Facts about France

Official Name: French Republic
Form of government: Republic
Capital: Paris
Population: 67, 092, 056
Official languages: French
Monetary unit: Euro
Area: 543,965 square kilometres
Major mountain ranges: Alps, Pyrenees, Massif Central
Major rivers: Seine, Rhine and Rhône

French Flag :

The largest country in Western Europe, France has long been a gateway between the continent’s northern and southern regions. Its lengthy borders touch Germanyand Belgium in the north, the Atlantic Ocean in the west, and the Pyrenees mountains and Spain in the south. It also borders the Mediterranean sea in the southeast, and the Alps, Switzerland and Italy in the east.

Napoleon Bonaparte, a general during the French Revolution, declared himself leader of France in 1799. He began a campaign of wars with neighbouring countries, and built a large French empire that ruled over much of continental Europe. But France’s domination in Europe came to an end in 1815, when Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo