France

France, officially the French Republic, is a transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and overseas regions and territories located in South America and in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Including all of its territories, France has twelve time zones, the most of any country. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in North Atlantic, French West Indies and several islands in Oceania and Indian Ocean. France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra and Spain in Europe, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km² and over 67 million people. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille, and Nice.