French Geography and Nature

Geography And Nature

268 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

All 268 questions

  1. Complete the sentence about Seine with the correct year: A very severe period of high water in January ______ resulted in extensive flooding throughout the city of Paris.
  2. Complete the sentence about Loire with the correct year: Then came the Gauls, the local tribes during the Iron Age period of ______ to 500 BC.
  3. Complete the sentence about Rhône with the correct year: The first experimental steam boat was built at Lyon by Jouffroy d'Abbans in ______.
  4. Complete the sentence about Dordogne with the correct year: The Dordogne and its watershed were designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on 11 July ______.
  5. Complete the sentence about Somme with the correct year: In ______, the invasion fleet of William the Conqueror assembled in the Bay of the Somme, at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.
  6. Complete the sentence about Somme with the correct year: In ______, a Spanish army led by Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, crossed the Somme defeating a French army during the Thirty Years War thr…
  7. Complete the sentence about Somme with the correct year: Most famously, the Battle of the Somme, during World War I, lasted from July to November ______ and resulted in more than a million casualties.
  8. Complete the sentence about Somme with the correct year: Bullock in his wartime memoir recalled his first sight of it in early April ______: "... we reached a small place called Hengest sur Somme.
  9. Complete the sentence about Somme with the correct year: In ______, the Somme valley was affected by particularly high floods, which were in large part due to a rise in the water table of the surround…
  10. Complete the sentence about Mont Blanc with the correct year: The first systematic account of the minerals of the Mont Blanc area was published in ______ by Venance Payot.
  11. Complete the sentence about Mont Blanc with the correct year: The Mont Blanc was the highest mountain of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne and the highest mountain of the Holy Roman Empire until _…
  12. Complete the sentence about Mont Blanc with the correct year: Pierre Martel's ______ map and sketch of the Chamonix valley contains what is considered the first printed appearance of the name "Mont Bl…
  13. Complete the sentence about Mont Blanc with the correct year: In ______, Swiss naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure began to go to Chamonix to observe Mont Blanc.
  14. Complete the sentence about Pyrenees with the correct year: The native brown bear population was hunted to near-extinction in the 1990s, but its numbers rebounded in ______ when three bears were broug…
  15. Complete the sentence about Vosges with the correct year: During the French Revolutionary Wars, on 13 July ______, the Vosges were the scene of the Battle of Trippstadt.
  16. Complete the sentence about Jura Mountains with the correct year: The first use in English of the name was in ______ in the Proceedings of Geological Society.
  17. Complete the sentence about Jura Mountains with the correct year: In the 20th century, a movement for Jura separatism developed, which resulted in the creation of the Canton of Jura in ______.
  18. Complete the sentence about Corsica with the correct year: The second largest faction, the FLNC-22 October, signed a truce in ______.
  19. Complete the sentence about Corsica with the correct year: Violence picked up in ______ after the murder of Yvan Colonna, a jailed Corsican nationalist, murdered by a prison inmate.
  20. Complete the sentence about Brittany with the correct year: In ______, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh, a standard which has never been widely accepted.
  21. Complete the sentence about Provence with the correct year: In ______, a diver named Henri Cosquer discovered the mouth of a submarine cave 37 metres below the surface of the Calanque de Morgiou near…
  22. Complete the sentence about Alsace with the correct year: Until ______, Alsace included the area now known as the Territoire de Belfort, which formed its southernmost part.
  23. Complete the sentence about Lorraine with the correct year: In ______, under a reorganisation, it became part of the new region Grand Est.
  24. Complete the sentence about Champagne with the correct year: After the emergence of the Kingdom of France, it was ruled by the counts of Champagne until its direct annexation to the French royal domai…
  25. Complete the sentence about Champagne with the correct year: In ______, most of Champagne became part of the French administrative region of Champagne-Ardenne, which comprised four departments: Ardenn…
  26. Complete the sentence about Champagne with the correct year: From 1 January ______, Champagne-Ardenne merged with the adjoining regions of Alsace and Lorraine to form the new region of Grand Est.
  27. Complete the sentence about Aquitaine with the correct year: Since 1 January ______ it has been part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
  28. Complete the sentence about Occitania with the correct year: Enacted in ______, the territorial reform of French regions had been subject to debate for many years.
  29. Complete the sentence about Occitania with the correct year: Following the creation of the region in ______, Carole Delga, a member of the Socialist Party, was elected to the presidency of the Regiona…
  30. Complete the sentence about Occitania with the correct year: During the Ancien Régime, most of these territories lay within the jurisdiction of the Parlement of Toulouse, founded in ______.
  31. Complete the sentence about Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with the correct year: Permanent names would be proposed by the new regional councils and confirmed by the Conseil d'État by 1 October ______.
  32. Complete the sentence about Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes with the correct year: Schoolchildren were consulted about the name of the new region in February ______; residents were consulted in March.
  33. Complete the sentence about Île-de-France with the correct year: The GDP of the region in ______ was nearly one-third of the total for France, and 5% of the European Union's.
  34. Complete the sentence about Hauts-de-France with the correct year: The Conseil d'État approved Hauts-de-France as the name of the region on 28 September ______, effective the following 30 September.
  35. Complete the sentence about Grand Est with the correct year: The provisional name of the region was retired on 30 September ______, when the new name of the region, Grand Est, took effect.
  36. Complete the sentence about Pays de la Loire with the correct year: The Loire Valley, which is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site since ______, is located both in the administrative regions of Pays d…
  37. Complete the sentence about Camargue with the correct year: The Camargue was designated a Ramsar site as a "Wetland of International Importance" on 1 December ______.
  38. Complete the sentence about Camargue with the correct year: The Petite Camargue received this designation on 8 January ______.
  39. Complete the sentence about Camargue with the correct year: In ______, it was incorporated into the larger Parc naturel régional de Camargue.
  40. Complete the sentence about Verdon Gorge with the correct year: The Verdon's riverbed was scoured for a second time of the accumulated coral and limestone sediments, by a water delivery rate nearing _…
  41. Complete the sentence about Verdon Gorge with the correct year: According to Graham Robb's book The Discovery of France, the gorge did not become known outside France until ______.
  42. Complete the sentence about Étretat with the correct year: In ______ he built his own house in Étretat, "La Guillette", in the Mediterranean style in "Le Grand Val", since renamed rue Guy-de-Maupassan…
  43. Complete the sentence about Lake Geneva with the correct year: Endemic whitefish species Coregonus fera was last recorded in the lake in ______ and is now extinct.
  44. Complete the sentence about English Channel with the correct year: Following the Acts of Union ______, this was replaced in official maps and documents with British Channel or British Sea for much of…
  45. Complete the sentence about Bay of Biscay with the correct year: In ______ the Spanish defeated an English fleet during the Battle of the Bay of Biscay.
  46. Complete the sentence with the correct year: The USS Californian sank here after striking a naval mine on 22 June ______.
  47. Complete the sentence about Bay of Biscay with the correct year: In ______ the SS Afrique sank after losing power and drifting into a reef in a storm with the loss of 575 lives.
  48. Complete the sentence about Bay of Biscay with the correct year: The area became known as the "Valley of Death" by U-boat crews following a series of repeated losses from RAF attacks on U-boats from _…
  49. Complete the sentence about Bay of Biscay with the correct year: On 12 April ______, Soviet submarine K-8 sank in the Bay of Biscay due to a fire that crippled the submarine's nuclear reactors.
  50. Complete the sentence about Mediterranean Sea with the correct year: Around ______ BC the eastern Mediterranean was greatly affected by the Bronze Age Collapse, which resulted in the destruction of ma…
  51. Complete the sentence about Atlantic Ocean with the correct year: While the Norse were the first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in ______ that proved…
  52. Complete the sentence about Île de Ré with the correct year: The island became English in ______, when Eleanor of Aquitaine became queen of England through her marriage with Henry Plantagenet.
  53. Complete the sentence about Île de Ré with the correct year: The island reverted to France in ______, when Henry III of England returned it to Louis IX through a treaty.
  54. Complete the sentence about Île de Ré with the correct year: In ______, however, with the Treaty of Brétigny, Île de Ré briefly became English again, until the 1370s.
  55. Complete the sentence about Belle Île with the correct year: In ______, the monks of the abbey of Ste Croix at Quimperlé ceded the island to the Retz family, in whose favour it was raised to a marquis…
  56. Complete the sentence about Puy de Dôme with the correct year: Temples were built at the summit, including a Gallo-Roman temple of Mercury, the ruins of which were discovered in ______.
  57. Complete the sentence about Vercors Massif with the correct year: Members of the cult the Order of the Solar Temple infamously committed mass murder-suicide in the Vercors in ______.
  58. Complete the sentence about Calanques National Park with the correct year: In ______, the Comité de défense des Calanques was established with the aim of preventing industrial development at En-Vau.
  59. Complete the sentence about Dordogne with the correct year: Dordogne is one of the original 83 departments created on 4 March ______ during the French Revolution.
  60. Complete the sentence about Lascaux with the correct year: The cave complex was opened to the public on 14 July ______, and initial archaeological investigations began a year later, focusing on the Sh…
  61. Complete the sentence about Gironde with the correct year: Gironde is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March ______.
  62. Complete the sentence about Médoc with the correct year: With the exception of Château Haut-Brion from Graves, all of the red wines in the ______ Classification are from the Médoc.
  63. Complete the sentence about Épernay with the correct year: In ______ it was, along with Château-Thierry, named as a duchy and assigned to the duc de Bouillon.
  64. Complete the sentence about Épernay with the correct year: The Hôtel de Ville was built as a private residence and completed in ______.
  65. Complete the sentence about Épernay with the correct year: The Meaux-Épernay section of the Paris-Strasbourg railway line was inaugurated on 2 September ______, by Prince-President Louis-Napoléon Bona…
  66. Complete the sentence about Épernay with the correct year: With the Franco-Prussian War ______/71, the territory was occupied by Prussians troops on 8 September and numerous restrictions were put in p…
  67. Complete the sentence about Épernay with the correct year: The railway line between Épernay and Romilly-sur-Seine was inaugurated. 1 November ______ marked the end of the occupation.
  68. Complete the sentence about Chablis with the correct year: The fifth stage of the ______ Tour de France departed from Chablis towards Autun.
  69. Complete the sentence about Cognac, Charente with the correct year: In ______, it lent its name to the War of the League of Cognac, the military alliance established by King Francis I of France to fig…
  70. Complete the sentence about Cognac, Charente with the correct year: In ______, following the French Revolution that began the year before, the provinces were abolished and Angoumois became part of the…
  71. Complete the sentence about Cognac, Charente with the correct year: The Festival Polar de Cognac has been held each year since ______.
  72. Complete the sentence about Grasse with the correct year: Leading companies dating from this period includes the oldest French perfumerie, and third oldest parfumerie in Europe, Galimard established i…
  73. Complete the sentence about Gordes with the correct year: In ______, a castle was built and the Latin word "castrum" was added to what thus became "Castrum Gordone".
  74. Complete the sentence about Menton with the correct year: The first mention of Menton dates from 21 July ______, in the peace treaty between Charles of Anjou and Genoa.
  75. Complete the sentence about Menton with the correct year: Acquired in ______ by Charles Grimaldi, Lord of Monaco, Menton was ruled by the princes of Monaco until the French Revolution.
  76. Complete the sentence about Menton with the correct year: In ______, Menton, along with its neighbour Roquebrune, seceded from Monaco, due at least in part to a tax imposed on lemon exports.
  77. Complete the sentence about Albi with the correct year: The episcopal city, around the Cathedral Sainte-Cécile, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in ______ for its unique architectu…
  78. Complete the sentence about Albi with the correct year: Castanet ordered the building of the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile starting in ______.
  79. Complete the sentence about Cahors with the correct year: Pope John XXII, born Jacques Duèze or d'Euse, was born in Cahors in ______, the son of a shoemaker.
  80. Complete the sentence about Cahors with the correct year: In the ______ Tour de France, Cahors was the start of stage 18.
  81. Complete the sentence about Cahors with the correct year: The Cahors Blues Festival has taken place annually, in July, since ______.
  82. Complete the sentence about Cahors with the correct year: Fénelon studied at this institution, which, in ______, was dissolved as a separate institution and annexed to the University of Toulouse.
  83. Complete the sentence about Rocamadour with the correct year: In ______, according to the monograph of Edmond Albe, the place was named the castling of Saint Amadour.
  84. Complete the sentence about Rocamadour with the correct year: In ______, on a map of the diocese of Cahors by Jean Tarde, the name of Roquemadour appeared.
  85. Complete the sentence about Sarlat-la-Canéda with the correct year: Sarlat and La Canéda were distinct towns until merged into one commune in March ______.
  86. Complete the sentence about Sarlat-la-Canéda with the correct year: The name for the abbey church was Saint Sacerdos by ______; in the 20th century, it would become a cathedral under Pope John XXIII.
  87. Complete the sentence about Sarlat-la-Canéda with the correct year: Sarlat was besieged in ______ by French forces during the Hundred Years' War.
  88. Complete the sentence about Sarlat-la-Canéda with the correct year: A film festival has been held in the commune every November since ______.
  89. Complete the sentence about Troyes with the correct year: In ______, Shlomo Yitzchaki, better known as Rashi, was born in Troyes.
  90. Complete the sentence about Chartres with the correct year: Part of the old town, including most of the library associated with the School of Chartres, was destroyed by Allied bombs in ______.
  91. Complete the sentence about Chartres with the correct year: In ______, during the second war of Religion, Chartres was unsuccessfully besieged by the Huguenot leader, the Prince of Condé.
  92. Complete the sentence about Chartres Cathedral with the correct year: A venerated Black Madonna statue enshrined within was crowned by Pope Pius IX on 31 May ______.
  93. Complete the sentence about Reims Cathedral with the correct year: A prominent example of High Gothic architecture, it was built to replace an earlier church destroyed by fire in ______.
  94. Complete the sentence about Reims Cathedral with the correct year: Since the ______ law on the separation of Church and state, the cathedral has been owned by the French state, while the Catholic Chur…
  95. Complete the sentence about Amiens Cathedral with the correct year: The Rayonnant appeared in the triforium and clerestory, which were begun in ______, and in the enlarged high windows of the choir, a…
  96. Complete the sentence about Amiens Cathedral with the correct year: The cathedral has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since ______.
  97. Complete the sentence about Amiens Cathedral with the correct year: In ______ Amiens received a celebrated relic, the reputed head of John the Baptist, purchased in Constantinople.
  98. Complete the sentence about Bourges Cathedral with the correct year: Owing to its quintessential Gothic architecture, the cathedral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in ______.
  99. Complete the sentence about Giverny with the correct year: Beginning around ______, several American Impressionist artists settled to work in Giverny, drawn by the landscapes, the overall atmosphere…
  100. Complete the sentence about Giverny with the correct year: American painter Theodore Earl Butler married Monet's stepdaughter and sometime-model Suzanne Hoschedé there in ______.

Keep practising

More general knowledge topics

All general knowledge →

Geography And Nature in other exams

Ready for more general knowledge?

Play the GK ChallengeGeneral knowledge hub
Geography And Nature quiz questions (page 2) | GetMyMockTest