In the first book of its kind to appear in the English language, two of France's leading scholars trace the historical geography of their country from its roots in the Roman province of Gaul to the present day. They demonstrate how, for centuries, France was little more than an ideological concept, and examine the relatively late development of a more complex territorial geography, involving political, religious, cultural, agricultural and industrial unities and diversities. Their conclusion is that it is only recently that France has achieved its territorial unity, and has overwritten the fragmentations of its past.