Nord (département)

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Nord
Image:Blason59.PNG
The Nord coat of arms
Location

Administration
Département number:	59
Région:	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Préfecture:	Lille
Sub-Préfectures:	Avesnes- sur-Helpe Cambrai Douai Dunkirk Valenciennes
Arrondissements:	6
Cantons:	79
Communes:	652
Conseiller Général:	Bernard Derosier
Statistics
Population	Ranked 1st
-Jan.1, 2004 estimate -Mar.8, 1999 census	2,577,492 2,555,020
Population density:	449/km²
Land area¹:	5,743 km²

¹ French Land Register data, which exclude estuaries, and lakes, ponds, and glaciers larger than 1 km².
Image:Flag of France.svg

Image:FlemishinDunkirkdistrict.PNG Nord (French term for: North) is a département in the north of France. In population terms, it is France's largest.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Economy
4 Demographics
5 Culture
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

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.

[edit] Geography

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:

[edit] Economy

At 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.