Nord (département)
|
Extent of Flemish in the Arrondissement of Dunkirk, 1874 and 1972 |
Nord (
French:
North) is a
département in the north of
France.
Nord comprises the French parts of the
County of Flanders, excluding the western parts separated in
1237 as the
County of Artois and now part of the neighbouring
Pas-de-Calais, and
Hainault. This territory was part of the
Spanish Netherlands, but was ceded to France in successive treaties (
1659,
1668, and
1678).
It was one of the original 83
départements created during the
French Revolution on
March 4,
1790.
Nord is part of the current
Nord-Pas-de-Calais région and is surrounded by the French
départements of
Pas-de-Calais and
Aisne, as well as by
Belgium and the
North Sea.
Situated in the north-east of the country along the western half of the Belgian frontier, the
département is unusually long and narrow. Its principal city is
Lille, which with nearby
Roubaix,
Tourcoing and
Villeneuve d'Ascq constitutes the center of a cluster of industrial and former mining towns totalling slightly over a million inhabitants. Other important cities are
Valenciennes,
Douai, and
Dunkirk.The principal rivers are the following:
*
Yser*
Lys*
Escaut*
Scarpe*
SambreAt the forefront of France's
19th century industrialisation, the area suffered severely during
World War I and now faces the economic, social and environmental problems associated with the decline of
coal mining with its neighbours following the earlier decline of the Lille-Roubaix textile industry.
Until recently, the
département was dominated economically by coal mining, which extended through the heart of the
département from neighbouring
Artois into central
Belgium.
Nord is the most heavily populated
département, with a population of 2.55 million and an area of 5,740 km².
West Flemish is spoken by around 20,000 people in the northern part of the
département, the arrondissement of Dunkirk.
*
Cantons of the Nord département*
Communes of the Nord département*
Arrondissements of the Nord département*
Prefecture website (in French)
*
Conseil Général website (in French)
*
links DMOZ (in English)
