The Beautiful Natural Environment of the South of France

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The Beautiful Natural Environment of the South of France

The south of France has often been described as having one of the most beautiful natural environments in the world. Many visitors, from painters to pilgrims, have found the pleasant Mediterranean climate to be both relaxing and inspiring. It is also a region that played host to some of the most lively social activity in the early 20th century. From Marseilles to Monaco (actually an independent country), southern France was a site of much popular focus in the 1920’s. It is a featured setting in many movies and novels of the time because of its consistently warm and enjoyable weather conditions. Most of the action in Ernest Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden transpires in the area, as it was a popular vacation site for young couples as well.

Hemingway begins more than one chapter in the Garden of Eden with a description of the prevailing wind conditions. It is the warm winds of the Mediterranean that make the provinces of south France a subtropical feel while they share the same latitude as New England (discoverfrance.net). Gusty winds herald the beginning and end of summer, the latter of which is featured in Hemingway’s work. The Mediterranean is not the only source of the wind in southern France, however. Desert winds swept north from Africa sometimes reach the normally pleasant region (Mitchell).

Without the salty barrier of the Mediterranean, the southern part of France would very much resemble a small, northern portion of the Sahara Desert (discoverfrance.net). Occasionally, hot air will rise from Algeria and sweep along many sand and dust particles on its way northward across the sea. These Saharan siroccos move into...

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...un of Provence.

Online Resources

http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Provinces/Provence-2.shtml.

- A chapter on Provence and the other southern provinces of France in a guidebook for travelers interested in the particulars of French geography.

http://www.le-guide.com/ouveillan/weather/index.html.

- Basically a few charts describing the normal climate conditions for various months in the south of France. Descriptions on weather and tourism consisting of a few sentences accompany the data of each month.

http://www.provencebeyond.com/nature/index.html.

- An in-depth look at the wildlife and plant life of the southern areas of France.

While hysteria is no longer a medical condition, it is important to note its effect both on the medical world and the steps it took to cure it as well as the effect it had on women and their standing in society,

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