Arturo Laurents

The area Nord-Pas-de-Calais (or North-Not of Calais , without indents, official orthography of the district council) is a administrative area French made up of two departments, the Northern and the Pas-de-Calais. Until the end of the 20th century, “North” indicated also the area, like the department. The area formerly formed part of the Netherlands of the south and the Spanish Netherlands, and became definitively French only in 1713. The historical provinces composing the Nord-Pas-de-Calais are, mainly, the Artois and the Flanders and the Hainaut, designations which remain very current still today.

History

Administration

Personalities of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais

See also: List of the personalities of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Policy

See also: Political of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Geography

Environment

This area was the cradle of an industrial development based on the Agriculture and the intensive fishing, the coal, the metallurgical Industrie, the spinning mills and the Carbochimie. It underwent the after-effects economic, social, medical and environmental of this development, to which were added the after-effect of war, those of the two world wars and the intensive agriculture. In particular the Forêt strongly moved back there with the profit of agriculture. Enforestée surface was retrospectively estimated at 600.000 hectares for the Roman epoch; it fell to approximately 60.000 ha at the beginning of the XIXème century, with the profit of the cultures. Since the rate of timbering increases, but more slowly than in the other areas, and in reasons in particular of premiums to the enrésinement and the populiculture which years 1960 at the years 2000 strongly artificialisé wooded spaces (in north the poplar plantations covered with the beginning of the year 2000 approximately 18.000 hectares is close to twice the size of the largest regional forest (Forêt of Mormal), but with a fluctuating rate (nearly 0% in the Dunkirk one, for 1,3% in North and 0,7% in the Pas-de-Calais, according to the investigation Rural-SAEB ERAKAT, 2002). These historical elements and a strong demography explain why this area is that which has low the rate of forest space per capita in France. The rates of timbering were not there (in 2000) only 8.8% for the Nord-Pas-de-Calais area, to compare with the 16.6% of close Picardy (Source: Rural, 2000).

The Pollution of flow and stock of water, the air and the grounds, the ecological Fragmentation require means more important of it than elsewhere. This area was among the first to try out the bearable development, with the first Regional natural park of France (and more populated) and the principle of the Sustainable development registered as of 1992/1993 per Marie Christine Blandin in the preamble of the Regional plan and the Plan contract State-Area, the development of the wind , HQE (with the College of Calais), of the treatment of the industrial waste lands by a land public corporation (EPF). The two great environmental priorities of SRADDT until 2020 are the Biodiversité through a green and blue Trame regional, and the fight against the Climate warming through a “Plane Climate Regional” (with as example the program Isolto).

Transport

Economy

Since the post-war period, the area is confronted with serious structural difficulties and an economic crisis and social acute. Of the three great sectors of its economy: coal, Steel, Textile, only the last powerful remainder. The Secondary industry occupies nothing any more but 33,8% of the active population (28,9% for the France). Its connection with the Europe of the North-West enables him however to profit from the economic consequences of the startup of the Channel tunnel and of TGV. In 1999, unemployment decrease since a few years. However it increases in at the beginning of 2004 to arrive at 12,8% in May 2004, that is to say 3 points above the national average (9,8% within the meaning of the International office of work, unemployment knowing a growth since 2003 in France, which it had not done for 10 years).

Demography

With a rate of urbanization of 83%, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais is a dense and strongly populated area (4 million inhabitants and 7% of the French population). It is also the youngest area of Metropolitan France, with 36,5% less than 25 years for an national average of 32,4% (census INSEE 1999). This situation is due mainly to a strong positive natural balance, practically cancelled by a strong negative migratory balance. It occupies on the other hand the last place for death rate. This situation is explained partly by a rate of alcoholism among highest of France.

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais counts ten agglomerations of more than 50.000 inhabitants: Lille (1 000.900 hab.), Douai - Lens (518 727 hab.), Valencian (357 395 hab.), Béthune (259 198 hab.), Dunkirk (191 173 hab.), Calais (104 852 hab.), Maubeuge (99 900 hab), Boulogne-sur-Mer (92 704 hab.), Arras (83 322 hab.), Armentières (58 706 hab.).

The agglomerations of Lille, Béthune, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lens, Douai and Valencians (of west in is), located on the field which borders north of the hills of Artois, form today a continuous conurbation of almost a hundred kilometers, which continues in Belgium.

The Nord-Pas-de-Calais, located within a zone where live more than 100 million inhabitants in a radius of 300 kilometers, is a European crossroads.

Culture

See also: Culture of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais

One finds two regional languages spoken in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais area:

the Picardy . It is generally called there ch' Ti semi or ch' Ti , or rouchi (in the Valenciennois), or quite simply patois . It is in reference to this patois that the inhabitants of the North-Not of Calais are sometimes called Ch' tis
the Flemish Westerner, in part of the French Flanders, i.e. in the part of the department of the Northern corresponding to the district of Dunkirk, of the Lily to the North Sea.

Festivals

Storyteller in Shift, September-October

Events

Culinary specialities

See also: Kitchen of Flandres and the North of France

Parks and Natural spaces

Natural spaces of North
Natural spaces of the Pas-de-Calais

See too

the page of the Project Nord-Pas-de-Calais

External bonds

Site of the area Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Site of tourism in area Nord-Pas-de-Calais
topicality of the area Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Nord-Pas-de-Calais Category in the directory Dmoz

Simple: Nord-Pas-de-Calais

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