\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \qj\li105\ri195 \f1 \b Forest in ╬le-de-France\par
\par
\b0 While housing one of the largest urban concentrations in Europe, the ╬le-de-France
also has vast forests that were protected in the past by kings and powerful lords, anxious to preserve the greatest of their pleasures: hunting. But they were equally dispensable to the common people, as a source of fuel and as a place where their pigs
could browse and they could collect wild fruit and berries. This explains the survival of huge expanses of woodland around Paris, often linked to the presence of a royal castle, as at \b \ATXul1024 \cf4 \ATXht201 Fontainebleau\b0 \ATXul0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , R
ambouillet, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, or CompiΦgne.\par
