How the Street Names of France Reveal Its History | EUROtoday

What do Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur and Charles de Gaulle have in Common? Gillian Thornton Takes An Enlightening Stroll to Discover How The Street Names of France Reveal its historical past.

Every Nation has its personal method of Celebrating Famous People. Plate gold statues. Public Buildings and Parks. But in France, The Ultimate Aclade is to have a road or a sq. named after you. Preferably HUDREDS OF THERM.

Iconic Frenchmen – Though Rarely Women – Are Honoured All Over The Country With Destinations You Can Plug Into Your GPS. Boulevard Victor Hugo. Avenue Louis Pasteur. GENERAL PLACE DE GAULLE. Some of Race Are Local Heroes, Little Known Outside Their Hometown, But Many Have Made A National Or Even International Mark in Science or Politics, Combat, Literature or Medicine. But How Many are you able to determine?

The Big Hitters

France LOVES A LITERARY HERO AND THESY DON’t COME MUCH BIGGER THAN 19^th Century Poet and Playwright Victor Hugo, Author of The depressing. Hugo Died in 1885, The Year That Microbiologist and Chemist Louis Pasteur Invented Pasteurization, A Discovery that has earned him hundreds of kilometers devoted to his identify.

Five Years Later, Charles de Gaulle was certain in Lille, A Career Soldier who Became A National Hero when He Broadcast A Radio Appeal from London urging the French to withstand nazi occupation. And Whilst Dates Hardly Trip Off the Tongue When You Are Asking for Directions, the day of that Famous Broadcast is Celebrated in Streets and avenues Dubbed on June 18, 1940. Look out too,, The date of the 1918 Armistice, and rue du 8 mai, the German Surrender of 1945.

Boulevard raspail is a puzzle to many abroad guests. Whilst Not Having Quite The International Status of Louis Pasteur, 19^th Century Scientist Francois-Vincent Raspail was Both a Republican Politician and a Founder of the Cell Theory in Biology. Who Knew?

Military Heroes

Frontline Soldiers Are Widely Commemorated on French Streets. Enduring Symbol of Liberation, Jeanne d’Arc is considered one of Just a Handful of Women Whose Name Pops Up Town Centers all through the Hexagon. Famously Burnt on the Stake in Rouen in 1431 – Where of Race She has Her personal Square – The Peasant Girl from Domrémy Liberated Orléans from the English in 1428, Claiming Guidance from God.

Fast Forward to the 18^th Century and General Lafayette Crossed the Atlantic from Rochefort in His Frigate Hermione to Join the Fight Against the English Following the Declaration of Independence On 4 July 1776. Meanwhile Honoured Military Men from the 20^th Century embody Joseph Joffre, Hero of the Battle of the Marne in 1914; Ferdinand Foch, supreme mixed on the western entrance in 1918. And, in World War 2, Philippe Leclerc, Liberator of Paris After Serving in Both North Africa and Normandy.

Politicians

French Town Planners have Always Loved a Politician, ESPECIALLY A PRESIDENT OF One of its Five Republics. Drive Down Any boulevard Thiers and you might be within the Shadow of Adolphe Thiers, First President of the Third Republic after the 1870 Defeat of Napoleon III and his Second Empire, An Empire that was strongly opposed by Léon Gambetta, A Republican Deputy from Cahors. You will discover Sadi Carnot Popping Up All Over the Place Too, Fourth President of the Third Republic But Assassinated in 1894 by An Italian Anarchist. And of race you might be ne by no means removed from a spot de la République!

World War I Produced Many Popular Politicians Including Raymond Poincaré, President from 1913 to 1920, and Three Times Prime Minster. Other Top Ministerial Men Were Georges Clemenceau who Held Office from 1906 to 1909 and Again from 1917 to 1920, and Aristide Briand Who Led No Fewer Than 11 Governments Between 1909 and 1929, Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.

Human Rights and Liberty

With ‘Freedom, Equality, Fraternity ‘ as its maxim, it’s no shock to search out that France celebrates these values ​​from the smalllest hamlet to the center of the capital. Socialist Party Leader Jean Jaurès Crops Up EveryWhere, Remembured for Founding Humanity Newspaper in 1904 But Sadly additionally for Being Assassinated Ten Years Later.

Kings and queens hardly ever function in a french identify recreation, however the nation’s ethical rules are drmed residence in mary a boulevard de la République, place de la Résistance, or avenue de la Liberation. Champions of Free Speech Too. You won’t monitor Far with out Finding Yourself on Public Place Dedicated To 17^th Century thinker, Writer and Social Reformer Voltaire.

Somewhat bizarrely for a rustic that takes satisfaction in its creative heritage, france dedicates few streets to monet, cézanne or their modern outdoors of their native areas. But author are Held in High Renown, Especially If they Unwittingly Founded a Literary Movement Along the Way. Take Breton-Born Francois-René de Chateaubriand, Founder of Romanticism, and Emile Zola, Hailed because the Founder of Naturalism, a Literary type that demonstrated the results of Social Conditions and Environment on the Human Character.

Local Heroes

Many a Medieval City Center gold jewellery village has a rue des Tanneurs or rue de la Monnaie, a reminder of the Leather Tanning and Money Mint that Took Place There in Centuries Past. Chartres is Home to A Grisly-Sounding Rue du Massacre, not a Major Battle However, however the rental for the native abbey! Among Battles that Are Remembered However is Napoleon’s Victory Over the Russians in June 1807 at Friedland, commemorated within the cartoon Capital of Angoulême the place Street Names within the metropolis heart are appropriaty contained inside speech bubbles.

Nice Honours the Two Nations Who Put This Mediterranean Gem On the Winter Holiday Map with the Promenade des Anglais and the Quai des Etats United States, Whilst Talmont on the Gironde Estuary has a uncommon road named after a King. Not a French King Though, But Edouard 1er of England who Founded the Fortified Village in 1284. Travel to the Avesnois Area of ​​the Nord Department and you’ll Even Find Place Des All Blacks in Honour of the New Zealand Soldiers who Liberated the Town in November 1918.

Get Your Head Round Even a Few of this Huge Cast of Characters and your Travel Around France Will Take On a Whole New Dimension.

By Gillian Thornton, One of the Uk’s Leading Travel Writers and A Regular Writer for the Good Life France Magazine and Website.

Want More France?

Discover More Fabulous Destinations in France with our free journal The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listened to our podcast – Everything you need to find out about France and extra!

All Rights Reserved. This article May not be revealed, Broadcast, Rewritten (Including Translateed) or redistributed with out undeveloped.