Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Dutch: Noord-Nauw van Kales) is one of the 26 regions of France. It consists of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium. Until the end of the 20th century both the region and the department were called Nord. Most of the region was once part of the Southern Netherlands, within the Low Countries, and gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678. The historical provinces now ...
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Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Dutch: Noord-Nauw van Kales) is one of the 26 regions of France. It consists of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium. Until the end of the 20th century both the region and the department were called Nord. Most of the region was once part of the Southern Netherlands, within the Low Countries, and gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678. The historical provinces now included in Nord-Pas-de-Calais are Artois, Boulonnais, Cambraisis, Flanders, and Hainaut, and portions of northern Picardy. These provincial designations are still frequently used by the inhabitants, which offers a sense of civic pride.
It is an extremely densely populated region with some four million inhabitants - seven percent of France's total population, making it the fourth most populous region in the country - 83% of whom live in urban communities. Its administrative centre is the city of Lille. The second largest city is Calais, which...
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