Some amazing facts: France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean.
It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
The country’s 18 integral regions (five of which are situated overseas) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million (as of October 2018). France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country’s largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.
Read Also: Beautiful Towns and Cities to Visit in France
Amazing Facts to know about France
- France is the world’s most popular tourist destination.
- France is the largest country in the EU, and known as ‘the hexagon’.
- The French Army was the first to use camouflage in 1915.
- In France, you can marry a dead person.
- The French have produced a number of world-renown inventions.
- French people living near the border with Italy speak Italian.
- At least 40 % of the music on private radio stations must be of French origin.
- A French woman is the world’s oldest ever human.
- France legalised same-sex marriage in 2013.
- Europe’s highest mountain is in France
- The Louvre Museum in Paris was the most visited museum in the world in 2014.
- The world’s first artificial heart transplant and face transplant both took place in France.
- The French rail network is the second largest in Europe and the ninth biggest in the world.
- Paris Gare du Nord is Europe’s busiest railway station.
- French wines can reach astronomical prices.
- The French invented the metric system, the decimalized way of counting and weighing, in 1793.
- French gastronomy was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2010.
- France has produced some of the world’s most influential writers and thinkers.
- France produces nearly a billion tons of cheese a year in around 1,200 different varieties.
- The oldest recorded human voice is French.
- The French eat around 30,000 tonnes of snails a year.
- It is against the law to carry live snails on a high-speed train in France without their own tickets.
- France has the most powerful radar ship in the world.
- France boasts more roundabouts than any other country.
- The most populous French department is Nord, with around 2.6m inhabitants.
Read Also: Some Unusual theme Hotels of Germany
These are some amazing facts about France. Let us know if we missed something to mention in our list. Thanks for reading.