France , officially the French Republic , is a country in Western Europe , but also

includes a number of regions and territories overseas scattered on several oceans .

Politically, it is a republic constitutional unit having a semi-presidential system . Its
capital Paris , official language is French currency and the euro . Its motto is " Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity "and its flag consists of three vertical bands respectively blue, white
and red. His anthem La Marseillaise .
France is a country formed in the late Middle Ages , named after the people franc . The
beginning of the xvii th century to the first half of the xx th century, it has a vast colonial
empire . From the year 1950 , it is one of the actors in the construction of the European
Union . It is a nuclear power , one of the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council and a member of NATO . She is also a member of the G7 , the G20 , the
Eurozone , the Schengen area and houses the headquarters of the Council of Europe , the
European Parliament and the UNESCO . France has considerable influence in political ,
economic , military and cultural in Europe and the rest of the world.
Only country alongside the UK to own overseas territories simultaneously on three
oceans 5 , N 6 , N 7 , its presence geopolitics is one of the largest in the world, it relies on
a network of embassies and consulates extended, the second in the world behind that of
the United States and has military bases in all the seas of the planet. France is ranked
second exclusive economic zone (maritime space) world, the world maritime power by
its diversity and biodiversity , second European economic power behind the German and
fifth largest economy . It is a world first in the areas of food , the aviation , the
automobile , the luxury goods , the tourism and nuclear . Populated 66.6 million
inhabitants N 2 , I 1 , France is the largest country of the European Union and the third
largest country of Europe 6 .
Former colonial power , culture and civilization are broadcast by French-speaking
countries around the world, united in the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie .
The French is one of the languages with the largest circulation, traditionally used as the
language of diplomacy . She is one of six official languages and two working languages
with the English of the United Nations , and official language or work of several
international and regional organizations, including the European Union .
The Metropolitan France is located in one of the western extremities of Europe. It is
bordered by the North Sea to the north, the English Channel to the north west, the
Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the southeast. It borders of
Belgium and Luxembourg to the north-east of Germany and Switzerland to the east of
Italy and Monaco in the south-east of Spain and Andorra to the south west.
If the borders of the south mountain ranges correspond to the boundaries of northeastern
not correspond to any geographical limit N 8 or linguistic N 9 .

Metropolitan France includes several islands, including Corsica and coastal islands. The
metropolis is between latitudes 42 19'46 "N 51 5'47" N and longitude 4 46 'W 8
14'42 "E. Its mainland extends about 1 000 km from north to south and from east to west.
France is composed of many territories outside the European continent, commonly
known overseas territories , once overseas territories, which allow it to be present in all
oceans except the Arctic .
These territories have varying statuses in the territorial administration of France and are
located:
on the South American continent : the Guyana ;
in the Atlantic Ocean : Saint Pierre and Miquelon , and in the Antilles , the Guadeloupe ,
the Martinique , Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthlemy ;
in the Pacific Ocean : the French Polynesia , the New Caledonia , Wallis and Futuna and
Clipperton ;
in the Indian Ocean : Reunion , Mayotte , the Scattered Islands , the Crozet Islands , the
Kerguelen Islands and Saint Paul and Amsterdam ;
in Antarctica : the Terre Adlie N 10 .
Through its ultra-marine communities, France also has land borders with Brazil and
Suriname , as well as the Netherlands via the French side of St. Martin.
The area of metropolitan France is 552 000 km 2 7 about one hectare per capita.
Including all land areas overseas, the total area of 675 000 km 2 .
It is the 42 th largest state in the world by land area. It is also the third largest country in
Europe after Russia and Ukraine , the second if you include the ultra-marine departments,
and the largest of the European Union .
The extent of its coastline, overseas included, is 8245 km .
The metropolitan territory of France offers a wide variety of topographic sets and natural
surroundings b 1 . Large parts of the current territory of France were raised in several
tectonic episodes, including the Hercynian uplift in the era Paleozoic is causing massive
Armorican , Central , morvandeau , Vosges , Ardennes and Corsican b 2 Massive.
Alpine , Pyrenean and Jura are themselves much younger and have less eroded forms b 2
- the Alps rising to 4,810 meters of altitude at Mont Blanc 8 . Although 60% of the
municipalities are classified as having seismic risks , these risks are moderate 9 .
These massive define several sedimentary basins , including the Aquitaine basin in the
south-west and the Paris Basin to the north b 2 - it includes several areas particularly
fertile ground, including silt plateaus of Beauce and Brie b 3 also. Various ways of natural
passage, such as the Rhone valley , allow easy communication b 4 . Coastal offer quite
contrasting landscapes; it is sometimes mountain ranges fallout (the French Riviera , for
example), plateaus ending on cliffs (the Alabaster Coast ), wetlands and forest areas such
as the Sologne or wide sandy plains (the Languedoc plain ) b 5 .

The river system in France is mainly organized around four major rivers, the Loire , the
Seine , the Garonne and Rhne b 6 , which can be added the Meuse and Rhine , less
important in France but major Europe-wide .dropoff window The watershed French first
four matches over 62% of the metropolitan area b 6 .
France has 11 million square kilometers of marine waters under its jurisdiction, three
oceans and 97% overseas 10 .
The climate of mainland France is temperate 7 b , influenced by the Azores like the rest
of Western Europe 11 , with regional or local variations quite marked. The current
typology identifies six major climatic areas b 7 :
the northwest quarter of the country belongs to the Breton area, with its Parisian and
Flemish shades; it is characterized by mild temperatures, low thermal amplitude and
relatively high rainfall;
south of it, the Aquitaine area incorporates the features of the Breton area, but with higher
temperatures;
northeast of the country, the Lorraine area has semi-continental features with cold winters
and lower rainfall in the west;
at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, the Provencal area knows of sunshine, hot, dry
summers and mild, wet winters;
between Lorraine and Provence areas, the Danube area makes transition zone office, with
a high temperature range;
the mountain area, which corresponds to the high altitude regions, is characterized by
cold, wet winters with significant snowfall.
Much of France Overseas , however, is subject to tropical climates (with strong
variations) b 8 , which must be added the exceptions of Guyana ( equatorial climate ) 12 ,
of Saint-Pierre-et Miquelon ( oceanic climate ) 13 and the French Southern and Antarctic
Lands (climates polar and oceanic ) 14 .
Metropolitan France is experiencing climatic events with important consequences: storms
( those of December 1999 killed 7% of the trees of French forests 9 b ) heat waves (the
2003 European heat wave caused 15,000 deaths 9 b ), fires and floods.
The average temperature in France has risen by 0.1 C per decade on average during the
xx th century 10 b .