France

Home> Countries> Europe> France

Country Name

France, or officially The French Republic.

Location

France is a country located in western Europe, it consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories.*

The metropolitan area of France extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic

Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and

The North Sea. It borders Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland, Monaco, and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south.

The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and

several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

*French Guiana is located in South America; Guadeloupe and Martinique are in the Caribbean Sea; and Réunion and Mayotte are in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa. All five are considered integral parts of the French Republic. France also comprises Saint Pierre and Miquelon in North America; Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin in the Caribbean; French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, and Clipperton Island in the Pacific Ocean; and finally the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

Capital

Paris.

Reason for Naming the country

The name "France" comes from the Latin Francia, or "country of the Franks". It is a Germanic people who came from the north to settle in France, this term was used after the fall of Rome until the Middle Ages and refers to the country where France is currently. The coronation of King Hugh Capet of the Franks was referred to as the Kingdom of Francia, then officially France in the reign of Philip August and still known to France today.

Flag

The Flag of France was adopted in 1830 and the current flag was adopted in June 1976.

The French flag consists of three equal-sized vertical stripes in blue, white, and red. It is known as the French Tricolor and is used as the national flag.

The blue stripe represents Saint Martin, while the red stripe represents

Saint-Denis. These two colors have long been the traditional national colors and have been used on many of the previous versions of the national flag.

France’s government website states that white represents kind and

the blue and red stripes are representative of the colors of Paris.

The colors blue and red also have ties to the patroness of France, the Virgin Mary.

The colors red, white, and blue signify freedom, equality, and

fraternity, which was the core of the French Revolution.