Geography of France

Physical geography of Metropolitan France

Climate

• The cool semi-arid climate is found in the western part of the Bouches-du-Rhône area and the Roussillon plain of the Pyrénées-Orientales. Summers are hot, winters are cool winters. There is insufficient average annual rainfall in some years.
• The hot-summer Mediterranean climate is found along the Gulf of Lion and further inland. Summers are hot and dry, winters are cool and autumns can be very rainy near the Cévennes.
• The warm-summer Mediterranean climate is found in the northwestern part of Brittany and along the Gulf of Lion but higher in altitude, in the mountains. Summers are warm and dry, winters are cool and can be cold in the mountains and autumns are rainy.
• The humid subtropical climate is found in southwestern France, in the Toulouse area. In France, the humid subtropical climate is not as hot and humid as in the Southeastern United States. Summers are hot and wetter than in the Mediterranean Basin, and winters are cool and somewhat foggy in the plains.
• The oceanic climate concerns a large part of France, as far as Champagne and Burgundy and of course around the coasts of the Bay of Biscay, the English Channel and the North Sea. Summers are pleasantly warm, somewhat dry and winters are cool and wet.
• The subalpine oceanic climate is found at the foot of the Pyrenees, Massif Central and western French Alps as in the mountains of the Vercors Massif and the Chartreuse Mountains. Summers are short, cool and wet, and winters are moderately cold, long and snowy.
• The warm-summer dry-summer continental climate is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 700 and 1,400 metres a.s.l. Summers are pleasantly warm and dry, and winters are very cold and snowy.
• The cool-summer dry-summer continental climate is found in all the mountainous regions of Southern France between 1,400 and 2,300-2,400 metres a.s.l. Summers are cool, short and dry, and winters are very cold and snowy.
• The warm-summer humid continental climate is found in the far east of France or in all the mountain ranges far from the ocean or the sea. Summers are warm to hot and stormy and winters are cold and somewhat dry, and snow is not uncommon. Above 500–600 meters a.s.l in the northeastern quarter of France, the snowpack can persist throughout the winter. In January 1985, in Mouthe, the temperature has dropped under.
• The subalpine climate is found in all the mountainous regions of France between 1,100-1,400 meters a.s.l in the Vosges mountains and 1,400-2,300 metres a.s.l in the southern French Alps or in the Pyrenees. Summers are cool, short and stormy while winters are very cold, long and snowy.
• The alpine tundra climate is found in all the mountainous regions of France, generally above 2,000 or 2,300-2,400 metres a.s.l depending on the mountain ranges. Summers are chilly, stormy and windy and winters are extremely cold, long and snowy.
• The ice cap climate is found in all the mountainous regions of France that have a glacier, in the highest mountains of the Alps or the Pyrenees. The climate in the Mont Blanc massif is an ice cap climate for example. Summers are cold and wet and winters are extremely cold, long and snowy.

Elevation extremes

• Lowest point: Étang de Lavalduc, Bouches-du-Rhône -10 m
• Highest point: Mont Blanc 4,808 m

  Land use

• Arable land: 33.40%
• Permanent crops: 1.83%
• Other: 64.77%

Natural resources

Natural hazards

Environment

Political geography

Internal divisions

• Metropolitan France is divided into 12 régions and 1 territorial collectivity, Corsica. However, Corsica is referred to as a region in common speech. These regions are subdivided into 96 départements, which are further divided into 320 arrondissements, which are further divided into 1,995 cantons, which are further divided into 34,836 communes.
• Five overseas regions : Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion, with identical status to metropolitan regions. Each of these overseas regions also being an overseas département, with the same status as a département of metropolitan France. This double structure is new, due to the recent extension of the regional scheme to the overseas départements, and may soon transform into a single structure, with the merger of the regional and departmental assemblies. Another proposed change is that new départements are created such as in the case of Réunion, where it has been proposed to create a second département in the south of the island, with the région of Réunion above these two départements.
• Four overseas collectivities : Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Wallis and Futuna.
• One overseas "country" : French Polynesia. In 2003 it became an overseas collectivity. Its statutory law of 27 February 2004 gives it the particular designation of overseas country inside the Republic, but without legal modification of its status.
• One sui generis collectivity : New Caledonia, whose status is unique in the French Republic.
• One overseas territory : the French Southern and Antarctic Lands divided into 5 districts: Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands, Île Amsterdam and Île Saint-Paul, Adélie Land, and the Scattered islands.
• One uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico that belongs directly to the central government public land and is administered by the high-commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia: Clipperton.

  Boundaries

• Land boundaries:
• * Total:
• * ,
• Border countries:
• * Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, Switzerland
• * Brazil, Suriname,
• * Sint Maarten
• Coastline: . including all overseas territories.
• Maritime claims:
• * Territorial sea:
• * Contiguous zone:
• * Exclusive economic zone: only in Europe. including all overseas territories. The does not apply to the Mediterranean Sea
• * Continental shelf: depth or to the depth of exploitation

  Extreme points

France (mainland Europe)

• Northernmost point — Bray-Dunes, Nord at
• Southernmost point — Puig de Comanegra, Lamanère, Pyrénées-Orientales at
• Westernmost point — Pointe de Corsen, Plouarzel, Finistère at
• Easternmost point — Lauterbourg, Bas Rhin at

  France (metropolitan)

• Northernmost point — Bray-Dunes, Nord at
• Southernmost point — Îles Lavezzi, Bonifacio, Corse-du-Sud at
• Westernmost point — Isle of Ushant, Finistère at
• Easternmost point — San-Giuliano, Haute-Corse at

  France (including ''départements d'outre mer'')

• Northernmost point — Bray-Dunes, Nord at
• Southernmost point — Saint-Joseph, Réunion at
• Westernmost point — Pointe-Noire, Guadeloupe at
• Easternmost point — Sainte-Rose, Réunion at

  France (all territory of the French Republic)

• Northernmost point : Bray-Dunes, Nord at
• Southernmost point : îles de Boynes, Kerguelen Islands, French Southern and Antarctic Lands at
• Westernmost point : Toloke, Futuna, Wallis and Futuna at
• Easternmost point : Hunter Island, New Caledonia at