Nord (French department)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

This article possibly contains inappropriate or

misinterpreted citations that do not verify the text. Please
help improve this article by checking for citation inaccuracies. (March
2020)  (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Nord

Department

Prefecture building of the Nord department, in Lille

Flag
 Coat of arms

Location of Nord in France

Coordinates:  50°23′N 03°19′ECoordinates:  50°23′N 03°19′

E

Country France

Region Hauts-de-France

Prefecture Lille

Subprefectures Avesnes-
sur-Helpe
Cambrai
Douai
Dunkirk
Valenciennes

Government

 • President of the Jean-René Lecerf

General Council

Area
 1

 • Total 5,742.74 km2 (2,217.28 sq mi)

Population

 (2017)

 • Total 2,604,361

 • Rank 1st

 • Density 450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)

Time zone UTC+1 (CET)

 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)

Department number 59

Arrondissements 6

Cantons 41

Communes 648

^1 French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and

lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km2

Nord (French pronunciation: [nɔʁ] ( listen)), officially département du

Nord (Picard: départémint dech Nord; Dutch: Noorderdepartement, lit. 'Northern
Department'), is a department in the Hauts-de-
France region of France bordering Belgium. It was created from the western halves
of the historical counties of Flanders and Hainaut, and the Bishopric of Cambrai. The
modern coat of arms was inherited from the County of Flanders.
Nord is the country's most populous department. It also contains the metropolitan
region of Lille (the main city and the prefecture of the department), the fourth-
largest urban area in France after Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Within the department is
located the part of France where the French Flemish dialect of Dutch is still spoken
(along with French) as a native language. Similarly, the distinct French Picard
dialect Ch'ti is spoken here.
 Contents

 1History
 2Geography
 3Demographics
 4Politics
o 4.1Current National Assembly Representatives
 5Economy
 6Tourism
 7See also
 8References
 9External links

History[edit]
Tribes of the Belgae, such as the Menapii and Nervii were the first peoples recorded
in the area later known as Nord.
During the 4th and 5th Centuries, Roman rulers of Gallia Belgica secured the route
from the major port of Bononia (Boulogne) to Colonia (Cologne), by co-opting
Germanic peoples north-east of this corridor, such as the Tungri. In effect, the area
known later as Nord became an isogloss (linguistic border) between
the Germanic and Romance languages. Saxon colonisation of the region from the
5th to the 8th centuries likely shifted the isogloss further south so that, by the 9th
century, most people immediately north of Lille spoke a dialect of Old Dutch. This has
remained evident in the place names of the region. After the County of
Flanders became part of France in the 9th century, the isogloss moved north and
east.[1]

Extent of West Flemish spoken in the arrondissement of Dunkirk in 1874 and 1972 respectively.

During the 14th Century, much of the area came under the control of the Duchy of
Burgundy and in subsequent centuries was therefore part of the Habsburg
Netherlands (from 1482) and the Spanish Netherlands (1581).
Areas that later constituted Nord were ceded to France by treaties in 1659, 1668, and
1678, becoming the Counties of Flanders and Hainaut, and part of the Bishopric of
Cambrai.
On 4 March 1790, during the French Revolution, Nord became one of the original 83
departments created to replace the counties.
Modern government policies making French the only official language have led to a
decline in use of the Dutch West Flemish dialect. There are currently 20,000
speakers of a sub-dialect of West Flemish in the arrondissement of Dunkirk and it
appears likely that this particular sub-dialect will be extinct within decades. [1] There is,
however, a movement to bring back use of the Dutch language as a second official
language.

Geography[edit]
Nord is part of the current Hauts-de-France region and is surrounded by the French
departments of Pas-de-Calais and Aisne, as well as by Belgium and the North Sea.
Its area is 5,742.8 km2 (2,217.3 sq mi).[2]
Situated in the north of the country along the western half of the Belgian frontier, the
department 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, Sambre

Demographics[edit]

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a.

1801 765,001 —    

1806 839,530 +1.88%

1821 905,777 +0.51%

1831 989,938 +0.89%

1841 1,085,298 +0.92%

1851 1,158,285 +0.65%

1861 1,303,380 +1.19%

1872 1,447,764 +0.96%

1881 1,603,259 +1.14%

1891 1,736,341 +0.80%

1901 1,866,994 +0.73%

1911 1,961,780 +0.50%

 1921 1,787,918 −0.92%

1931 2,029,449 +1.28%

1936 2,022,167 −0.07%

1946 1,917,452 −0.53%

1954 2,098,545 +1.13%

1962 2,293,112 +1.11%

1968 2,417,899 +0.89%

1975 2,511,478 +0.54%

1982 2,520,526 +0.05%

1990 2,531,855 +0.06%

1999 2,555,020 +0.10%

2007 2,564,950 +0.05%

2012 2,587,128 +0.17%

2017 2,604,361 +0.13%

source:SPLAF[3] and INSEE[4]

With a population of 2,604,361 in 2017,[4] Nord is the department with the largest

population.

Politics[edit]
Main article: List of constituencies in Nord

The President of the Departmental Council is the unaffiliated right-winger Jean-René

Lecerf.
The first President of the Fifth Republic, General Charles de Gaulle, was born
in Lille in the department on 22 November 1890.
 Party seats

• The Republicans (LR) 25

Socialist Party (PS) 16

• Miscellaneous right (DVD) 15

• Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) 11

French Communist Party (PCF) 10

Miscellaneous left (DVG) 2

• France Arise (DLF) 1

Citizen and Republican Movement (MRC) 1

Radical Party of the Left (PRG) 1

Current National Assembly Representatives