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Massif Central
Massif Central [Fr.,=central highlands], great mountainous plateau, c.33,000 sq mi (85,470 sq km), S central France, covering almost a sixth of the surface of the country. The chief water divide of France, it borders on the Paris basin in the north, the Rhône valley and basin in the east and ...
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Cher
Cher river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising in the Massif Central and flowing generally NW across central France to join the Loire below Tours. The Berry Canal parallels part of the river.
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Annapurna
Annapurna , massif of the Himalayas, N central Nepal, forming a ridge 35 mi (56 km) long, including two of the highest peaks in the world, Annapurna I (26,502 ft/8,078 m) in the west and Annapurna II (26,041 ft/7,938 m) in the east. The summit of Annapurna I was first reached in 1950 by a French exp...
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Monte Rosa
Monte Rosa , massif, in the Pennine Alps, on the Swiss-Italian border. Its highest peak, the Dufourspitze, 15,217 ft (4,638 m), is the highest point in Switzerland. The Swiss side is covered by glaciers. A nuclear research laboratory has been established on the Italian side of Monte Rosa.
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Auvergne
Auvergne , region and former province, S central France. The area is now occupied chiefly by the departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Allier, Haute-Loire, and Cantal. The Auvergne Mts., a chain of extinct volcanoes (see Massif Central ), run north to south forming unusual and beautiful scenery. There ...
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Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand , city (1990 pop. 140,167), capital of Puy-de-Dôme dept., central France, in Auvergne, on the Tiretaine River. One of the population and industrial centers of the Massif Central, it is home of the Michelin and other tire factories, and of important metallurgical works. The cap...
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Guienne
Guienne Fr. Guyenne , region of SW France. The name referred to different territories at different times. Guienne as it existed from the time of Henry IV (late 16th-early 17th cent.) to the French Revolution covered the present departments of Gironde, Dordogne, Lot, Lot-et-Garonne, and Aveyron and...
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Loire
Loire longest river of France, c.630 mi (1,010 km) long, rising in the Cévennes Mts., SE France, and flowing in an arc through central and W France to the Atlantic Ocean at Saint-Nazaire. The upper Loire swiftly flows northwestward through numerous gorges in the Massif Central. At Orlé...
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Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc , Alpine massif, on the French-Italian border, SE of Geneva. One of its several peaks, also called Mont Blanc (15,771 ft/4,807 m), is the highest peak in France and the second highest in Europe. The southeastern (Italian) face is a massive wall; on the northwestern slopes are numerous gla...
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Sahara
Sahara [Arab.,=desert], world's largest desert, c.3,500,000 sq mi (9,065,000 sq km), N Africa; the western part of a great arid zone that continues into SW Asia. Extending more than 3,000 mi (4,830 km), from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, the Sahara is bounded on the N by the Atlas Mts., steppe...
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