France

France

France ranks 4th in number of biographies on Pantheon, behind United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Memorable people born in present day France include Napoleon, Louis XIV of France, and René Descartes. Memorable people who died in France include Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, and Louis XIV of France. France has been the birth place of many soccer players, and politicians and the death place of many politicians, and writers.

France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north, Germany to the northeast, Switzerland to the east, Italy and Monaco to the southeast, Andorra and Spain to the south, and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and have a total population of 68.4 million as of January 2024. France is a semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Read more on Wikipedia