France

France

France ranks 5th in number of biographies on Pantheon, behind United Kingdom, Japan, 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 politicians and soccer players and the death place of many politicians and writers.

France, officially the French Republic, is a transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and overseas regions and territories in South America and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Including all of its territories, France has twelve time zones, the most of any country. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and several islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Due to its several coastal territories, France has the largest exclusive economic zone in the world. France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra and Spain in Europe, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname and Brazil in the Americas. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and over 67 million people. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice. Read more on Wikipedia