France
...dred forty one thousand sixty nine. The median age of males and females is between thirty eight and thirty nine. The median age for males is thirty seven and for females is forty. The population of France is growing at a rate of point thirty nine percent. There are about twelve births per every one thousand people. And the death rate is about nine deaths per every one thousand people. The people of France have a live expectancy of about seventy nine years old. The woman in France also lives longer than the men in France. They live about seven years longer. (Http//www.ciagov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html 10-20-2004 CIA the world fact book France) France is a founding member of the European nation. France is also a member of NATO and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Place Paris has a moderate climate. The winters can dip below freezing and stay around forty five degrees Fahrenheit or seven degrees Celsius. The snow however does not stick to the ground. The summers in Paris are hot staying around eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit or twenty six to thirty two degrees Celsius. The summer mornings are chilly. It rains more in the winter but can rain at any time. The best time to visit Paris is in May and July. (Http://encyclopedia.the freedictionary.com/France) France was completely wooded before the Neolithic Period. In these forests there are beeches and oaks. These trees covered the entire county except for the mountain areas. The vegetation that grew in the mountains was firs and picas. The forest has been destroyed due to agricultural and pastoral activity. The only forest left are the ones that can exist in the mountain. This is because the mountain is not able to grow crops and they are preserved. The animal life in early France is composed of deer, roebucks, and wild boars. Since then these animals have been nearly eliminated. At the end of the nineteen century programs to conserve these animals were put into play. Theses conservationist are to protect and plant new trees in the forests. Now the coverage of the trees is up to twenty five percent of Frances land area. There are three types of features in France. These types of surface features are rolling plains, uplands, and high mountains. The north and west part of France are covered in rolling plains. The rolling plains go from the Basin of Aquitaine in the southwest to the Pyrenees .The basin narrows up the coast where is meets the Paris Basin. The plains are separated by the low plateaus. The uplands are the worn down remains of ancient mountain systems. The largest upland is called Massif Central in the south central France. The Massif Central has a lot of extinct volcanoes. The volcanoes would but powerful pressures that uplift a region. Deep rivers slowly erode away at the sides of Massif Central. A less elevated land form is the Armorican Massif in the northwest. Steep slops and poor soil restrict agriculture in much of these regions. Other uplands are Vosges and Ardennes mountain ranges. The Ardennes is uplands because rounded at the tops. Mountains are apart of the uplands. Some of the mountains are Alps, Pyrenees, and Jura mountains. These mountains are created by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. The highest mountains are the French Alps. The Alps are on the boarder of south east France. The highest point in the Alps is called the Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc is four thousand eight hundred seven miles high. Rivers carved deep valleys and The Ice Age glaciers that also cut valleys wider and deeper. The second largest mountain range is the Pyrenees. The range is on the boarder by Spain. Pic de Vignemale is the highest peak in the Pyrenees. Pic de Vignemale is three thousand two hundred ninety eight miles high. The Pyrenees was not highly hit by the Ice Age glaciers so there are few lakes. The Jura mountains was created around the same time that the Pyrenees mountains. The Jura Mountains are not as big as the Alps. The Jura Mountains are located in the east. Rivers is the second landforms. One of the major rivers in France is the Seine River. The seine drains in to the Paris basin and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The seines are also a good navigation and water route to and from Paris. Another river called Loire and starts in the Massif Central. The Loire then flows through the Paris basin and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at the Bay of Biscay. The water in the Loire is unpredictable. That is floods sometimes. This river is the longest river in France at a whopping six hundred and twenty miles long. The Gerona comes from the Pyrenees Mountains and mostly drains in the Aquitne basin. The Dordogne comes from Massif Central, flows west and combines with the Gerona. These four wonderful rivers explained above are all in the French territory. The major rivers outside of France are the Rhone, Lyon and Rhine. The Rhone River is the largest river with the volume. The Rhine is the world’s most important waterways. France has many ethnic groups form migrating and invading groups. These groups are Celts, Romans and Germanic people. In the north are people of Flemish descent. These people speak Dutch. In east France are people called Alsatians. These people speak German. Many people of France don’t even speak French. Human/Environment Interactions Principle cities Paris is the largest city in France. Paris’s population is two million one hundred twenty five thousand two hundred forty six. The second largest city is Marseille with a population of seven hundred ninety eight thousand four hundred thirty. Marseilles is a major seaport on the Mediterranean coast. Marseille is also a major manufacturing center. Being near the coast Marseilles is important in commercial and trading. Also being so big makes a socially and ethnically diverse city. There are also many immigrants. Lyon is the third largest city in France. Lyon is located in east central France. It is also an industrial center. In Lyon fine textiles a shipped. Chemicals cars petroleum products are made in Lyon. Toulouse is in southwest France and has a population of three hundred ninety thousand three hundred fifty. Toulouse is also a manufacturing and trade center. Agriculture France has forty eight point two million acres of agriculture surface area in 1998. This is thirty five point five percent of Frances total land area. France is one of the leading countries in agriculture. France produces dairy, wine, beef, veal, wheat, oilseeds, fruit, and vegetables. France is the second largest producer of agriculture next to the United States. The fertile soil can be found in moderate climate, ample rainfall, and extended farming season. Also variations in soil, temper...