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Largest of European countries, excluding Russia and Ukraine, France encompasses a varied and bountiful terrain. With more than half the land under cultivation, it leads the European Union in food exports. Favorable conditions for grape growing have made French wines world-renowned. The nation sets a fast pace in telecommunications, biotechnology, and aerospace industries. Sophia Antipolis, a booming high-tech complex on the Riviera, attracts scientists from throughout Europe. Coal and steel industries are concentrated in a northeastern rust belt.

In addition to extensive rail and highway networks, rivers and canals facilitate transport. Forests, in Lozère for instance, yield timber and provide recreation during the monthlong summer holiday. But air pollution continues to damage trees, and since 1980 the government has worked to clean up the environment, especially along Mediterranean beaches. Nuclear power, which supplies 80 percent of France's electricity, enjoys widespread support. Equally popular, but viewed with disdain by some, is American influence on French culture-notably the success of U.S. television, fast food, and the English language.

Paris has long been France's cultural, political, and business epicenter. In the early 19th century Napoleon Bonaparte divided large, traditional provinces into tiny, arbitrary departments, which have since been regrouped into larger, regional units.

Heavy losses on home turf in both world wars bled France of labor, wealth, and prestige. An independent defense doctrine, launched when President Charles de Gaulle withdrew from the military command of NATO in 1966, has turned the nation, a military giant, into one of the world's largest arms suppliers. France maintains ties with its former colonies through aid, trade, and military pacts.

Conservatism held sway until the election of François Mitterrand's Socialist Party in 1981. During Mitterrand's 14 years in power, he saw unemployment rise, the trade gap widen, and his bid to nationalize major industries and banks fail. As the decade of the 1990s advanced and immigration became a heated issue, conservative forces again gained control.

Now France has a conservative president, Jacques Chirac, and a Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin. It is one of the 11 nations participating in the euro currency.