L'île de France - IDF

Here is a question from Nanditha (India) who's asking me about :

What is Ile de France (my teacher told me its an island :|, which is wrong, obviously. But I myself don't know what it is :D)?

So Nanditha, here are some explanations :
It is true that the literal translation of Ile de France est : Island of France. But I also confirm you that IDF is not an island at all.

IDF is a regional area which includes 8 departments : Essonne, Hauts-de-Seine, Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne, Val-de-Marne, Val-d'Oise, Yvelines.
As you know I live in Paris, and so I live also in Ile de France :)

The area of IDF has a surface of 12 072 km², and its capital is Paris. In 2008, it counted 19 million of inhabitants, that is to say approximately 23% of the French population.
The inhabitants of IDF are called "les Franciliens"

As you can see, this proportion is quite enormous, IDF is a small part of our country but is considered as the core of France because of its concentration.

The departments surrounding Paris are the suburbs, and are called "la petite Couronne", in opposition of the vast surroundings called "la Grande couronne"

We often forget that even if the population in IDF is very concentrated, there is also 80% of its surface which is quite rural and composed of forests and fertile grounds.

But the Parisian expension tends to reduce this rural  part to let place to an urban environment.

Many thanks to Wikipédia :)