An Historical Geography of France

The industrial revolution, the development of transportation, and increasing centralization led to the emergence of agricultural and industrial specialization, and the appearance of hierarchically ordered urban networks. The homogenization of the top cultural stratum had been assured by the Counter-Reformation and the main royal routes, but beneath this there was a profound diversity of popular culture. The fragmentations caused by the traumas of revolution brought about a religious and electoral geography which had astonishing cultural stability. Maximum diversification was achieved between 1875 and 1914 despite political centralization. In the twentieth century the picture becomes simpler.