Car Rental
France
Geography
The total
area of metropolitan France, which also includes
the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean, is
543,965 sq km (210,026 sq mi).
France is the second largest country in Europe,
with the fifth largest population in Europe.
The chief physiographical features of France are
its natural eastern and southern boundaries, a
south-central plateau, and, contiguous to the
plateau, a vast region of rolling plains.
A series of massive mountain ranges, including
a number of ranges of the Alps and the Jura, form
natural boundaries at the Franco-Italian and most
of the Franco-Swiss borders. With flanking chains
and foothills, these ranges dominate the area
east of the south-central plateau. Many of the
Alpine mountains extending across and along the
French border are more than 3,962 m (13,000 ft)
above sea level; Mont Blanc (4,807 m/15,771 ft)
is the second highest peak on the continent.
The Jura, which have a maximum elevation, on the
Franco-Swiss boundary, of about 1,710 m (5,600
ft), delineate the eastern frontier of France
from the eastern extension of the Rhône
Valley to the Belfort Gap, the broad depression
linking the basins of the Rhine and the Saône
rivers. From the edge of the Belfort Gap to the
north-eastern corner of France, the Franco-German
border is formed by the River Rhine. The Vosges
mountains, extending north from the Belfort Gap,
dominate the region between the Moselle and the
Rhine. The highest elevations in the Vosges Mountains
reach about 1,435 m (4,700 ft). The Pyrenees,
which extend along the Franco-Spanish frontier
from the Mediterranean Sea to the Bay of Biscay,
form the other mountain boundary of France. Pic
de Vignemale (3,298 m/10,820 ft) is the highest
French peak in the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are
traversed by few passes, a circumstance that has
traditionally hampered commerce between France
and Spain. The Alpine and other ranges in the
east are, however, broken by gaps and passes,
notably the passes of St Bernard.
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