Geography of France

Location

Western Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain.

Geographic coordinates: 46°00′N 2°00′E

Area

total: 674,843 km²
note: whole territory of the French Republic, including all the overseas departments and territories, but excluding the French territory of Terre Adelie in Antarctica where sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959

metropolitan France: 551,695 km²
note: metropolitan (i.e. European) France only, French National Geographic Institute data

metropolitan France: 543,965 km²
note: metropolitan (i.e. European) France only, French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km² as well as the estuaries of rivers

Boundaries

Land boundaries:
total: 2,889 km (metropolitan), 1,183 km (French Guiana), 10.2 km (Guadeloupe)
border countries: Andorra 56.6 km, Belgium 620 km, Germany 451 km, Italy 488 km, Luxembourg 73 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Spain 623 km, Switzerland 573 km, Brazil 673 km, Suriname 510 km, Netherlands Antilles 10.2km

Coastline: 3,427 km (metropolitan), 378 km (French Guiana), 306 km (Guadeloupe), ??? km (other DOMs/TOMs)

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles (44 km)
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles (370 km) does not apply to the Mediterranean
territorial sea: 12 nautical miles (22 km)

Internal Divisions

Metropolitan (i.e. European) France is divided into 22 regions (although strictly speaking Corsica is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a region, but is referred to as a region in common speech), which are subdivided into 96 departements, which are further divided into 329 arrondissements, which are further divided into 3,879 cantons, which are further divided into 36,568 communes (as of 1.1.2004). The French Republic is further made up of the following overseas divisions:
4 overseas regions (regions d’outre-mer, or ROM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Reunion, which have the same status as metropolitan regions (as much as Hawaii has the same status as a continental US state), each of these overseas regions also being an overseas departement (departement d’outre-mer, or DOM), with the same status as a departement of metropolitan France.

This double structure (region/departement) is new, due to the recent extension of the regional scheme to the overseas departements, and may soon transform into a single structure, with the merger of the regional and departmental assemblies, unless new departements are created such as in the case of Reunion, where it has been proposed to create a second departement in the south of the island, with the region of Reunion above these two departements.

3 overseas collectivities (collectivites d’outre-mer, or COM): Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, and Mayotte (although strictly speaking Mayotte is in fact a “departmental collectivity”, not an overseas collectivity, with the possibility to become a full-status French departement in 2010, but for the sake of clarity it is most often classified as overseas collectivity)
1 sui generis collectivity (collectivite sui generis): New Caledonia, whose status is unique in the French Republic
1 overseas “country” (pays d’outre-mer, or POM): French Polynesia
1 overseas territory (territoire d’outre-mer, or TOM): the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
5 islands in the Indian Ocean with no permanent population and known as Iles Eparses (”Scattered Islands”), which are administered by the prefect of the departement of Reunion: Bassas da India, Europa, Juan de Nova, Glorioso, and Tromelin
1 uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico which is administered by the high-commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia: Clipperton

Climate

The Climate is generally one of cool winters and mild summers, with mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean. There is a lot of regional variation, however, and in the southwest of France, for example, summers are generally hot inland south of the Dordogne river.

Terrain

Mostly flat plains or gently rolling hills in north and west; remainder is mountainous, especially Pyrenees in south, Alps in east.

Elevation extremes:
Lowest point: Rhone River delta -2 m
Highest point: Mont Blanc 4,808 m

Natural resources

coal, iron ore, bauxite, fish, timber, zinc, potash

Land use

arable land: 33%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 20%
forests and woodland: 27%
other: 18% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 16,300 km² (1995 est.)

Natural hazards

flooding; avalanches

Environment

Environment - current issues: some forest damage from acid rain (major forest damage occurred as a result of severe December 1999 windstorm); air pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution from urban wastes, agricultural runoff

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: largest West European nation; occasional strong, cold, dry, north-to-northwesterly wind known as mistral in the Rhone Valley or the Tramontane in the Languedoc/Rousillon regions west of the Gulf de Lion

Cities and towns include

Cities and major towns or those of historical significance include:

Abbeville, Ajaccio, Albertville, Albi, Amiens, Angers, Angouleme, Aurillac, Bastia, Besançon, Bordeaux, Belfort, Brest, Brive, Caen, Cahors, Calais, Cannes, Carcassonne, Chamonix, Charleville-Mezieres, Chatellerault, Chinon, Clermont-Ferrand, Colmar, Deauville, Dieppe, France, Digne-les-Bains, Dijon, Dole, Domremy, Dreux, Dunkerque, Evreux, Grenoble, La Baule, La Rochelle, Le Havre, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Mende, Metz, Mont-de-Marsan, Montauban, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice, Nimes, Orleans, Paris, Pau, Perigueux, Perpignan, Poitiers, Quimper, Reims, Rennes, Rodez, Roubaix,Rouen, Saint-Gaudens, Saint-Etienne, Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Tropez, Saumur, Sete, Soissons, Strasbourg, Tarbes, Toulon, Toulouse, Tours, Tourcoing, Valence, Vichy

While the main territory of France (metropolitan France; French: la Metropole, France metropolitaine or informally l’hexagone) is located in Western Europe, France is also constituted from a number of territories in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and Antarctica (sovereignty claims in Antarctica are governed by the Antarctic Treaty System). These territories have varying forms of government ranging from overseas departement to “overseas country”.

The total area of the Frech Republic is 674,843 square kilometres (260,558 sq. mi). There are varying figures from different sources regarding the area of metropolitan France. According to data from the French National Geographic Institute, the total area for metropolitan France is 551,695 square kilometres (213,011 sq. mi). However, the U.S. central intelligence agency states the figure at 547,030 square kilometres (211,154 sq. mi). Finally, French Land Register data, which exclude lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 square kilometre (0.386 sq. mi or 247 acres) as well as the estuaries of rivers, calculates the land area at 543,965 square kilometres (210,026 sq. mi) for metropolitan France.

Metropolitan France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges in the south-east (the Alps) and the south-west (the Pyrenees). The French Alps contain the highest point in western Europe, Mont Blanc at 4,810 metres (15,781 ft). There are several other elevated regions such as the Massif Central, the Jura, the Vosges, and the Ardennes which are quite rocky and forested. France also has extensive river systems such as the Loire, the Rhone, the Garonne and the Seine.

Due to its overseas departments and territories scattered on all oceans of the planet, France possesses the second-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world, covering 11,035,000 km² (4,260,000 mi²), just behind the EEZ of the United States (11,351,000 km² / 4,383,000 mi²), but ahead of the EEZ of Australia (8,232,000 km² / 3,178,000 mi²).[3] The EEZ of France covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world, whereas the land area of the French Republic is only 0.45% of the total land area on Earth.