France2,478 photos

Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.

France is divided into 27 administrative regions: 22 are in Metropolitan France (21 are on the continental part of Metropolitan France; one is the territorial collectivity of Corsica), and five are overseas regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, und Mayotte). The regions are further subdivided into 101 departments.