Geography
France is the biggest country in Western Europe. It borders six other countries - from the north-east to the south-east, it borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The south of France borders with Spain. France has over 3200km of coastline, with rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. In the north, the Channel Tunnel runs under the English Channel, connecting France with the UK. To the west is the Bay of Biscay, and the south coast of France is on the Mediterranean Sea. Major rivers include the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhōne.
The highest mountain ranges in France are the Alps which run along two-thirds of the eastern border down to the Mediterranean, and the Pyrénées in the south, on the border with Spain. The highest peak in France is Mont Blanc in the Alps, on the Italian border. It is 4807 metres high.
Because France is so big the weather varies enormously from one part of the country to another. In Brittany, on the north-west coast, it is often quite mild, with moist winds from the Atlantic Ocean bringing plenty of rain. The north-east has hot summers and cold winters. In the mountainous regions there is lots of snow in the winter, and this can stay on the tops of the mountains all year long. The south has a Mediterranean climate, with mild winters and hot summers. In the spring a very strong, cold wind known as Le Mistral blows down the Rhōne valley. It can make life quite unpleasant, and it is sometimes said that people living in the region are bad-tempered at this time of year. Le Mistral is so strong that people have to put stones on their roofs to stop the tiles blowing off. Mischievous villagers sometimes tell foreign tourists that the wind was so strong it blew the stones on to the roof!
France has many industries, including the production of iron and steel, machinery, aircraft, and chemicals. French people take a pride in the country’s innovative achievements in technology. France is the world's fourth-biggest car manufacturer, behind Japan, the USA, and Germany. It is also famous for its wine, perfume and fashion industries. Tourism is extremely important to the French economy: every year thousands of visitors flock to Paris and other cities, to the coastal resorts, and in the winter to the many ski resorts.
vastated. During the Second World War France was occupied by Germany until it was liberated by Allied Forces in 1944. Every town and village in France has a monument to the people who lived there, and who were killed fighting for their country.
Modern French politics have been characterised by a left wing/right wing division, although this has recently been blurred. The current President is Jacques Chirac, from the right-wing RPR party, Rassemblement pour la République (Rally for the Republic). Chirac was forced into an alliance with the left-wing Lionel Jospin, when Jospin was elected Prime Minister in 1997. In France the State and the Church are two completely separate institutions, meaning that things which are under State or government control have no religious content – for example, religion is not taught in State schools.
Environment
Between one quarter and one fifth of France is forested, though much of this has been recently planted for commercial timber production. Most of the natural vegetation in France – deciduous woodlands in the north, and drier scrubland and pines in the south – has been cleared to make space for farming.
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