Countries: France

France is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north, Germany to the northeast, Switzerland to the east, Italy and Monaco to the southeast, Andorra and Spain to the south, and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea.

What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul, a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands. 

As wave after wave of Indo-European peoples migrated across the steppes of Eurasia during the 3rd and 2nd millennia into northern Greece, the Danube Valley, the forests and coastal plains of modern Germany and France, they often brushed the borders of the great river valley civilizations of the ancient near east. They may have been included in the peoples mentioned by such names as Togarmah.

Togarmah was the son of Gomer (whose brother is Tiras), both of whom are sons of Japeth, whose father was Noah. Togarmah's son, Hayk, was the founder of the Armenian nation. 

In 600 BC, Ionian Greeks from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (present-day Marseille). Celtic tribes penetrated parts of eastern and northern France, spreading through the rest of the country between the 5th and 3rd century BC. Around 390 BC, the Gallic chieftain Brennus and his troops made their way to Roman Italy, defeated the Romans in the Battle of the Allia, and besieged and ransomed Rome. This left Rome weakened, and the Gauls continued to harass the region until 345 BC when they entered into a peace treaty. But the Romans and the Gauls remained adversaries for centuries.

Brennus was an ancient Gallic chieftain of the Senones. In c. 387 BC, he defeated the Romans at the Battle of the Allia.

The Senones were a Gaulish tribe originating from the part of France at present known as Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, and Yonne, who had expanded to occupy northern Italy.

According to Julius Caesar, who took control of the region on behalf of the Roman Republic, Gaul was divided into three parts: Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania.

The Belgae were a large confederation of tribes between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They became the Roman province of Gallia Belgica in 22 BC.

The Galatians were a Celtic people dwelling in Galatia, a region of central Anatolia in modern-day Turkey surrounding Ankara during the Hellenistic period.

The Celts were a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia, identified by their use of Celtic languages and other cultural similarities. Major Celtic groups included the Gauls; the Celtiberians and Gallaeci of Iberia; the Britons, Picts, and Gaels of Britain and Ireland; the Boii; and the Galatians.

The Iberians were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC.

The inhabitants of the valleys were traditionally associated with the Iberian tribe Andosins or Andosini.

Early writings and documents relating to this group of people goes back to the second century BC by the Greek writer Polybius in his Histories during the Punic Wars.

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About the Author: Lawrence Jean-Louis is the founder of eBrand Me, a digital marketing agency offering marketing & consultative services to CPAs and tax professionals. She aspires to start a money management firm by 2030.