Page 62 - Northern Spain & Portugal: Pilgrimage into the Past

Mozambique, and Sao Tome and Principe (islands in the Gulf of Guinea). The Portuguese
colony of East Timor in the Indonesian archipelago was also released by Portugal, but was
immediately seized by Indonesia. In the last years, it has fought for independence against
violent pro-Indonesian militia groups. Portugal assisted the East Timorese in 1999 with an
international peacekeeping force. Also in 1999, Portugal and China made an agreement to
return the Portuguese territory of Macau (on the south China coast) to Chinese rule, with
provisions to insure its autonomy for 50 years after the start of Chinese rule.

Though the country’s worldwide empire has disappeared, its past is still very much alive
among the Portuguese people today. The handicrafts, colorful costume, festivals and dances,
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spite of much evidence of modern progress.

France

Facts & Figures

• Area: 248,573 square miles

• Capital: Paris

• Language: French

• Location: France is a large country, two and a half times as big as Great Britain,
extending for some 600 miles from north to south and from east to west. It has
coastlines on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Its southern land
border is Spain; to the north are Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany; to the east are
Switzerland and Italy.

• Geography: Except for extreme northern France, which is part of the Flanders plain, the
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west—the Seine into the English Channel, the Loire into the Atlantic, and the Garonne
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miles, the Rhine is France’s eastern border. In the Alps, near the Italian and Swiss
borders, is Europe’s highest point—Mont Blanc, at 15,781 feet.

• Population: 66,836,154

• Religion: Roman Catholic 63-66%, Muslim 7-9%, Jewish .5-.75%, Buddhist .5-.75%,
other .5-1.0%, none 23-28%

• Time Zone: France is on Central European Time, six hours ahead of U.S. EST. When it
is 6am in Washington D.C., it is noon in Paris. Daylight Saving Time begins the last
weekend in March and ends the last weekend in October.

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