The population of Algeria in 1872 was 2,414,218; the aggregate population of the other French colonies amounted in 1872 to about 2,300,000; that of the protected countries to 1,024,000. The aggregate area of the colonies was estimated at 422,000 sq. m.; that of the protected countries at 35,500 sq. m.-France, which comprises the largest part of the country known in ancient times as Gallia Transalpina (see Gaul), owes its name to the Franks, one of those confederations of German tribes that invaded and dismembered the Roman empire during the period between the 3d century and the end of the 5th. They were probably inhabitants of the country about the lower Rhine, united with those living near the mouth of the Weser. Crossing the former river, they settled in the northern part of Belgium wider various chiefs, and, after a long and violent struggle with the Romans through several centuries, during which they were often completely driven back, successful conquest brought them gradually to the banks of the Somme. Meanwhile other hordes of barbarians had taken possession of several other provinces of Gaul; the Burgundians had peacefully shared the eastern part of this country with the Gallo-Romans, while the Visigoths, already masters of nearly the whole of the Spanish peninsula, extended their military rule over the population of Aquitania. The cities of Armorica had formed themselves into a confederation, and the central part of Gaul from the Somme to the Loire was alone held by the Romans. Such was the condition of the country about 481, when Khlodwig or Clovis, a young man, supposed to have been the grandson of Meroveus, from whom the Merovingian dynasty took its name, succeeded to the rulership over the Prankish tribe living in and around the city of Tournay. In 486 this king invaded the Roman province, conquered the governor, Syagrius, at Soissons, and thus secured to himself the possession of the whole country to the Loire. Ten years later, after forcing back to Germany some rival tribes which had crossed the Rhine in the hope of dividing the spoils with the Franks, Clovis, yielding to the entreaties of his wife Clotilda, consented to be baptized, and henceforth all the Catholic bishops of Gaul were enlisted in his cause.

Their powerful influence helped him greatly in consolidating his authority among the Gallic population, and carrying his conquests southward. A single victory won in 507 at Vouille over the Visigoths, who were Arians, gave him the possession of nearly all Aquita-nia. On his death in 511 his kingdom extended from the banks of the Rhine to the Pyrenees, thus including the whole of Gaul, with the exception of the province occupied by the Burgundians, the Mediterranean shore, which had been retained by the Visigoths through the aid of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, and the peninsula of Brittany. This kingdom, although partitioned among the four sons of Clovis, was soon increased by the conquest of Burgundy (about 534); and Khlother or Clo-taire I., the youngest of those princes, surviving his brothers and nephews, could for a while (558-561) boast of possessing a larger empire than his sire. A new division among his own sons brought on long civil wars between the eastern Franks or Austrasians, between the Rhine and the Meuse, and the western Franks or Neustrians, who lived W. of the latter river.

The Burgundians, who under their new masters had preserved their name, sided alternately with the one or the other; while the Aquitanians, taking no interest in a conflict among their barbarian conquerors, were little affected by it. This bloody period, in which two women, Brunehaut and Frede-gonda, figured conspicuously, extended over the latter part of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th (567-613). It ended with the defeat of the Austrasians; and Clotaire II., who at its close ruled over the conquering nation, during the latter part of his reign held the whole of the Frankish dominion under his sceptre. So did his son Dagobert (628-638), who had a taste for magnificence, and took as his principal minister Eligius or Eloi, the most celebrated silversmith of his time, who was canonized as a saint. His successors were mere phantoms of royalty, and have been styled lazy kings (rois faineants). They still preserved the royal title, while the power was wielded by the mayors of the palace, who, from the condition of private officers of the king's household, had by help of the aristocracy risen to the rank of prime ministers in each of the three kingdoms, Aus-trasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, of which the Frankish dominion consisted.

Through their rivalry the old contest between the Austrasians and the Neustrians revived; and notwithstanding the political talents displayed by Ebroin, mayor to the sons of Clovis II. (660-681), the Neustrians were at length controlled by the mayors of Austrasia, who soon took the title of dukes, and finally acquired absolute possession of the Frankish kingdoms. Pepin of Heristal, the most illustrious among these nominal ministers and real monarchs, governed them in the name of several successive kings. After his death (714), his natural son Karl, celebrated under the name of Charles Martel, seized and wielded with an iron hand a still more extensive power. He especially signalized his reign by defeating the Saracenic invaders of France between Tours and Poitiers in 732. Twenty years later (752) his son Pepin the Short confined the last of the Merovingians, Childeric III., within the walls of a convent, and, with the consent of the clergy and the approval of the pope, assumed the title of king. His father and himself, the first two princes of the Carlovingian dynasty, raised the Frankish power to its highest pitch.

Pepin (752-768), firmly establishing his authority all over Gaul, forced into complete submission Aquitania, which during the reign of the rois faineants had succeeded in maintaining its independence, and conquered Septimania, a province along the Mediterranean shore, which had been held by the Arabs of Spain. He made his influence also felt in Italy, where the Lombards became his tributaries, while his liberality toward the pope brought to his side the agency of religion. His son, Karl the Great or Charlemagne, following the same policy, showed himself the most faithful protector of the holy see, overthrew the Lombard monarchy, and placed the iron crown upon his own head in 774; waged for 32 years (772-804) a merciless war against the Saxons, who were finally subdued and compelled to embrace Christianity; destroyed the last remnants of the barbarous Avars who had settled in Hungary; and tried his arms against the Moslems of Spain. He thus made himself the master of an empire which included not only Gaul, but also Germany to the Saale, the largest part of Italy, and N. E. Spain. He styled his dominion the "new empire of the West," and was crowned emperor by the pope at Rome in 800. He aimed indeed at a complete restoration of the ancient Roman empire by marrying the Byzantine empress Irene; but this was prevented by revolutions at Constantinople. He greatly advanced the civilization of his realm by establishing schools and patronizing science and literature, and gave his court a world-wide fame throughout his reign.