France

france in french, rpublique franaise, country in western europe, bounded on the north by the english channel, the strait of dover, and the north sea which separate it from great britain on the north-east by belgium, luxembourg, and germany on the east by germany, switzerland, and italy on the south-east by the mediterranean sea on the south by spain and on the west by the bay of biscay an arm of the atlantic ocean. france is approximately hexagonal in shape, with an extreme length from north to south of about 965 km 600 mi and a maximum width of about 935 km 580 mi. the capital and largest city is paris. the republic of france includes ten overseas possessions. these include the overseas departments of french guiana, in south america martinique and guadeloupe, in the caribbean and runion, in the indian ocean. territorial collectivities and dependencies include st pierre and miquelon, mayotte, new caledonia, french polynesia, the french southern and antarctic territo...