Pas-de-Calais department

Pas-de-Calais
region	Hauts-de-France
prefecture	Arras
Sub-prefecture (s)	Béthune Boulogne-sur-Mer Calais Lens Montreuil Saint-Omer
Residents	1,468,018 (Jan. 1, 2017)
Population density	220 inhabitants per km²
surface	6,671.91 km²
Arrondissements	7th
Community associations	20th
Cantons	39
Communities	890
President of the Department Council	Jean-Claude Leroy
ISO-3166-2 code	FR-62
Location of the department of Pas-de-Calais in the region of Hauts-de-France

The Pas-de-Calais [ pɑdkalɛ ] is the French department with the atomic number 62. It is in the north of the country in the region Hauts-de-France and by the Straits Dover Straits (Straits of Calais; pas represents passage ) , which separates France from England . Its administrative seat is in Arras .

geography

The department is bordered to the west and northwest on the English Channel and the Strait of Dover, running in a wedge shape in the interior and is bordered to the northeast by the department of North and the south by the department of Somme .

Significant rivers in the department are Authie , Canche , Ternoise , Liane , Sensée , Scarpe , Deûle , Lys and Aa .

coat of arms

Description : The blue coat of arms with a golden border and three red balls is studded with golden lilies and a continuous red tournament collar on the head of the shield with three golden forts in each of the bibs.

history

Pas-de-Calais is one of 83 departments created on March 4, 1790, during the French Revolution, under the law of December 22, 1789. It was created by amalgamating the Artois and parts of Picardy (the Boulonnais and part of the Ponthieu ).

The stone circle Les Sept Bonnettes stands in the fields south of the village of Sailly-en-Ostrevent.

The birthplace of Philippe Pétain , Cauchy-à-la-Tour , is also in the department. The region has been a political stronghold of the French Communist Party ( PCF ) since the 1920s .

During World War II , Pas-de-Calais played a role in the Fortitude deception operation , in which the Allies wanted the Wehrmacht to believe that the 1st US Army Group from Great Britain would land in the department .

From 1960 to 2015 it was part of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region , which in 2016 became part of the Hauts-de-France region.

population

The inhabitants of the department are called Pas-de-Calaisiens .

Demographics

The Pas-de-Calais department is one of the most populous and urban in all of France. Yet there is no big city : the agglomeration of Calais hardly exceeds 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Boulogne-sur-Mer and Arras ; As an agglomeration, Saint-Omer has more than 50,000 inhabitants.

The most densely populated part of the Pas-de-Calais is the brazier of Lens in the east of the department, which had its development in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Here, too, you will not find large cities, but around larger towns ( Lens , Liévin , Béthune , Bruay-la-Buissière , Hénin-Beaumont ) a multitude of smaller towns that have grown together, which together form a large urban area that extends into the North to Douai department and Valenciennes continues. This agglomeration covers an area with 1.2 million people, half of them in the Pas-de-Calais. In contrast, the middle and south of the department are very rural, but also densely populated.

Up until the First World War , the coal industry led to an increased population growth (700,000 inhabitants around 1850, almost 1,000,000 in 1900). The war directly affected the department, which at the time was under German occupation and was one of the most important parts of the battlefield. However, population growth continued unabated after the end of the war until 1,200,000 inhabitants were reached. After the Great Depression in 1929, there was a decline, which was followed by World War II . After 1945 the population rose again over a period of 20 years, from 1,168,545 in 1946 to 1,397,159 in 1968. Since then the number has stagnated (1,441,568 in 1999); the average age remains low and the birth rate is well above the death rate, the net migration is strongly negative because of the decline in coal production and the related industries. Some places that lived exclusively from mining have lost around half of their inhabitants in the past 50 years.

Cities

The most populous municipalities in the Pas-de-Calais department are:

city	Population (2017)	Arrondissement
Calais	73,911	Calais
Boulogne-sur-Mer	40,874	Boulogne-sur-Mer
Arras	41,019	Arras
Liévin	30,785	Lens
Lens	31,415	Lens
Henin-Beaumont	26,022	Lens
Bethune	24,895	Bethune
Bruay-la-Buissière	21,831	Bethune
Avion	17,622	Lens
Carvin	17,124	Lens

Administrative division

Communes and arrondissements in the Pas-de-Calais department

The Pas-de-Calais department is divided into 7 arrondissements , 39 cantons and 890 communes :

Arrondissement	Cantons	Communities	Residents January 1, 2017	Area km²	Density of population / km²	Code INSEE
Arras	8th	357	249.006	2,245.35	111	621
Bethune	8th	104	293,135	707.51	414	622
Boulogne-sur-Mer	4th	74	158,527	633.68	250	623
Calais	4th	52	157.786	593.39	266	626
Lens	9	50	367,769	352.05	1,045	627
Montreuil	5	164	111,804	1,326.98	84	624
Saint-Omer	5	89	129.991	812.95	160	625
Pas-de-Calais department	39	890	1,468,018	6,671.91	220	62

See also:

• List of communes in the Pas-de-Calais department
• List of cantons in the Pas-de-Calais department
• List of associations of municipalities in the Pas-de-Calais department

Education

In the absence of large cities, Pas-de-Calais did not have a university for a long time . This only changed in 1992 when the Université d'Artois and the Université du Littoral were realigned . The two universities are oriented across the boundaries of the department: one in Arras , Béthune , Douai , Lens and Liévin , the other in Boulogne-sur-Mer , Calais , Dunkerque and Saint-Omer .

politics

The first round of the French presidential election took place on April 23, 2017 . The turnout in the Pas-de-Calais department was 78.5%. A total of 856,289 eligible voters cast their votes . Of the 833,267 valid votes received:

be right	candidate
286.152	Marine Le Pen
159,342	Jean-Luc Mélenchon
153,782	Emmanuel Macron
119.087	François Fillon
43,084	Benoît Hamon
41,427	Nicolas Dupont-Aignan
9002	Philippe Poutou
8667	Nathalie Arthaud
5832	Jean Lassalle
5484	François Asselineau
1408	Jacques Cheminade

climate

Observation station: Boulogne, port, 73 meters above sea level

maritime climate data	J	F.	M.	A.	M.	J	J	A.	S.	O	N	D.
mean maximum temperature	6th	6th	9	11	15th	17th	19th	19th	18th	15th	10	7th
mean low temperature	2	2	3	5	9	11	13	14th	12	10	6th	3
Number of very sunny days	1.5	2	2.5	2.5	2	2	2.5	3	2	3	1.5	1.5
Number of days with an overcast sky	19th	17th	15th	13	13	11	12	11	12	15th	18th	19th
Number of rainy days	11	9	9	8th	8th	7th	7th	9	10	10	13	12
Rainfall in mm	55	46	40	38	42	47	45	54	66	66	83	64
Water temperature near the coast	8th	6th	7th	8th	10	13	15th	17th	17th	15th	12	9

Days per year with

• Rainfalls over 1 mm: 115
• Frost: 32
  • first frost: November 22nd
  • last frost: March 23rd
• Snow: 13
• Thunderstorm: 10
• Hail: 4

Status: 1991

Web links

Commons : Department Pas-de-Calais  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Department of Pas-de-Calais (French)
• Prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais (French)
• Coats of arms of the municipalities in Pas-de-Calais (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Results of the 1st ballot. Ministry of Interior of France, 23 April 2017, accessed 24 April 2017 (French). 
2. ↑ Climate data from: Jean-Noël Darde, Plages et côtes de France, Éditions Balland, Paris 1991

Coordinates: 50 ° 23 '  N , 2 ° 21'  E