Nord (English: North) is a department in the far north of France. It was created from the western halves of the historical counties of Flanders and Hainaut (the eastern halves being in Belgium), and the Bishopric of Cambrai. The modern coat of arms was inherited from the County of Flanders. Nord is the only French departement which has a Dutch dialect (French Flemish) along with French as a native language. It is the country's most populous depar...
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Nord (English: North) is a department in the far north of France. It was created from the western halves of the historical counties of Flanders and Hainaut (the eastern halves being in Belgium), and the Bishopric of Cambrai. The modern coat of arms was inherited from the County of Flanders. Nord is the only French departement which has a Dutch dialect (French Flemish) along with French as a native language. It is the country's most populous department.
Nord was one of the original 83 departments that were created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was made up of three regions: the Counties of Flanders and Hainaut, and the Bishopric of Cambrai, which were ceded to France in successive treaties (1659, 1668, and 1678).
During the 4th and 5th centuries, the Roman practice of coopting Germanic tribes to provide military and defense services along the route from Boulogne to Cologne created a Germanic-Romance linguistic border in the region that persisted until the 8th century...
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