Metropolitan France (French: France métropolitaine or la Métropole, or colloquially l'Hexagone) is the part of France located in Europe, including Corsica. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Corsica (Corse Corsican and Italian: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily By contrast, Overseas France (la France d'outre-mer, or l'Outre-mer, or colloquially les DOM-TOM) is the collective name for the French overseas departments (départements d'outre-mer or DOM), territories (territoires d'outre-mer or TOM), and collectivities (collectivitiés d'outre-mer or COM). The French Overseas Departments and Territories ( French: départements d'outre-mer and territoires d'outre-mer or DOM-TOM) consist broadly of Overseas department (départements d’outre-mer or DOM) is a designation under the 1946 Constitution of the Fourth Republic that was given to the A dependent territory dependent area or dependency is a territory that does not possess full political Independence or Sovereignty as a The French overseas collectivities ( collectivités d'outre-mer or COM) like the French regions, themselves are first-order Administrative divisions

Metropolitan France and overseas France together form what is officially called the French Republic. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Metropolitan France accounts for 81. 8% of the territory and 96. 0% of the population of the French Republic.

The four overseas departments—Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion, and French Guiana—have the same political status as metropolitan France's departments. Martinique is an Island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, having a land area of 1128 km² Guadeloupe is an island group or Archipelago located in the eastern Caribbean Sea at, with a land area of 1628 square kilometres (629  sq Réunion ( French: Réunion or formally La Réunion; previously Île Bourbon) is an island located in the Indian Ocean, east of French Guiana (Guyane française officially fr ''Guyane'' is an Overseas department (French département d'outre-mer, or DOM) of France Metropolitan France and these four overseas departments together are sometimes called France entière ("entire France") by the French administration, especially by INSEE, although in reality this France entière does not include the French overseas collectivities and territories which have more autonomy than the overseas departments (read the Origin of the name section below). INSEE ( French: I nstitut N ational de la S tatistique et des É tudes É conomiques; inse (not) in French is the

In overseas France, a person from metropolitan France is often called a métro, short for métropolitain.

Contents 1 Origin of the name 2 Statistics 3 Continental France 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

Origin of the name

The term "metropolitan France" dates from the country's colonial period (from the 16th through the 20th centuries), when France was referred to as la Métropole (literally "the Metropolis") as distinguished from its colonies and protectorates, known as les colonies or l'Empire. This article is about a type of political territory For other uses see Colony (disambiguation. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Similar terms existed to describe other European colonial powers (e. g. "metropolitan Britain", "España metropolitana"). This usage of the words "metropolis" and "metropolitan" itself came from ancient Greek "metropolis" (from μήτηρ, mētēr = mother and πόλις, pólis = city/town) which was the name for a city-state from which originated colonies across the Mediterranean (e. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c A metropolis (from the Greek μήτηρ mētēr meaning 'mother' and πόλις pólis meaning 'city/town' is a big City, in most cases with g. Marseille was a colony of the city-state of Phocaea, therefore Phocaea was the "metropolis" of Marseille). Marseille, ( English alt Marseilles mɑrˈseɪ — French: maʁsɛj locally — Provençal Occitan: Marselha maʀˈsijɔ This article is about the ancient city For the modern city see Foça Phocaea, or Phokaia, (Φώκαια (modern-day Foça By extension "metropolis" and "metropolitan" came to mean "motherland", "parent state of a colony", a nation or country as opposed to its colonies overseas.

Today there are some people in overseas France who object to the use of the term France métropolitaine due to its colonial origins. The French Overseas Departments and Territories ( French: départements d'outre-mer and territoires d'outre-mer or DOM-TOM) consist broadly of They prefer to call it "the European territory of France" (le territoire européen de la France), as the Treaties of the European Union do. The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the Union's member states which sets out the counstitutional basis of the Likewise, they oppose treating overseas France and metropolitan France as separate entities. For example, INSEE used to calculate its statistics (demography, economy, etc. INSEE ( French: I nstitut N ational de la S tatistique et des É tudes É conomiques; inse (not) in French is the ) for metropolitan France only, and then treat the overseas departments and territories separately, but people in the overseas departments opposed this separate treatment, arguing that the four overseas departments are fully part of France. As a result, starting in the end of the 1990s, INSEE is now including the four overseas departments in its figures for France (such as total population or GDP). INSEE refers to metropolitan France and the four overseas departments as France entière ("entire France"); "entire France" includes the four overseas departments, but does not include the other overseas collectivities and territories. Other branches of the French administration may have different definitions of what France entière is. For example, when the Ministry of the Interior releases election results, they use the name France entière to refer to the entire French Republic, including all of overseas France and not just the four overseas departments contrary to INSEE. The Minister of the Interior (full title Ministre de l’Intérieur et de l’Aménagement du Territoire) in France is one of the most important governmental

Note that since INSEE is now calculating statistics for France entière, this practice has spread to international institutions so that for instance the French GDP published by the World Bank includes metropolitan France and the four overseas departments. The World Bank is an internationally supported Bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (e The World Bank refers to this as "France" only, and not "entire France" as INSEE does.

Statistics

Metropolitan France covers an area of 551,695 km² (213,011 sq. miles), while overseas France covers an area of 123,148 km² (47,548 sq. The French Overseas Departments and Territories ( French: départements d'outre-mer and territoires d'outre-mer or DOM-TOM) consist broadly of miles), for a total of 674,843 km² (260,558 sq. miles) in the French Republic (excluding Adélie Land in Antarctica where sovereignty is suspended since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959). Adélie Land is the portion of the Antarctic coast between Pourquoi Pas Point at and Point Alden at, with a shore length of 350 km and with its hinterland The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate International relations with respect to Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 81. 8% of the French Republic's territory.

As of January 1, 2008, 61,875,822 people lived in metropolitan France, while 2,597,318 lived in overseas France, for a total of 64,473,140 inhabitants in the French Republic. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Thus, metropolitan France accounts for 96. 0% of the French Republic's population.

In the second round of the 2007 French presidential election, 37,342,004 French people cast a ballot (meaning a record turnout of 83. The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a Ballot in an Election. 97%). 35,907,015 of these (96. 16% of the total voters) cast their ballots in metropolitan France (turnout: 85. 31%), 1,088,679 (2. 91% of the total voters) cast their ballots in overseas France (turnout: 69. 85%), and 346,310 (0. 93% of the total voters) cast their ballots in foreign countries (French people living abroad; turnout: 42. 13%). ^[1]

The French National Assembly is made up of 577 deputies, 555 of whom (96. The French National Assembly. The other is the Senate ( “Sénat”) 2% of the total) are elected in metropolitan France, and 22 of whom (3. 8% of the total) are elected in overseas France.

Continental France

Metropolitan France, excluding the island of Corsica, is referred to as "continental France" (French: la France continentale), or just "the Continent" (French: le continent). Corsica (Corse Corsican and Italian: Corsica) is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily In Corsica, people from continental France are referred to as "Continentals" (French: les continentaux).

A casual synonym for continental France is l'Hexagone, due to its roughly hexagonal shape. Regular hexagon The internal Angles of a regular hexagon (one where all sides and all angles are equal are all 120 ° and the hexagon has 720 degrees

See also

• Mainland
• Continental United States, a comparable use in the United States

External links

• Francemetropoltaine.fr - Lists of the 38 000 cities and villages of Metropolitan France

References

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