French West Indies in the context of "Invasion of Java (1811)"

France, officially the French Republic, is a country primarily located in Western Europe. Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zone in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its 18 integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of 632,702 km (244,288 sq mi) and have an estimated total population of over 68.6 million as of January 2025. France is a semi-presidential republic. Its capital, largest city and main cultural and economic centre is Paris.

Metropolitan France was settled during the Iron Age by Celtic tribes known as Gauls before Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, leading to a distinct Gallo-Roman culture. In the Early Middle Ages, the Franks formed the kingdom of Francia, which became the heartland of the Carolingian Empire. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned the empire, with West Francia evolving into the Kingdom of France. In the High Middle Ages, France was a powerful but decentralised feudal kingdom, but from the mid-14th to the mid-15th centuries, France was plunged into a dynastic conflict with England known as the Hundred Years' War. In the 16th century French culture flourished during the French Renaissance, and a French colonial empire emerged. Internally, France was dominated by the conflict with the House of Habsburg and the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots. France was successful in the Thirty Years' War and further increased its influence during the reign of Louis XIV.

Saint Barthélemy, officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, also known as St. Barts and St. Barths (English) or St. Barth (French), is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. The island lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of the island of Saint Martin; it is northeast of the Dutch islands of Saba and Sint Eustatius, as well as north of the independent country of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Saint Barthélemy was for many years a French commune forming part of Guadeloupe, which is an overseas region and department of France. In 2003 the island voted in favour of secession from Guadeloupe to form a separate overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer, abbreviated to COM) of France. The collectivity is one of four territories among the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean that make up the French West Indies, along with Saint Martin, Guadeloupe (200 kilometres (120 mi) southeast) and Martinique.

Martinique (/ˌmɑːrtɪˈniːk/ MAR-tin-EEK [maʁtinik] ; Martinican Creole: Matinik or Matnik; Kalinago: Madinina or Madiana) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to 'Iguana Island' in Kari'nja. A part of the French West Indies (Antilles), Martinique is an overseas department and region and a single territorial collectivity of France.

It is a part of the European Union as an outermost region within the special territories of members of the European Economic Area, and an associate member of the CARICOM, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) but is not part of the Schengen Area or the European Union Customs Union. The currency in use is the euro. It has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2021 for its entire land and sea territory. In September 2023, the volcanoes and forests of Mount Pelée and the peaks of northern Martinique, in particular the Pitons du Carbet, were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

French Guianese Creole (Kriyòl; also called variously Guianan Creole, Guianese Creole in English and Créole guyanais in French) is a French-based creole language spoken in French Guiana, and to a lesser degree, in Suriname and Brazil. It resembles Antillean Creole, but there are some lexical and grammatical differences between them. Antilleans can generally understand French Guianese Creole, though there may be some instances of confusion. The differences consist of more French and Brazilian Portuguese influences (due to the proximity of Brazil and Portuguese presence in the country for several years). There are also words of Amerindian and African origin. There are French Guianese communities in Suriname and Brazil who continue to speak the language.

It should not be confused with the Guyanese Creole language, based on English, spoken in nearby Guyana.

La Désirade (French pronunciation: [la deziʁad]; Guadeloupean Creole: Dézirad or Déziwad) is an island in the French West Indies, in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean. It forms part of Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France.

Orange S.A. (French: [ɔʁɑ̃ʒ] ; formerly France Télécom, stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris.

Orange has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, landline, internet and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) services since 2006. It traces its origins back to Hutchison Whampoa acquiring a controlling stake in Microtel Communications in 1994 in the United Kingdom. Microtel Communications became a subsidiary of Mannesmann in 1999 and then was acquired by France Télécom in 2000. The former French public telecoms monopoly thus became internationalized following this takeover and has pursued an expansionist policy since. The group now operates in many countries in Europe, Africa and in the French West Indies. Since February 2012, as a result of the company's decision to transfer its fixed-line telephony operations to its Orange brand, all offers marketed by France Télécom are Orange-branded; and on July 1, 2013, France Télécom itself was rebranded Orange S.A.. In 2019, Orange S.A. employed nearly 148,000 people worldwide, including 88,000 in France.