Information About France

Formal Name:	French Republic
Local Name:	France
Local Formal Name:	République Française
Location:	Europe
Status:	UN Country (Founding Member, Security Council), European Union (Founding Member, Largest Member)
Government:	Multiparty Republic
Capital City:	Paris
Primary Cities:	Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse
Total Population:	64,473,140
Metropolitan Population:	61,975,822
Current Currency:	Euro (€)
Former Currecny:	Franc (₣,F)
Internet Top Level Domain:	.fr
Calling Code:	+33

The name "France" comes from the latin name "Francia," which is literally translated to "Land of the Franks" or "Frankland." A number of theories have been derived for the origin of the name of the Franks. One belief is that in an ancient Germanic lanugage, Frank meant "free" as opposed to slavery.

The word still exists in French as "franc," the name of their former currency and also the translation of "Frank."The current curreny of France is the Euro(€), which was adopted in 1999 when the European Union was founded. France was a founding member of the European Union and officially moved all coins and banknotes to the Euro in 2002.

As stated previously, the former currency of France was the Franc(₣,F). The franc was the currency standard from 1795 until 1999 when the Euro was adopted. A form of the franc, the CFP, is still used today in French overseas possessions of French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.

Originally the initials CFP stood for "Colonies françaises du Pacifique" but now officially stand for "Change Franc Pacifique (Pacific Franc Exchange)".

Geographical France is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Atlantic Ocean and Bay of Biscay to the West, Spain and Andorra to the Southwest, and Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium to the Northeast.

Under political terms, the name "France" refers to their mainland possessions, the Island of Corsica and all overseas possessions.

1 Flags.net
2 Wikipedia - Flags of France
3 - Wikipedia - French Franc
May 07, 2008