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What if France were federal ? (Five new regions added !)


Naoned Pride

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Now I know this title might seem really mysterious, let me explain myself a little clearer with a brief (I swear) history of France, the country I live (in case you were wondering):

After the abolition of the Kingdom in 1789 (Bastille, does that ring a bell ?), two sides opposed each other in politics: the Girondins, federalists and against a centralized state ; and the Montagnards, pro-centralization and welfare state, they fought for french language and cultural unity. Of course, the Montagnard won and abolished the Provinces (more or less equivalent to States in Federal republics) to create departments, often with no historical or cultural legimitacy. Later on, during WW2, Pétain decided to reinstate the provinces, but called it the Regions. The regions we have nowadays.

Right now in France, politics are debating a major change in our country, which is slowly advancing towards federalism.

Next year, it is scheduled to reduce the number of region. My city (Nantes) for exemple could move from Pays de la Loire (a region created out of nothing cultural and really despised by its inhabitants for its historical and cultural nonsense ; just imagine how new yorkers would react if we put NYC in the state of New Jersey !) to Brittany, its historic land it was stripped from during WW2. Needless to say, this is one of the hottest topics this year in France, everybody coming up with his version of french regions and maps.

[Though I do not tend to make this thread a politically driven one (doesn't mean I'm not open to discussion !), I'll clear it out: I'm all for it, as I consider myself a federalist (especially on the cultural side of it, I'm all for cultural autonomy of regions, like in Spain for exemple).]

So, what does it have to do with a concept thread ? Hear me out: What if the Girondins had won the political game in XVIIIth century ? We would be a federal republic, just like in the USA, Germany, Australia or Canada, and we'd have probably kept the Provinces at that time.

Here's where my concept thread comes: I'll present to you a whole new French paysage, with Provinces (that I'll call Region, for a more-modern look) and modern cultural regions, their logos, modern flag, specific license plate, and other symbols based on the American system.

Still following ? Allright, so here are the States of this Federal French Republic (42 regions): Alsace ; Angoumois ; Anjou ; Aquitaine ; Artois ; Aunis ; Auvergne ; Béarn ; Berry ; Bourbon ; Bourgogne ; Bretagne ; Catalogne ; Champagne ; Comtat Venaissin ; Corse ; Dauphiné ; Flandre ; Foix ; Franche Comté ; Ile de France ; Languedoc ; Limousin ; Lorraine ; Lyonnais ; Maine ; Marche ; Montbéliard ; Mulhouse ; Niçois ; Nivernais ; Normandie ; Orléanais ; Pays Basque ; Perche ; Picardie ; Poitou ; Provence ; Saintonge ; Savoie ; Touraine ; Vendée

Regions in Red are those finished up to this date.

The first ones will come very quickly !

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I'd assume Normandy, Brittany, and Burgundy would use the emblems and flags that they had been using long before the French kingdom incorporated them.

EDIT-

So Burgundy would probably go with their historical flag. The fleur-de-lis might offend republican sensibilities, but they're currently used by regional governments in Burgundy today, so I think they'd be fine. I can't think of any other emblem or flag Burgundy would use.

600px-Ancient_Flag_of_Burgundysvg_zpse2a

Brittany might end up with their current flag...

Flag_of_Brittany_Gwenn_ha_dusvg_zps79400

...but the older version might have stuck around if it was adopted as a "state" flag earlier...

800px-Drapeau_de_la_province_de_Bretagne

Normandy has a few emblems to choose from. There's the two golden lions on red which serves as Normandy's traditional banner. Yet there's also a modified Nordic cross that Normans sometimes use, to symbolize the Normans' Nordic origins. It's a red Nordic cross outlined in gold on red. So I combined the two by putting the two lions in the Nordic cross' canton.

Normandy_flag_large_zps832243c5.png

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I'd assume Normandy, Brittany, and Burgundy would use the emblems and flags that they had been using long before the French kingdom incorporated them.

Not so sure, I know for a fact that Brittany and Normandy both have flags that were created and adopted during the XXth century. I'm planning to do that for most regions.

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Région Alsace

280px-Alsace_region_locator_map.svg.png

Name: Alsace

English name: Alsace

Demonym: Alsacian

Regional language: Alsatian

Alsatian name: Elsass

Part of french territory since 1648

Region of France since 1789 (reinstated in 1945)

Capital city: Strasbourg

Regional animal: Stork

Regional colors: Red White Gold

Regional sport: Association Football / Soccer

1400108179-alsace-flags.png

1400108375-alsace-logo.png

1400108180-alsace-plate.png

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I'd assume Normandy, Brittany, and Burgundy would use the emblems and flags that they had been using long before the French kingdom incorporated them.

EDIT-

So Burgundy would probably go with their historical flag. The fleur-de-lis might offend republican sensibilities, but they're currently used by regional governments in Burgundy today, so I think they'd be fine. I can't think of any other emblem or flag Burgundy would use.

Brittany might end up with their current flag...

...but the older version might have stuck around if it was adopted as a "state" flag earlier...

Normandy has a few emblems to choose from. There's the two golden lions on red which serves as Normandy's traditional banner. Yet there's also a modified Nordic cross that Normans sometimes use, to symbolize the Normans' Nordic origins. It's a red Nordic cross outlined in gold on red. So I combined the two by putting the two lions in the Nordic cross' canton.

Since this is a concept thread, I'll be clear: I'll rework on most flags, especially those displaying the fleur de lys, which is a symbol of Kingdom. These were not used until long after the French Revolution, as displaying a provincial flag was considered for royalists.

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Région Angoumois

220px-County_of_Angoul%C3%AAme.png

Name: Angoumois

English name: Angoumois

Demonym: Angoumosian

Part of french territory since 1308

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: Angoulême

Regional animal: Horse

Regional colors: Red Yellow

Regional sport: Rugby Union

Famous people from the Region: François Mittérand (former french president from 1981 to 1995)

angoumois.gif

1400109341-angoumois-logo.png

1400109342-angoumois-plate.png

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This in all awesome! Glad someone else is tackling license plates too! :)

Can't wait to see Languedoc!

Thanks man ! And yeah, I admit your thread kinda pushed me into doing plates lol. It's been a minor issue lately in France, because we generic license plates with the region logo on the far right section, and the government stated that it was legal to put any logo you wanted (provided its french in a way, like a flag of a province or the logo of a region you come from even if you don't live there anymore). Now, everyone went like nuts for some reason and license plates logo got sold like hell lately, everyone coming up with whatever they wanted.

And for us in Nantes, which got stripped from its historical land of Brittany as I said, a lot of us put the Breton flag instead of our current regional logo, it might seem like nothing, but it's a good feeling to finally being able to put the Breton flag on our plate. :P

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Région Anjou

anjou.gif

Name: Anjou

English name: Anjou

Demonym: Anjolian

Part of french territory since 1482

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: Angers

Regional animal: Mallard

Regional colors: Blue Red

Regional sport: Basketball

Famous people from the Region: Joachim Du Bellay (XVIth century poet)

Most popular sport team: Cholet Basket (Basketball)

1400747273-anjou-flags.png

1400747273-anjou-logo.png

1400747274-anjou-plate.png

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Région Aquitaine

gascogneguyenne.gif

Name: Aquitaine

English name: Aquitania

Demonym: Aquitanian

Part of french territory since 506

Region of France since 1789 (Under two regions of Guienne and Gacony, reunited in 1956)

Capital city: Bordeaux

Regional animal: Lion

Regional colors: Red White

Regional sport: Rugby Union

Famous people from the Region: Montesquieu (XVIIIth century author)

Most popular sport team: Girondins de Bordeaux (A.Football)

1400747273-aquitaine-flags.png

1400747272-aquitaine-logo.png

1400749509-aquitaine-plate.png

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Really liking these so far. The only isue I have is the lack of material on the Anjou Flag. I would have tried to do something with the FDL in it or something. I do like how the colours in the License Plate don't bleed which tends to be a problem for Blue and Red.
Aquitania is pretty clean, love the flag and the plate.

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Yes, some regions are gonna be pretty hard, giving most historic flags with FDL all look alike. For Anjou, I tried to play with the A letter, which seems to be some kind of a trademark for departments and the city of Angers.

But as I stated before, I get rid of the fleur de lys, it really is not the symbol of France as many can think, it's a symbol of the French Kingdom. And keeping it on flags was unthinkable after the Revolution, which was against monarchy. Plus, it gives more room for creativity.

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Région Artois

artois.gif

Name: Artois

Demonym: Artesian

Part of french territory since 1659 (Taken from the Dutch)

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: Arras

Regional symbol: Gold Castle

Regional colors: Blue Red Brown

Regional sport: Association Football

Most popular sport team: RC Lens (A.Football)

1400935620-artois-flag.png

1400935616-artois-logo.png

1400935616-artois-plate.png

Région Aunis

250px-Aunis_with_Aquitaine.png (In Red: Aunis)

Name: Aunis

Demonym: Aunisian

Part of french territory since 1371 (formerly part of Aquitaine)

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: La Rochelle

Regional symbol: Partridge

Regional colors: Red Gold

Regional sport: Rugby Union

Most popular sport team: Atlantique Stade Rochelais (Rugby)

1400935616-aunis-flags.png

1400935616-aunis-logo.png

1400935616-aunis-plate.png

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Wow, that Artois Historical Flag was busy, nice clean up. I really like this font too, may I ask what it is?

Nice subtle clean up of Aunis as well

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Région Auvergne

250px-Duchy_of_Auvergne.png

Name: Auvergne

English Name: Auvernia

Regional language: Occitan

Regional name: Auvernhe

Demonym: Auvernian

Under French Kingdom's authority since 1457

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: Clermont-Ferrand

Regional symbol: The Gonfalon

Regional colors: Red Green Yellow

Regional sport: Rugby Union

Most popular sport team: ASM Clermont Auvergne (Rugby Union, 1-time French champion, 10-time runner-up)

Famous people from the Region: Blaise Pascal (XVIIth century mathematician) ; Georges Pompidou (French President from 1969 to 1974)

1401030073-auvergne-flags.png

1401030073-auvergne-logo.png

1401030073-auverge-plate.png

Région Béarn

250px-Viscounty_of_B%C3%A9arn.png

Name: Béarn

English Name: Bearn

Regional language: Occitan

Regional name: Béarn

Demonym: Bearnian

Under French Kingdom's authority since 1620 (formerly a sovereign country)

Region of France since 1789

Capital city: Pau

Regional symbol: the Cow

Regional colors: Crimson Gold Blue

Regional sport: Rugby Union

Most popular sport team: Section Paloise (Rugby Union ; 3-time French champion & 1-time European Challenge Winner)

Famous people from the Region: Pierre Bourdieu (One of the most reknowned sociologists of the XXth century) ; Tony Estanguet (Three-times Olympic Gold Medalist in Canoeing)

1401031910-bearn-flags.png

The Occitan cross has been added to the flag in the upper right corner.

1401031910-bearn-logo.png

1401031910-bearn-plate.png

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