France (French: IPA: [fʁɑs]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, IPA: [ʁepyblik fʁɑsɛz]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents.[12] Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L'Hexagone (The "Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory.̃̃
France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. Due to its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and the Netherlands AntillesSaint-Martin). France is also linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel. (bordering
The French Republic is a democracy that is organised as a unitary semi-presidentialrepublic. It is a developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world.[13] Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also an acknowledged nuclear power. France is the most popular international tourist destination in the world, receiving over 75 million foreign tourists annually.[14]
The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied northern Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. More precisely, the region around Paris, called Île-de-France, was the original French royal demesne.
The name "France" comes from Latin Francia, which literally means "land of the FranksProto-Germanic word frankon which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. Similarly, the Saxons are named after a variety of single-edged knives called the seax. or Frankland". There are various theories as to the origin of the name of the Franks. One is that it is derived from the
Another proposed etymology is that in an ancient Germanic language, Frank means free. However, rather than the ethnic name of the Franks coming from the word frank, it is more probable that the word is derived from the ethnic name of the Franks, the connection being that only the Franks, as the conquering class, had the status of freemen. The Merovingian kings claimed descent of their dynasty from the Sicambri, a Scythian or Cimmerian tribe, asserting that this tribe had changed their name to "Franks" in 11 BC, following their defeat and relocation by Drusus, under the leadership of a certain chieftain called Franko, although they had actually come from present day Netherlands, Lower Saxony, and possibly, ultimately Scandinavia. In German, France is still called Frankreich, which literally means "Realm of the Franks". In order to distinguish from the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne, Modern France is called Frankreich, while the Frankish Realm is called Frankenreich.
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