A Map of Rural School Classes per 1000 Children 6 to 14 years old in the departments of France, 1876

This statistical map indicates the growing interest of the Third Republic of instituting an improved and universally available system of primary education. The color scheme uses shades of red to indicate rates from low (pale) to high (intense). Note how the central part of France and Brittany (pennisula with the departments of Finistere, Morbihan, Ille-et-Villain, Cotes-du-Nord, and Loire-Inferieur) had the lowest rates. These became target areas for succeeding efforts to send state-trained teachers (instituteurs) into every village in the country.