* 1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 22 hours.

The Order of Preachers (), after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III ( 1216 – 27 ) on 22 December 1216 in France.

The 22 regions of France | regions and 96 departments of France | departments of metropolitan France include Corsica ( Corse, lower right ).

Figures from the CIA World Factbook show the main export markets in 2006 were United Kingdom 30. 8 %, Spain 22. 7 %, Germany 13. 7 %, Turkmenistan 10. 4 %, Switzerland 8. 3 %, Italy 6. 7 % while the corresponding figures for imports are Spain 23. 4 %, Russia 12. 3 %, Italy 12 %, UK 9 %, France 8. 9 %, Netherlands 6. 8 % and United States 4. 7 %.

Of the about 22, 000 Guinean soldiers in French service, about 10, 000 decided to remain with France.

On 22 September 1804, Dessalines, preferring Napoleon's style rather than the more liberal yet vulnerable type of political government of the French Republican Radicals ( see liberalism and radicalism in France ), proclaimed himself Emperor Jacques I.

On 22 November 1831 in Lyon ( the second largest city in France ) the silk workers revolted and took over the town hall in protest of recent salary reductions and working conditions.

Patents were eventually granted in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, (, filed May 16, 1991, issued June 22, 1994 and expiring not later than May 16, 2011 ), the United States (, issued May 25, 1993 and expiring not later than January 7, 2012 ) and Japan ( JP 3225440 ).

" Mayotte, geographically a part of the Comoro Islands, was the only island of the four to vote against independence from France ( independence losing 37 %- 63 %) in the referendum held December 22, 1974.

On 22 August, one day after the talks broke down with France and Britain, Moscow revealed that Ribbentrop would visit Stalin the next day.

26. 6 % of imports came from Metropolitan France, 16. 1 % from other European countries, 13. 6 % from Singapore ( essentially fuel ), 10. 7 % from Australia, 4. 0 % from New Zealand, 3. 2 % from the United States, 3. 0 % from Japan, and 22. 7 % from other countries.

Japan 22. 4 %, Metropolitan France 15. 2 %, China 14. 2 %, Taiwan 13. 2 %, other European countries 20. 5 %, Oceania 5. 9 %, Africa 4. 8 %, Americas 2. 7 %, other Asian countries 1. 1 % ( 2007 )

Metropolitan France 26. 6 %, other European countries 16. 1 %, Singapore 13. 6 %, Australia 10. 7 %, New Zealand 4. 0 %, United States 3. 2 %, Japan 3. 0 %, other countries 22. 7 % ( 2007 )

* The French Revolutionary Calendar, in force in France from 1793 to 1805 and briefly under the Paris Commune in 1871, began the calendar year on the day of the Southward equinox-September 22, 23 or 24.

During the Second World War, following the armistice of 22 June 1940, continental Normandy was part of the German occupied zone of France.

Marshal Philippe Pétain surrendered to Germany on 22 June 1940, and this gave birth to the so-called Vichy France republic.

In the decision, France kept the 12 nautical mile ( NM ) ( 22. 2 km ) territorial sea surrounding the islands and was given an additional 12 NM ( 22. 2 km ) contiguous zone as well as a 10. 5 NM ( 19. 4 km ) wide corridor stretching 200 NM ( 370 km ) south.

parties-( 22 ) Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine

In addition to the third devaluation of the Thai Baht, on September 22, 1985, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and West Germany agreed to sign the Plaza Accord to depreciate the U. S. Dollar in relation to the Japanese Yen and the German Deutsche Mark.

* January 22 – British foreign secretary Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union.

* August 22 – WWII – France: The German Occupation Authority announces that anyone found either working for or aiding the Free French will be sentenced to death.

In recent years he has traveled widely in Europe, conducting in Italy, France, Austria, and Switzerland.

Author of the Albany Plan Of Union, which, had it been adopted, might have avoided the Revolution, he fought the colonists' front-line battles in London, negotiated the treaty of alliance with France and the peace that ended the war, headed the state government of Pennsylvania, and exercised an important moderating influence at the Federal Convention.

`` Waiting For Godot '' sells even better in America than in France.

Very much the political man, Helion felt himself deeply affected by the increasingly pessimistic atmosphere of France and all Europe, whose foundations seemed to him more and more shaky.

but after war came to Europe, he decided to return to France, arriving there in January, 1940.

His company then carried out a confused retreating movement until it was surrounded by the Germans, a few days before France capitulated.

Riding trains, hitching hikes on trucks across Germany, slipping through guarded frontiers with the help of secret guides, he eventually reached Vichy France, and, by the winter of 1943, was back in Virginia.

`` Well, I might not get that far '', I told them, `` as actually I have no papers to enter Germany and, as a matter of fact, no permit to return to France once I leave ''.

The waspish man stopped me three paces from the bicycle barricade, and asked me in French if I had papers to leave France.

I replied in the affirmative, taking out my recently acquired titre d'identite et de voyage, on which was stamped a permission to leave France.

He examined it carefully, handed it back and said, `` Eh bien, you may leave France ''.

`` But I have no permission to re-enter France, and I have just left '', I told him.

`` I must then be standing on the line between France and Germany ''.

But there is no line between France and Germany, that is, no actual line.

You have just given me permission to leave France, which I did.

And as you know, I have no permission to re-enter France once out.

You are still in France ''.

Seeing their hesitation, I said, `` Well, until I have permission to enter Germany, or a visa to re-enter France, I shall be obliged to remain here on the line between two countries '', whereupon I moved to the side of the road, parked my backpack against the small guardhouse on the sidewalk, sat down, took out my typewriter, and began typing the above conversation.

There must have been special feelings of joy and patriotism in the heart of Daniel Morgan too, when the news was received on April 30th of the recognition by France of the independence of the United States.

When the negotiations began, his quarrel with the king of France was temporarily in abeyance, and he had no intention of reviving it so long as there was hope that French money would come to pay the troops who, under Charles of Valois, the papal vicar of Tuscany, were so valuable in the crusade against the Colonna cardinals and their Sicilian allies.

But Edward was invading Scotland for precisely the same reason, and his insubordinate vassal was the ally of the king of France.

To the pope, head of the universal Church, to the duke of Burgundy, taking full advantage of his position on the borders of France and of the Empire, or to Othon, who found it quite natural that he should do homage to Edward for Tipperary and to the count of Savoy for Grandson, Flotte's outspoken nationalism was completely incomprehensible.

Underneath all the high-sounding phrases of royal and papal letters and behind the more down-to-earth instructions to the envoys was the inescapable fact that Edward would have to desert his Flemish allies and leave them to the vengeance of their indignant suzerain, the king of France, in return for being given an equally free hand with the insubordinate Scots.

In Europe, Premier Clemenceau, showing his animal proclivities as the `` Tiger of France '', asked Pershing by letter for the creation of special houses where the sexual desires of American men could be satisfied.

Blackman called the porter and had him remove everything but one bottle of brandy, and after that they would have a cocktail or two before dinner, or, on one of their walking trips, beer, or, in France and Italy, wine in moderation.