Official Name: République Française (French Republic)

Area: Europe

Size: 674,843 km² 

Coastline: 4,668 km

Independence: formation 843 (Treaty of 

Verdun) 

Form of Govt.: Semi-presidential Unitary republic

Head of Govt.: Prime Minister

Capital: Paris

Largest City: Paris

Demographics (2005): 64,102,140,    113 /km²

GDP per Capita (2005): $30,100

Languages: French

Geography: France is distinguished topographically by the four Hercynian Massifs. (1.) The Ardennes in the western tip. (2.) The Vosges to the south. (3.) The Armorican which protects the Paris Basin to the west and (4.) the Central Massif which separates the north and south of France. All of these massifs are composed of granite, sandstone or shale. Between the massifs lie undulating floors of lowland corridors which include the Paris Basin, the Poiteau Gate, the Basin of Aquitaine, the Garonne Basin and the coastal plain. Beyond these lowland corridors rise the walls of the Jura Mountains, the Alps and the Pyrenees which form the frontiers of France. The drainage system of France is based on its five major rivers, the Loire, Garonne, Rhone, Rhine and Seine.

Climate: France's climate ranges from a Mediterranean in the south with warm humid winters and hot dry summers to a maritime in the northwest with mild winters and cool summers as well as frequent fine rain or drizzle. In the east a continental climate is dominant, characterized by cold winters with frost, long periods of snow cover and warm summers with thunderstorms. France receives an average of 450 billion cubic meters of precipitation per annum as either rain or snow and no part of the country receives less than 508 mm annually. Average temperature ranges in Paris are from 1 to 6 degrees in January to 14 to 25 degrees in July.