Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Nord-Pas de Calais combines the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the far north of the country, bordering with Belgium. Until the end of the 20th century “Nord” was also the name of the region, as well as that of the department. The historical provinces now included in Nord-Pas de Calais are, mainly, Artois and Flanders.

It is an extremely densely populated region with some 4 million inhabitants – 7% of France’s total population, making it the fourth most populous region in the country. Its administrative centre is the city of Lille. Other major towns include Valenciennes, Lens, Douai, Bethune, Dunkirk, Maubeuge, Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer and Arras.

Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Nord-Pas de Calais region has always been a strategic (and hence one of the most fought-over) region in Europe. French President Charles de Gaulle, who was born in Lille, called the region a “fatal avenue” through which invading armies repeatedly passed.

Since the war, the region has suffered from severe economic difficulties, but has benefited from the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 and the growth in cross-Channel traffic in general. Tourism, particularly in Lille at the apex of the London-Brussels-Paris railway lines, has grown considerable, to the extent that in 2004, 7 million passengers used the Eurostar, as well as 2 million vehicles on the Eurotunnel (formerly Le Shuttle). On top of the trains, in 2002, there were about 15 million embarkations and disembarkations from the three major ferry ports of the region (Calais, Dunkerqu and Boulogne-sur-Mer).

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