French people : one nationality, several ethnicities

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Maciamo

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France is one of the most ethnically diverse country in Europe, recent immigrants excluded. Whereas there is a stereotypical Scandinavian, Dutch, German, Irish, Italian or Spanish person, it is impossible to describe what an "typical" French person looks like. This is due to France's history, and its position at the crossroads of Europe.

In ancient times, before the Roman conquest already, the territory now known as France (see map) was divided between the Celts of Gallia Celtica, the Celto-Germanic tribes of Gallia Belgica, the Basques of Aquitania, and the Mediterranean people of Gallia Narbonensis (many of Greek descent).

Then came the Romans, who stayed for 500 years in Gaul, leaving Latin blood in all parts of France.

After them came the Franks, a Germanic tribe from the Low Countries (which had settled in the northern part of Gallia Belgica), that conquered Gaul around 500 C.E. and created the kingdom of France (in 843).

In Eastern France, especially Alsace, but also Lorraine, France-Comté and Bourgogne, many people are of German descent, e.g. the ancient Burgundians or Alemani.

I would like to select a few pictures of French people who I believe have kept relatively "pure" traits of each one of these ethnicities.

Celtic type

hondelatte1.jpg
Christophe Hondelatte, journalist

l-casta1.jpg
Laetitia Casta, top model => comes from Normandy


Germanic type (Frankish, Low countries, North of France)

c-lambert.jpg
Christophe Lambert, actor

halliday1.jpg
Johnny Halliday, rock singer => father from Belgium

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Pierre Richard, Comedian => comes from Valenciennes in the Nord (Belgian border)

ppda1.jpg
Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, newscaster => comes from Reims in Champagne

b-bardot1.jpg
Brigitte Bardot, actress, model and singer.

Germanic type (Alemani, East of France, South-West Germany)

c-berling1.jpg
Charles Berling, actor

g-schneider1.jpg
Gilles Schneider, journalist

c-gaessler1.jpg
Carole Gaessler, journalist => from Lorraine.

m-theuriau.jpg
Mélissa Theuriau, newscaster => from Grenoble, Alps.
 
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Mediterranean type (Provence-Languedoc)

tapie1.jpg
Bernard tapie, businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host.

pasqua1.jpg
Charles Pasqua, politician => comes from the Alpes-Maritime.

galabru1.jpg
, Michel Galabru, actor

p_mondy1.jpg
, Pierre Mondy, actor

Basque type (Aquitaine)

eyharts1.jpg
Léopold Eyharts, ESA astonaut => from Biarritz, French Basque country

cabrel1.jpg
Francis Cabrel, singer => from Aquitaine.

j-lassalle1.jpg
Jean Lassalle, politician => from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
 
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(Gallo-)Roman type

delarue1.jpg
Jean-Luc Delarue, TV presenter

robien1.jpg
Gilles de Robien, politician

holtz1.jpg
Gérard Holtz, journalist

ardisson1.jpg
Thierry Ardisson, TV presenter => from the Limousin

c-serillon1.jpg
Claude Sérillon, TV presenter => from Nantes

c-clavier1.jpg
Christian Clavier, actor

a-tautou1.jpg
Audrey Tautou, actress => comes from Auvergne.

m-drucker1.jpg
Marie Drucker, newscaster

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Nathalie Renoux, newscaster

s-marceau1.jpg
Sophie Marceau, actress.
 
This website and that one have a similar categorisation for the major ethnic types in Europe.

The first website also had this map of racial types in France :

montandon01.jpg
 
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