The Île-de-France (/ˌiːldəˈfrɒ̃s/; French:[ildəfʁɑ̃s]; lit.'Island of France') is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Containing the capital city of France, Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the Paris Region (French: Région parisienne, pronounced[ʁeʒjɔ̃paʁizjɛn]). Île-de-France is densely populated and retains a prime economic position on the national stage, and it covers 12,012 square kilometres (4,638 square miles), about 2% of metropolitan French territory. Its 2017 population was nearly one-fifth of the national total.
The region is made up of eight administrative departments: Paris, Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne, Val-d'Oise and Yvelines. It was created as the "District of the Paris Region" in 1961. In 1976, when its status was aligned with the French administrative regions created in 1972, it was renamed after the historic province of Île-de-France. Residents are sometimes referred to as Franciliens, an administrative word created in the 1980s. The GDP of the region in 2019 was nearly one-third of the French, and 5% of the European Union's. It has the highest per capita GDP of any French region.
The Palace of Versailles (/vɛərˈsaɪ,vɜːrˈsaɪ/vair-SY, vur-SY; French: château de Versailles[ʃɑtod(ə)vɛʁsɑj]) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the city centre of Paris, in the Yvelines department of Île-de-France region in France.
Yaël Braun-Pivet (French pronunciation:[jaɛlbʁonpivɛ]; born 7 December 1970) is a French lawyer and politician who has been President of the French National Assembly since 28 June 2022. The first woman to hold the position, she was re-elected on 18 July 2024 following the 2024 snap election.
Hauts-de-Seine is best known for containing the modern office, cinema and shopping complex La Défense, one of Grand Paris's main economic centres and one of Europe's major business districts. Hauts-de-Seine is one of the wealthiest departments in France; it had the highest GDP per capita in France at €107,800 in 2020. Its inhabitants are called Altoséquanais (masculine) and Altoséquanaises (feminine) in French.
A new town founded by order of King Louis XIV, Versailles was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status as a royal city, it became the préfecture (regional capital) of the Seine-et-Oisedépartement in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968. It is also a Roman Catholic diocese.
Yvelines in the context of Concours des villes et villages fleuris
The Concours des villes et villages fleuris (French pronunciation:[kɔ̃kuʁdevilevilaʒflœʁi], 'Competition of cities and villages in bloom') is an annual Frenchcontest. It aims to encourage communes to adopt and implement policies improving the quality of life of their inhabitants and enhancing their attractiveness to visitors through the provision and maintenance of green spaces and the enhancement of their natural environments. Successful communes are awarded the right to display a badge (one to four flowers) on road signs and in other local promotional material.
The competition was created in 1959 by the French state and it is administered by a distinct national committee since 1972. This committee is still linked to the Ministry of Tourism. All the French communes can take part and there are no application fees. There is not any limitation to the number of awarded communes, so they are not in competition between each other.