is the south of France a french colony ?

Question

I've heard that in the mediterranean shores of France speak a different language (a sort of Spanish/Italian mix) and is populated with black haired latin people, different ethny than the gallic/Germanic tall/blond-haired peoples of France.
Those regions also have a very different culture, climate and a complete different architecture from France too.
Why nodody does not do nothing to liberate those proud latin peoples from the Gallic colonisation ?

Answer 1

The south of France has Catalan or Catalonian spoken by the Spanish border. Then there's a dialect called Provencale, descended from Langue D'Oc.

You should be more concerned with liberating yourself from your abyssmal ignorance. Pray that someone tosses you a strong rope. I'll pray you don't pull them in with you.

Answer 2

Well... Living there, the language of the mediterranean part of France is... French. Of course, some regional languages (Occitan, Provençal, Corsican, Basque, Catalan - which are not "Spanish/italian" mixed languages, but real languages of their own !) still exist as in other parts of the country, but their use have declined (more or less depending in the area). And even if we don't look back to the Roman Empire, the Celts civilization.... South of France is part of the country since many times (Provence was united with French kingdom in 1481, I think...) . You can't call this a colony, even if there are some independantist movements in Corsica or Basque country, whose rattachment to France is more recent, and which has a strong cultural identity, but these movements are a kind of "noisy minority". There's not a major desire for a French region to secede from France... maybe to gain some autonomy in some cases, but not more... CrispyEd explained quite well the situation.

All the regional languages in South of France are of a same family, except for Basque, which is unrelated to anything else... and I've heard that their genetic heritage is quite specific... must come from millenaries ago...

Your question is quite strange... Yeah, climate is different from the North of France, very sunny, very dry... But you know, each part of France has a particular identity, particular words or expressions ; the architecture and the culture is not the same in the North, in North-East, in the South, in Brittany... But nevertheless, French people mostly identify them as French first. Regional identity is of course important, but comes after in most cases. Our culture is a mix of Latin, Germanic, Celtic and so on... influences.

Answer 3

Most likely because these people don't think they need liberating, especially if they identify themselves as being nationally French. I don't think it's technically correct to refer to it as colonization since much of that area was a part of Gaul and then later the Frankish kingdoms before there ever was the concept of France as a country.

The French are the descendents of the Franks, which were a germanic people that moved into the area displacing and mixing with the native Celts a a few thousand years ago. As such, the French are ethnically similiar if not nearly identical to the Germans, English, Dutch, and Austrian.

The point being that "French" is more a symbol of the country one is from, and not necessarily his or her genetic lineage. Further, there may not be enough support from the residents in these areas to secede from France, and it's highly unlikely that any of the separaists would find local support; Italy would feel uncomfortable about it's new neighbor, the Swill would not intervene, the French would of course not allow it, and the Spanish would condemn it as it might fuel separatists in that country as well, notably the Basque population.

The bottom line is that while this group of people whose culture is an overlap of many other cultures might enjoy national unity, there is too much to lose economically, militarily, politically, and culturally by doing so.

Answer 4

Hi all,

Am french, living in south of France, a hundred miles away from the spanish border; my parents settled there 8 years ago;

First of all, it's french which is spoken here, not a spanish or italian mix!! it's just that people have an pronounced accent, that's all! like english won't sound the same in Ireland, south Africa, Canada or south America;
And south of France is french for thousands years!! In history , Gallic were even in Spanish and Portugal (the "gal" at end of Portugal came from this); but like France is a crossroad in Europe, people moved and settled here from all Europe (and even from more afar) ; they don't need to be liberated since they came here from their own.... you can hear spanish spoke by old spanish people, like you could hear spanish in Miami or in all south US and Us big cities....

Like some answers you had (very good answers, I can say I'm quite impressed cause I imagine what represent south of France for a such large country like US) you can heard Catalan, a mix of old french and latin language, but Catalan is pretty much represented in north Spain than it is in south of France...

Answer 5

All national borders are a state of mind - the creator of the Earth did not draw them. If they're happy living where they are and making use of the excellent French socialist public services, let them. What's it got to do with you?

Answer 6

Because national lines are now drawn to fimly to do anything about it. At the ends of WWI and WWII, the winners attempted to redraw the map according to ethnic makeup, it failed both times.