261 articles
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (Ais de Provença), historic capital of Provence in southern France, founded as Roman Aquae Sextiae in 122 BC; 149,695 inhabitants (2026), university and judicial city at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire, part of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis.
Ajaccio
Ajaccio (Corsican Aiacciu), capital of Corse region and Corse-du-Sud on Corsica's west coast; founded by Genoa in 1492, birthplace of Napoleon (1769), first French city liberated in 1943; 76,320 inhabitants in 2023 and France's second cruise port.
Allègre
Allègre, today Allègre-les-Fumades, is a commune in the Gard, Occitanie, France, with 779 inhabitants in seven hamlets, a ruined 12th-century castrum, ancient nymph-cult thermal springs, and the modern Thermes des Fumades spa.
Allenc
Allenc is a commune in Lozere, Occitanie, France, about 20 km east of Mende in historic Gevaudan. Known for its dolmen de la Prade, Roman cippe de Gemina, medieval church of St Pierre (first recorded 1123), and former lead and barite mines.
Allonzier-la-Caille
Allonzier-la-Caille (also written Allonzier la Caille), commune in Haute-Savoie, France, INSEE code 74006, 2,253 inhabitants (2023), 13 km north of Annecy; known for the Pont suspendu de la Caille (1839) and the disused Bains de la Caille thermal site.
Alsace
Alsace (Elsass), eastern French territory between Vosges and Rhine; capital Strasbourg. Former French province, German Reichsland 1871-1918, reannexed 1940-44; since 2021 the Collectivité européenne d'Alsace within Grand Est.
Amiens
Amiens, known in antiquity as Samarobriva, is a city in northern France, the prefecture of the Somme department, where the Somme is joined by the Avre and the Selle.
Angers
Angers, prefecture of Maine-et-Loire in Pays de la Loire, France; historic capital of Anjou, 159,022 inhabitants (2023), tramway lines B and C opened 2023, mayor Christophe Béchu.
Annecy
Annecy, prefecture of Haute-Savoie, France, on Lake Annecy; commune nouvelle since 2017 merging six communes; 132,117 inhabitants (2023), major Alpine tourist city with 3 million annual visitors.
Antibes
Antibes (Antipolis in antiquity) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes, France, on the Côte d'Azur between Nice and Cannes; 77,637 inhabitants in 2023, Greek and Roman port origins, Vauban fortifications, Port Vauban, and the closed Marineland park.
Argenteuil
Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise sous-préfecture on the Seine northwest of Paris; INSEE code 95018. 106,130 inhabitants (2023), former wine town and abbey, Monet's residence 1872–1878, major industrial suburb by 1930, Métropole du Grand Paris member.
Arles
Arles, a Rhône-side commune in Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence, France; largest commune of metropolitan France at about 759 km², with Roman and Romanesque monuments inscribed by UNESCO in 1981 and 51,811 inhabitants in 2023.
Arras
Arras, prefecture of Pas-de-Calais in Hauts-de-France, France; formerly Nemetacum and a Spanish Netherlands stronghold until 1640. Known for its UNESCO belfry and Vauban citadel, baroque Grand'Place, and the 1917 Battle of Arras.
Arrigas
Arrigas, a commune in the Gard department, Occitanie, France, in the Cévennes near Le Vigan; 219 inhabitants (2023). Known for the former copper-zinc mine at le Teulas, worked from Gallo-Roman times and industrially from 1896 to 1907.
Arromanches-les-Bains
Arromanches-les-Bains, a Calvados commune on Gold Beach, Normandy, site of the Mulberry B artificial harbour that landed 2.5 million troops after D-Day; home of the Musée du Débarquement and visible harbour remains.
Asnières-sur-Seine
Asnières-sur-Seine, commune 92004 in Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, on the Seine northwest of Paris; 93,941 inhabitants (2023), density 19,489.8/km²; served by Transilien J/L, RER C, metro 13, tram T1, and future Grand Paris Express line 15 (2031).
Aspiran
Aspiran, a village of about 1,680 inhabitants in the Hérault, Occitanie, France, is a commune with the listed Église Saint-Julien (PA00103359) and major Roman wine archaeology: the Saint-Bézard villa, earliest known wine estate in Gaul, and the Estagnola amphora workshop.
Aubagne
Aubagne (Aubanha) is a commune of 47,529 inhabitants (2023) in Bouches-du-Rhône, France, in the Huveaune valley near Marseille. Birthplace of Marcel Pagnol and capital of Provençal santon-making and ceramics, first recorded as Albanea in 1005.
Aubigny
Aubigny: name of several French communes with notable archaeology, chiefly the Gallo-Roman Cherré complex at Aubigné-Racan (Sarthe), plus Gallic sites at Aubigny (Somme) and Aubigny-au-Bac (Nord).
Aurignac
Aurignac (Occitan Aurinhac) is a commune in Haute-Garonne, France, whose 1852-discovered rock shelter, excavated by Édouard Lartet in 1860, gave its name in 1913 to the Aurignacian, the earliest Upper Palaeolithic culture of modern humans.
Avignon
Avignon, southern French city on the Rhône, was the papal seat in the 14th century: nine popes, the 15,000 m² Palais des Papes (1335–1352), medieval walls completed 1377, Saint Bénézet Bridge, UNESCO World Heritage since 1995.
Bailleul-sur-Thérain
Bailleul-sur-Thérain, a commune in the Oise (Hauts-de-France), France, near Beauvais; INSEE code 60041; about 2,330 inhabitants in 2023; home of the Mont-César Gallic oppidum of the Bellovaci, a listed monument since 1979.
Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc, prefecture of the Meuse department in northeastern France, former capital of the duchy of Bar; Renaissance upper town, Musée barrois, Ligier Richier's Transi, and goose-quill-deseeded currant jam since 1344.
Barjac
Barjac: name of two Occitanie communes, Barjac (Gard), a Renaissance town with Neolithic dolmens and the Grotte de Barjac, and Barjac (Lozère), seat of the baronnie de Cénaret with baryte mines; also an ancient Pleiades place and an Aveyron dolmen.
Barles
Barles, a commune in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France, in the Bès valley; site of ancient lead-silver and copper mines (Pleiades 167666, Barrington Atlas 17 G5) worked from the 16th century, within the Réserve Géologique de Haute-Provence.
Bayonne
Bayonne (Baiona) is a French commune in Pyrénées-Atlantiques at the Adour-Nive confluence, historic fortress and port city of the Basque Country, with 54,306 inhabitants, Vauban fortifications, and the Bonnat-Helleu Museum.
Beaumont-du-Ventoux
Beaumont-du-Ventoux, Vaucluse commune of nine hamlets on Mont Ventoux's northwest flank, known for Roman molasse quarries at Combe du Maupas that supplied Vaison-la-Romaine, and the Saint-Sépulcre chapel with a rare Arabic shahada inscription.
Beaurieux
Beaurieux: name of two French communes, one in Aisne (Hauts-de-France, ~830 residents, Aisne valley) and one in Nord (59740, 165 residents); the Aisne one holds major Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Gallo-Roman villa sites.
Bédarieux
Bédarieux, commune in Hérault (Occitanie), France, at the Orb–Vèbre confluence; historic textile, tanning, and bauxite-mining town with a 710 m, 37-arch railway viaduct built 1854–1856.
Besançon
Besançon, prefecture of the Doubs in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France, is a Roman-founded city in a loop of the Doubs, known for Vauban's 17th-century citadel, fort Griffon, and walls inscribed by UNESCO in 2008, and for its watchmaking industry founded in 1793.