 1807 - John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (b. 1721)
- 1808 - Elijah Craig, American minister and inventor (b. 1738?)

1900 to 1999

- 1900 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher (b. 1813)
- 1909 - George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
- 1909 - Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
- 1910 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, French mezzo-soprano and composer (b. 1821)
- 1911 - Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1922 - Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
- 1941 - Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
- 1956 - Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
- 1973 - Jeannette Rankin, first U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1880)
- 1975 - Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)
- 1980 - Ian Curtis, British musician, singer and lyricist (Joy Division) (b. 1956)
- 1981 - William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
- 1988 - Daws Butler, American voice actor (b. 1916)
- 1995 - Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
- 1995 - Alexander Godunov, Russian ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
- 1995 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
- 1999 - Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer (b. 1954)
- 1999 - Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)

2000 onwards

- 2000 - Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946)
- 2003 - Anna Santisteban, Puerto Rican beauty contest organizer (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Barb Tarbox, Canadian anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961)
- 2004 - Elvin Jones, American jazz drummer (b. 1927)

Holidays and Observances

- International day of museums
- International day of the Internet
- Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
- Saint Eric of Sweden
- Dioscorus
- Felix of Cantalice
- Pope John I

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18 BBC: On This Day] ---- May 17 - May 19 - April 18 - June 18 -- listing of all days ko:5월 18일 ms:18 Mei ja:5月18日 simple:May 18 th:18 พฤษภาคม

1675

Events

- January 5 - The Battle of Turckeim
- June 18 - Battle of Fehrbellin
- August 10 - King Charles II of England places the foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London - construction begins
- November 11 - Guru Gobind Singh becomes the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
- Cassini discovers Saturn's Cassini Division
- King Philip's War between the settlers in New England and the indigenous tribes led by Metacomet begins.

Births

- January 16 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
- February 21 - Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
- February 28 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (d. 1726)
- March 31 - Pope Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
- May 29 - Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (d. 1715)
- June 1 - Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist (d. 1755)
- July 5 - Mary Walcott, American accuser at the Salem witch trials
- July 12 - Evaristo Abaco, Italian composer (d. 1742)
- July 14 - Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (d. 1747)
- September 2 - William Somervile, English poet (d. 1742)
- September 3 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (d. 1751)
- October 11 - Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (d. 1729)
- October 21 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (d. 1710)
- October 24 - Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, English soldier and politician (d. 1749)

Deaths

- February 9 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (b. 1613)
- March 18 - Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1606)
- May 18 - Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer (b. 1623)
- May 18 - Father Jacques Marquette, French missionary and explorer (b. 1636)
- May 27 - Gaspard Dughet, French painter (b. 1613)
- June 12 - Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy (b. 1634)
- July 27 - Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal of France (b. 1611)
- July 28 - Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer (b. 1605)
- September 12 - Afonso VI of Portugal (b. 1643)
- September 18 - Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1604)
- September 23 - Valentin Conrart, founder of the Académie Française (b. 1603)
- October 27 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
- November 28 - Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh, English Civil War soldier
- November 28 - Leonard Hoar, American President of Harvard University (b. 1630)
- November 30 - Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, colonial Governor of Maryland (b. 1605)
- December 6 - John Lightfoot, English churchman (b. 1602)
- December 15 - Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
- December 23 - Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602) Category:1675 ko:1675년

Louis Jolliet

Louis Jolliet, also known Louis Joliet (September 21, 1645–May 1700), was a Canadian explorer born in Quebec who is important for his discoveries in North America. Joliet and missionary Jacques Marquette were the first white men to map the Mississippi River. Mississippi River

Early years

The son of a wagon-maker, Louis Joliet was born at Quebec, Canada, on September 21, 1645. He gave great promise of scholarship, especially in mathematics, in the Jesuits' school at Quebec, and received minor orders in 1663. But caught with the adventurous spirit of the times, he abandoned his studies in 1667 and became a rover in the Canadian wilderness and a trader with the Indians. A fleeting glimpse is caught of Joliet searching for a copper mine on the borders of Lake Superior, in 1669; and again in 1671, he is seen standing by the side of Saint-Lusson as he plants the arms of France at Sault Sainte Marie.

Exploration of the Mississippi River

In 1672, upon the advice of the intendant, Jean Talon, Joliet was dispatched by Governor Frontenac to explore the grande riviére beyond the Lakes, which the Indians alleged flowed into the southern sea. In the order the French governor refers to Joliet as one "experienced in these kinds of discoveries and who had been already very near the river." In December of the same year, Joliet reached the Straits of Mackinac, where, with Father Jacques Marquette, he spent the winter and the early spring in questioning the Indians and preparing maps for the journey. In May of the following year, 1673, the historic quest began. With five voyageurs and two canoes, Joliet and Marquette reached the Fox River in June. A few leagues beyond, a short portage was found by which they reached the Wisconsin River, down the tortuous course of which they glided until, on June 17, the little party drifted into the waters of the great Mississippi. For a month they paddled southward, passing a great river from the west which the Indians assured them flowed into the Vermeille Sea—the Gulf of California—and, near it, a little village whose inhabitants, they were told, traded with the Indians on the Pacific coast. Joliet descended the river to 30° 40', christening rivers, plateaus, and elevations with Indian and French names which were destined to endure no longer than La Salle's great dream of the "Empire of New France." Having established beyond doubt the important fact that the great river emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, the expedition returned, arriving at Green Bay in September, after having paddled 2,500 miles. Here Marquette remained while Joliet hurried to Quebec, where he arrived the middle of August 1674 after having lost all his documents and maps by the upsetting of his canoe in the Lachine Rapids. Whether or not Joliet was the first Frenchman to have gazed upon the Great River, the reports that he laid before the governor and his establishment of the fact that the Mississippi was a highway to the sea led to the immediate formation of plans on the part of Canadian merchants and officers for the settlement of the Mississippi Valley, though Joliet's offer to plant a colony among the Illinois was refused by the French Government.

Later years

Shortly after his return, Joliet was married to Claire-Francoise Bissot. In 1680 he was granted the Island of Anticosti, where he erected a fort, which was subsequently captured by the English in 1690, upon which occasion his wife was taken prisoner. The restless spirit of the explorer persevered in Joliet to the end, for mention is made, within a few years of his death, of extensive wanderings in Labrador. In 1693 he was appointed royal hydrographer, and, on April 30, 1697, he was granted the seigniory of Joliet, south of Quebec. Louis Joliet died some time in the month of May, 1700, being lost on a trip to one of his land holdings. He was one of the first native Americans to have achieved historical distinction. The city of Joliet, Illinois, in the United States is named after him.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34427 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online] Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis

European

:This article is about the continent. For other meanings, see Europe (disambiguation). Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula or subcontinent, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. It is conventionally considered a continent, which, in this case, is more of a cultural distinction than a geographic one. It is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and Black Seas and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe. :See also Continent, Bicontinental country, and Table of European territories and regions. Table of European territories and regions Table of European territories and regions Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 2.1% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 700,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

Africa.]] In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north. The Greek term Europe has been derived from Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) -- broad having been an epitheton of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from the Akkadian word asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Mesopotamian perspective.

History

Europe has a long history of cultural and economic achievement, starting as far back as the Palaeolithic, although this is true for the rest of the Old World as well. The recent discovery at Monte Poggiolo, Italy, of thousands of hand-shaped stones, tentatively carbon-dated to 800,000 years ago, may prove to be of particular importance. The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts like egalitarianism and universality of law. The Roman Empire divided the continent along the Rhine and Danube for several centuries. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. During this time, isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously. The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tensions within Europe on top of the tensions already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts was when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French empire that soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble. The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and capitalist countries in Western Europe. Around 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern bloc disintegrated.

Geography and extent

Eastern bloc Geographically Europe is a part of the larger landmass known as Eurasia. The continent begins at the Ural Mountains in Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with Asia. The southeast boundary with Asia isn't universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba river can serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues with the Caspian Sea, and then the Araxes river in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, but Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of Africa and Asia, is also often included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. At times "Europe" is defined with greater regard to political, economic, and other cultural considerations. This has led to there b