- published: 17 Sep 2015
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France (English i/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
Rudy Maxa (born 1949 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American consumer travel expert. He's the host and executive producer of 85 half-hour travel shows on the world's great destinations that are broadcast on public television in the US with the titles Smart Travels: Europe with Rudy Maxa, Smart Travels: Pacific Rim with Rudy Maxa, and--since 2008--Rudy Maxa's World. His most recent 20 episodes of Rudy Maxa's World are also broadcast overseas on Travel Channel International and have received numerous awards, including two regional Emmy awards.
In addition, Maxa hosts America's most widely syndicated radio travel show, a two-hour weekend show also called Rudy Maxa's World.
Maxa began his career in journalism after graduating from Ohio University (BSJ, '71) as an investigative reporter, magazine writer, and personalities columnist at The Washington Post (1971-83). His reporting on a Capitol Hill sex scandal and the resulting changes in congressional rules was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and he received the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism for a series of stories on an international Ponzi scheme.