France is an interesting and peculiar country with a vibrant culture. Many travelers know that geographically it is located in Europe and is one of the members of the Schengen Agreement, but the question of which mainland it is located on can be confusing.
France is located on one of the largest continents in the world.
Continents of the world
The concept of "continent" in geography and geology is usually used to designate a large land area surrounded on all sides by large bodies of water - seas and oceans. At the same time, in some places the continents can be quite close to each other or even connected by narrow areas of land. Often, adjacent land areas are also attached to the mainland, both above water, that is, representing islands and peninsulas, and lying under it.
Today, there is no consensus among specialists in the field of geography about how many continents there are on planet Earth. The fact is that different experts tend to unite and separate continents in different ways: for example, someone considers North and South America as a single continent, and someone - as two different ones. Other experts identify Afro-Eurasia as a single continent, which includes a vast territory.
Nevertheless, one of the most common answers to the question about the number of continents on planet Earth is the so-called model of six continents. Within the framework of this model, six continents are distinguished on the globe: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Antarctica.
Mainland where France is located
If we consider the territorial affiliation of France from the point of view of one of the most popular models of six continents among specialists, we can state that this state is located on the largest continent - Eurasia. Its length along the meridian is about 5 thousand kilometers, along the parallel - more than 10 thousand kilometers. This continent is the only one in the world whose shores are washed by four oceans at once: the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. The area of this continent is 53.6 million square kilometers.
At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the location of France is often assessed not only from a geographical, but also from a historical and cultural point of view. From these positions, it is generally accepted that France is located in a special part of the Eurasian continent, which is called Europe. It is customary to separate it from another part of this continent - Asia, and the border between these two parts of the world is usually considered to run through the Ural Mountains. At the same time, however, such a division has a predominantly cultural and historical coloring, since there is no pronounced difference in terms of natural characteristics between these zones.
