Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (
French:
France métropolitaine, or just
la Métropole) is the part of
France in
Europe, including
Corsica, as opposed to the
overseas departments and
overseas territories, which, while integral parts of the
French Republic, are regarded as Overseas France (
la France d'outre-mer, or more colloquially
les DOM-TOM, a phrase which is derived from
départements d'outre-mer - territoires d'outre-mer). In the overseas departments, a person from Metropolitan France is often called a
métro, short for
métropolitain.
As of
January 1,
2006, there were 61,044,700 people living in Metropolitan France, while there were 2,543,000 people living in Overseas France; a total of 63,587,700 inhabitants in the French Republic.
Metropolitan France excluding the island of
Corsica is referred to as Continental France (
la France continentale), or just the Continent (
le continent). In Corsica, people from Continental France are referred to as "Continentals" (
les continentaux).
*
Mainland*
Continental United States or "Contiguous..." or "The Lower 48", a comparable use in the United States (the latter being from the perspective of
Alaska and
Hawaii)
