Portal:France/Geography
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After Russia, France is the largest country in Europe (643,427 km² with its overseas départements). The upper central region is dominated by the Paris Basin; fertile soils over much of the area make it good agricultural land. The Seine river flows through the Paris Basin into Normandy and out into the English channel. The Normandy coast to the northwest is characterized by high, chalk cliffs, while the Brittany coast (the peninsula to the west) is highly indented with deep valleys.
The center of France is traversed by the Loire river valley which empties into the Atlantic ocean. The Bay of Biscay ("Golfe de Gascogne") to the southwest is marked by flat, sandy beaches; the Garonne and Dordogne rivers flow west into the Gironde estuary which empties into the bay. To the south, the Pyrenees form a natural border between France and Spain, and the south-central part of the country is dominated by the ancient Massif Central. Subject to volcanism that has only subsided in the last 10,000 years, these central mountains are separated from the Alps by the north-south Rhône River Basin which empties into a delta called the Camargue.
From Spain to Italy stretches France's Mediterranean sea coast line (the Golfe du Lion); to the east this coast is often called the Côte d'Azur (in English, the "French Riviera"). A spur of the Alps called the Jura mountains rise in the east along the border with Switzerland, and the Vosges mountains which rise in the northeast separate the province of Alsace from the rest of the country. The Rhine river divides France from Germany. In the north, the Ardennes mountains line the border with Belgium and Luxemburg.
With a population of over 60 million inhabitants, France is the second most populous country in Western Europe (after Germany) and the 20th largest in the world. Paris is the most populated city in France with over 11 million people in its aire urbaine. The other largest cities in France (in descending order) are Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Toulouse, Nice, Bordeaux, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulon, Douai-Lens, Rennes, Rouen, Grenoble, and Montpellier.
