Metropolitan France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine or la Métropole) is the part of France in Europe, including Corsica (French: Corse). Overseas France (French: la France d'outre-mer, or l'Outre-mer, or colloquially les DOM-TOM) is collective name for the French overseas departments (French: départements d'outre-mer or DOM), territories (French: territoires d'outre-mer or TOM), and collectivities (French: collectivitiés d'outre-mer or COM). In Overseas France, a person from Metropolitan France is often called a métro, short for métropolitain. Metropolitan France and Overseas France together form what is officially called the French Republic.
The overseas departments -Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, and French Guiana- have the same political status as the metropolitan departments.
As of January 1, 2007, 61,538,322 people lived in Metropolitan France, while 2,563,818 lived in Overseas France, for a total of 64,102,140 inhabitants in the French Republic.
Metropolitan France, excluding the island of Corsica, is referred to as Continental France (French: la France continentale), or just the Continent (French: le continent). In Corsica, people from Continental France are referred to as "Continentals" (French: les continentaux).
A casual synonym for Continental France is l'Hexagone, from the roughly hexagonal shape it forms on a map.
[edit] See also
- Mainland
- Continental United States, a comparable use in the United States
