The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, meaning a small gathering of people sharing a common life; from Latin communis, things held in common.
French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or cities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany. French communes have no exact equivalent in the United...
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The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, meaning a small gathering of people sharing a common life; from Latin communis, things held in common.
French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or cities in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany. French communes have no exact equivalent in the United Kingdom, having a status somewhere in between that of English districts and civil parishes.
A French commune can be a city of two million inhabitants as in Paris, a town of ten thousand people, or just a ten-person hamlet.
As of January 1, 2008, there were 36,781 communes in France, 36,569 of them in metropolitan France and 212 of them in overseas France. This is a considerably higher total than that of any other European country. This peculiarity is explained in detail in the history section below; briefly, French communes still largely...
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