Geography

Metropolitan France covers 551,695 sq km (213,010 sq mi) and possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the north and west to mountain ranges of the Alps in the south-east, the Massif Central in the south-central and Pyrenees in the south-west. At 4,807 m (15,770 ft) above sea-level, the highest point in western Europe, Mont Blanc, is situated in the Alps on the border between France and Italy. Metropolitan France also has extensive river systems such as the Loire, the Garonne, the Seine and the Rhône, which divides the Massif Central from the Alps and flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the Camargue, the lowest point in France (2 m /6.5 ft below sea level). Corsica lies off the Mediterranean coast.

Overseas Divisions

While Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe, France also has a number of territories in North America, the Caribbean, South America, the southern Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica. These territories have varying forms of government ranging from overseas department to overseas collectivity. France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories, is 674,843 sq km (260,558 sq mi), 0.45% of the total land area on Earth.

The French Republic has the following overseas divisions:

• 4 overseas regions (régions d'outre-mer, or ROM): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, and Réunion, which have the same status as metropolitan regions (as much as Hawaii has the same status as a continental US state). Each of these overseas regions is also an overseas département (département d'outre-mer, or DOM), with the same status as a département of metropolitan France.
• 3 overseas collectivities (collectivités d'outre-mer, or COM): Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna and Mayotte. However, strictly speaking, Mayotte is in fact a 'departmental collectivity', not an overseas collectivity, with the possibility to become a full-status French département in 2010, but for the sake of clarity it is most often classified as overseas collectivity.
• 1 sui generis collectivity (collectivité sui generis): New Caledonia, whose status is unique in the French Republic
• 1 overseas 'country' (pays d'outre-mer, or POM): French Polynesia
• 1 overseas territory (territoire d'outre-mer, or TOM): the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
• 5 islands in the Indian Ocean with no permanent population: Bassas da India, Europa, Juan de Nova, Glorioso, and Tromelin. These islands are known as Îles Éparses ('Scattered Islands'), which are administered by the prefect of the département of Réunion.
• 1 uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico: Clipperton. It is administered by the high-commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia.

Extreme Points

• Northernmost Point:
  • Bray-Dunes, Nord
• Southernmost Point:
  • Puig de Comanegra, Pyrénées-Orientales (mainland France)
  • Îles Lavezzi, off Corsica (metropolitan France)
  • Saint-Joseph, Réunion (France including DOM)
• Westernmost Point:
  • Pointe de St-Mathieu, Finistère (mainland France)
  • Île d'Ouessant, off Brittany (metropolitan France)
  • La Pointe-Noire, Guadeloupe (France including DOM)
• Easternmost Point:
  • Lauterbourg, Bas Rhin (mainland France)
  • Cervione, Haute-Corse (metropolitan France)
  • Sainte-Rose, Réunion (France including DOM)