Nord (French department)

Nord is a department in the north of France, in the Hauts-de-France region. Its name is because the department is in the north of France. Its prefecture is Lille.

History
Nord is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Douai as is capital.

It was divided in eight districts: Avesnes, Bergues, Cambrai, Douai, Hazebrouck, Lille, Le Quesnoy and Valenciennes.

In 1800, with the creation of the arrondissements in France, the eight districts were changed into six arrondissements: Avesnes, Bergues, Cambrai, Cassel, Douai and Lille.

In 1803, the capital of the department was moved from Douai to Lille and the subprefecture of Bergues was moved to Dunkirk.

The arrondissement of Valenciennes was created in 1824.

The subprefecture of Cassel was moved to Hazebrouck in 1857. On 10 September 1926, the arrondissement of Hazebrouck was eliminated.

In 1962, the name of the commune Avesnes was changed to Avesnes-sur-Helpe.

Geography
Nord is part of the Hauts-de-France region. It has an area of .

The department is surrounded by the North Sea, Belgium (West Flanders and Hainaut provinces) and 3 other departments of the Hauts-de-France region:
 Hauts-de-France region
 Aisne (south)
 Somme (southwest) (a short distance)
 Pas-de-Calais (west)

The highest point in the department is in the commune of Anor () near the border with Belgium; it is  high.

Several rivers flow through the department; the main rivers are the Scheldt/Escaut, the Yser, the Lys, the Scarpe, and the Sambre.

Climate
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Lille is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Lille is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Lille is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .

Administration
Nord is managed by the Departmental Council of Aisne in Lille. The department is part of the Hauts-de-France region.

Administrative divisions
There are 6 arrondissements (districts), 41 cantons and 648 communes (municipalities) in Nord.

+ Arrondissements of the Nord department INSEEcode  Arrondissement  Capital  Population(2014)  Area(km²)  Density(Inh./km²)  Communes 591  Avesnes-sur-Helpe  Avesnes-sur-Helpe  231,727  1,407.5    151 592  Cambrai  Cambrai  163,065  901.6    116 593  Douai  Douai  246,595  476.6    64 594  Dunkirk  Dunkirk  378,499  1,442.7    111 595  Lille  Lille  1,232,513  879.5    124 596  Valenciennes  Valenciennes  351,073  634.8    82

The following is a list of the 41 cantons of the Nord department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:

 Aniche (5901)
 Annœullin (5902)
 Anzin (5903)
 Armentières (5904)
 Aulnoye-Aymeries (5905)
 Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes (5906)
 Avesnes-sur-Helpe (5907)
 Bailleul (5908)
 Cambrai (5909)
 Le Cateau-Cambrésis (5910)
 Caudry (5911)
 Coudekerque-Branche (5912)
 Croix (5913)
 Denain (5914)
 Douai (5915)
 Dunkerque-1 (5916)
 Dunkerque-2 (5917)
 Faches-Thumesnil (5918)
 Fourmies (5919)
 Grande-Synthe (5920)
 Hazebrouck (5921)
 Lambersart (5922)
 Lille-1 (5923)
 Lille-2 (5924)
 Lille-3 (5925)
 Lille-4 (5926)
 Lille-5 (5927)
 Lille-6 (5928)
 Marly (5929)
 Maubeuge (5930)
 Orchies (5931)
 Roubaix-1 (5932)
 Roubaix-2 (5933)
 Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (5934)
 Sin-le-Noble (5935)
 Templeuve (5936)
 Tourcoing-1 (5937)
 Tourcoing-2 (5938)
 Valenciennes (5939)
 Villeneuve-d'Ascq (5940)
 Wormhout (5941)

Demographics
The inhabitants of Nord are known, in French, as Nordistes.

Nord had a population, in 2014, of 2,603,472, for a population density of  inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Lille, with 1,232,513 inhabitants, is the arrondissement with more inhabitants.

Evolution of the population in Nord

The 10 communes in the department with more inhabitants are:

 City  Population(2014) Arrondissement Lille  233,897  Lille Roubaix  95,600  Lille Tourcoing  95,329  Lille Dunkirk  89,160  Dunkirk Villeneuve d'Ascq  62,869  Lille Valenciennes  43,787  Valenciennes Wattrelos  41,337  Lille Douai  40,736  Douai Marcq-en-Barœul  39,291  Lille Cambrai  32,897  Cambrai

Gallery

Related pages
 Arrondissements of the Nord department
 Communes of the Nord department

References

Other websites

 Tourism in Nord-Pas de Calais