North department

This article describes the northern French department with the serial number 59. The department of the same name in Haiti is under the northern department (Haiti) .

North
region	Hauts-de-France
prefecture	Lille
Sub-prefecture (s)	Avesnes-sur-Helpe Cambrai Douai Dunkerque Valenciennes
Residents	2,604,361 (Jan 1, 2017)
Population density	453 inhabitants per km²
surface	5,743.01 km²
Arrondissements	6th
Community associations	18th
Cantons	41
Communities	648
President of the Department Council	Jean-René Lecerf
ISO-3166-2 code	FR-59
Location of the department of Nord in the region of Hauts-de-France

The department Nord [ nɔːʀ ] is the French department with the atomic number 59. It is in the region of Hauts-de-France in the north of the Belgian border and, before Paris , the French populous department.

geography

The North department borders on the Pas-de-Calais departments in the west, Aisne and a few kilometers with Somme in the south and Belgium in the east. In the extreme northwest is the coast of the North Sea at the entrance to the English Channel .

The north department is unusually narrow and elongated. It forms the western half of the national border with Belgium. Its capital is Lille , which, together with Roubaix , Tourcoing and Villeneuve-d'Ascq with over a million inhabitants, forms the heart of the region industrially and formerly with its mining. Other important cities are Cambrai , Douai , Dunkerque and Valenciennes .

The main rivers are the Lys (Leie) , Sambre , Scarpe , Schelde and Yser .

history

The department was formed on March 4, 1790 from the French part of Flanders , the French part of Hainaut and the Cambrésis (the area of ​​the Bishop of Cambrai).

The department was conquered by the Wehrmacht at the end of May / beginning of June 1940 as part of the western campaign . In September 1944, it was liberated within a few days by rapidly advancing Western Allied troops.

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

See also : French West Flemish

coat of arms

Description : A black, red armored and tongued lion in gold .

Cities

The most populous municipalities in the north are:

city	Population (2017)	Arrondissement
Lille	232.787	Lille
Tourcoing	97,368	Lille
Roubaix	96,990	Lille
Dunkerque	87,353	Dunkerque
Villeneuve-d'Ascq	63,408	Lille
Valenciennes	43,336	Valenciennes
Wattrelos	40,958	Lille
Douai	39,700	Douai
Marcq-en-Barœul	38,617	Lille
Cambrai	32,558	Cambrai

Administrative division

Municipalities and arrondissements in the north department

The northern department is divided into 6 arrondissements , 41 cantons and 648 communes :

Arrondissement	Cantons	Communities	Residents January 1, 2017	Area km²	Density of population / km²	Code INSEE
Avesnes-sur-Helpe	4th	151	229.451	1,407.51	163	591
Cambrai	3	116	161,655	901.58	179	592
Douai	4th	64	245,683	476.61	515	593
Dunkerque	7th	111	375,768	1,442.79	260	594
Lille	17th	124	1,240,456	879.61	1,410	595
Valenciennes	6th	82	351,348	634.91	553	596
North department	41	648	2,604,361	5,743.01	453	59

See also:

• List of communes in the north department
• List of cantons in the north department
• List of associations of municipalities in the north department

economy

Initially the “front-line state” of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, but severely affected by heavy and long-lasting fighting in the First World War , then after the Second World War and its “second bloom” the region today suffers economically, socially and culturally from the decline of the Coal mining since the early 1970s, followed by the textile industry and meanwhile increasingly also with environmental problems.

climate

Measuring station: Boulogne, Hafen, 73 meters above sea level (Since the Nord department does not have its own measuring station, the data from the neighboring Pas-de-Calais department was given.)

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

As of 1991

Web links

Commons : Département Nord  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• North department (French)
• Prefecture of the North Department (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ lenord.fr accessed on April 27, 2015
2. ↑ page 297
3. ↑ Climate data from: Jean-Noël Darde: Plages et côtes de France. Éditions Balland, Paris 1991.

Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '  N , 3 ° 2'  E