Foix (since 1607) next Spain, in the south (Ariege).
Roussillon (since 1642), in the southeast (Pyrenees-Orientales).
Avignon, Vennaissin, and Orange (since 1791), near the Rhone delta (Vaucluse).
Provence, Roman Provincia (since 1245), in the southeast along the Mediterranean (Bouches-Du-Rhone, Basses-Alpes, Var, Alpes-Maritimes).
Corsica (since 1768), in the Mediterranean (Corse).
Surface and Mountains.—Within France the long curve of the Cevennes Mountains in the southeast, prolonged northward by the Cote d’or, the Plateau of Langres, and the Vosges, determines the slope of the country. Between them and the Alps lies the deep valley of the Rhone, with a southward fall to the Mediterranean. But these high lands, ramifying outward with gentler descent to north and west, give direction to the drainage of the longer slope to the Atlantic coast, the Bay of Biscay, the Channel, and the North Sea.
Mont Blanc, the highest point in Europe, rises within France, near the point of union of its boundary with that of Italy and Switzerland; the Pic de Nethou, the highest point of the Pyrenean barrier, stands just outside the boundary on the Spanish side; centrally in the country, the highest point is Mont Dore, in the volcanic group of the mountains of Auvergne, embraced by the curve of the Cevennes. The lowlands of France are not level plains like those of Belgium and Holland, but for the most part undulating districts; they lie along the Atlantic border (excepting where the heights of Normandy and Brittany run out into the ocean) and in the Mediterranean valley of the Rhone.
Chief Rivers.—The main direction of the drainage of France is from southeast to northwest over the long slope of land. The Garonne, receiving the numerous gaves, as the streams from the Pyrenees are called, and its tributary the Dordogne, from the mountains of Auvergne, forming the estuary of the Gironde in the south; the Loire, curving through the center of the country from the Cevennes to the Atlantic,—the longest river of France; the Seine, from the Cote d’or, flowing northwest to the English Channel; and the Meuse, from the Vosges, passing out to join the Rhine in the Netherlands. All are navigable, forming with their tributaries the natural waterways of France, which possesses a river navigation of about five thousand five hundred miles. The great southern river, the Rhone, from the mountains of Switzerland, receiving its chief tributary, the Saone, from the southern Vosges, is comparatively valueless to navigation from the rapidity of its current.
Climate and Soil.—Occupying a middle position between northern and southern Europe, France enjoys one of the finest climates of the continent. Toward the northeast it becomes more continental, toward the northwest more maritime and like that of southern England; in the warm south the hot winds from the African deserts may occasionally be felt, and in contrast to these, in the Rhone valley, the chilly northeast wind known as the Mistral at times descends from the Alpine Heights with great violence; but the greater part of the country is within the area of the westerly winds.
Products of Soil.—Very few parts of the country are unadapted for cultivation; only some parts of the Pyrenees, the Landes, and of the Vosges, can be thus characterized.