France

===Location and borders===
[[File:Chamonix valley from la Flégère,2010 07.JPG|thumb|[[Chamonix]] valley with the [[Mont Blanc]] at background, the highest mountain in the [[Alps]] and [[Western Europe]] on the border with [[Italy]]]]
The vast majority of France's territory and population is situated in Western Europe and is called [[Metropolitan France]], to distinguish it from the country's various overseas polities. It is bordered by the [[North Sea]] in the north, the [[English Channel]] in the northwest, the [[Atlantic Ocean]] in the west and the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the southeast. Its land borders consist of [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]] in the northeast, [[Germany]] and [[Switzerland]] in the east, [[Italy]] and [[Monaco]] in the southeast, and [[Andorra]] and [[Spain]] in the south and southwest. Except for the northeast, most of France's land borders are roughly delineated by natural boundaries and geographic features: to the south and southeast, the Pyrenees and the Alps and the Jura, respectively, and to the east, the Rhine river. Due to its shape, France is often referred to as ''{{Lang|fr|l'Hexagone}}'' ("The [[Hexagon]]"). Metropolitan France includes various coastal islands, of which the largest is [[Corsica]]. Metropolitan France is situated mostly between latitudes [[41st parallel north|41°]] and [[51st parallel north|51° N]], and longitudes [[6th meridian west|6° W]] and [[10th meridian east|10° E]], on the western edge of Europe, and thus lies within the northern [[temperateness|temperate]] zone. Its continental part covers about 1000&nbsp;km from north to south and from east to west.

Metropolitan France covers {{Convert|551500|km2|sqmi|0}},<ref name=France/> the largest among [[European Union]] members.<ref name="superficy">{{Cite web |title=Europa Official Site&nbsp;– France |url=http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/france/index_en.htm |access-date=28 October 2014 |publisher=EU}}</ref> France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories (excluding [[Adélie Land]]), is {{Convert|643801|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}, 0.45% of the total land area on Earth. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the [[Alps]] in the southeast, the [[Massif Central]] in the south-central and [[Pyrenees]] in the southwest.

Due to its numerous [[Overseas departments and territories of France|overseas departments and territories]] scattered across the planet, France possesses the second-largest [[exclusive economic zone]] (EEZ) in the world, covering {{Convert|11035000|km2|sqmi|-3|abbr=on}}, just behind the EEZ of the [[United States]], which covers {{Convert|11351000|km2|sqmi|-3|abbr=on}}, but ahead of the EEZ of Australia, which covers {{Convert|8148250|km2|sqmi|-3|abbr=on}}. Its EEZ covers approximately 8% of the total surface of all the EEZs of the world.