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French Flanders (; ) is a part of the historical, originally Dutch-speaking region Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
 in present-day France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
. The region today lies in the modern-day region
Régions of France

France is divided into 26 regions or r?gions , of which 21 are in continental metropolitan France, one is the island of Corsica, and four lie overseas....
 of Nord-Pas de Calais
Nord-Pas de Calais

Nord-Pas de Calais is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It consists of the departments of France of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium....
, the department of Nord, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements
Arrondissements of France

The 100 France Departments of France are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts.The capital of an arrondissement/district is called a Subprefectures in France....
 of Lille
Arrondissement of Lille

The arrondissement of Lille is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
, Douai
Arrondissement of Douai

The arrondissement of Douai is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
 and Dunkirk
Arrondissement of Dunkirk

The arrondissement of Dunkirk is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
 on the Belgian
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 border.

ch Flanders is mostly flat marshlands in the coal-rich area just south of the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. French Flanders consists of two regions:
  1. French Westhoek to the northwest, lying between the Lys River
    Lys River

    The Leie or Lys is a river in France and Belgium, and a left tributary of the Scheldt. Its source is in Pas-de-Calais, France, and it flows into the river Scheldt in Ghent, Belgium....
     and the North Sea
    North Sea

    The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
    , roughly the same area as the Arrondissement of Dunkirk
  2. Lille
    Lille

    Lille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Urban Community of Lille M?tropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille....
     Flanders (French: La Flandre Lilloise; Dutch: Rijsels-Vlaanderen), the French parts of Romance Flanders
    Romance Flanders

    Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders is the part of the Flanders where people speak romance languages like varieties of Picard language....
     (historically also Walloon Flanders
    Walloon Flanders

    The Walloon Flanders is a part of the Flanders .The Walloon Flanders means usually the same territory, the bailiwick of Douai and the castelleny of Lille, but in two different periods : In the Spanish Low Countries, it is that signed the Union of Arras on January 6, 1579....
    ) to the southeast, south of the Lys and now the arrondissements of Lille and Douai


region was originally part of the feudal Countship of Flanders, then part of the Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands

The Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and captured by France . This region comprised most of modern Belgium and Luxembourg as well as, until 1678, most of the present Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France....
, in present-day Belgium.






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Encyclopedia


French Flanders (; ) is a part of the historical, originally Dutch-speaking region Flanders
Flanders

Flanders is a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied....
 in present-day France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
. The region today lies in the modern-day region
Régions of France

France is divided into 26 regions or r?gions , of which 21 are in continental metropolitan France, one is the island of Corsica, and four lie overseas....
 of Nord-Pas de Calais
Nord-Pas de Calais

Nord-Pas de Calais is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It consists of the departments of France of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium....
, the department of Nord, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements
Arrondissements of France

The 100 France Departments of France are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts.The capital of an arrondissement/district is called a Subprefectures in France....
 of Lille
Arrondissement of Lille

The arrondissement of Lille is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
, Douai
Arrondissement of Douai

The arrondissement of Douai is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
 and Dunkirk
Arrondissement of Dunkirk

The arrondissement of Dunkirk is an Arrondissements of France of France, located in the Nord Departments of France, in the Nord-Pas de Calais Regions of France....
 on the Belgian
Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
 border.

Geography

French Flanders is mostly flat marshlands in the coal-rich area just south of the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. French Flanders consists of two regions:
  1. French Westhoek to the northwest, lying between the Lys River
    Lys River

    The Leie or Lys is a river in France and Belgium, and a left tributary of the Scheldt. Its source is in Pas-de-Calais, France, and it flows into the river Scheldt in Ghent, Belgium....
     and the North Sea
    North Sea

    The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
    , roughly the same area as the Arrondissement of Dunkirk
  2. Lille
    Lille

    Lille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Urban Community of Lille M?tropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille....
     Flanders (French: La Flandre Lilloise; Dutch: Rijsels-Vlaanderen), the French parts of Romance Flanders
    Romance Flanders

    Romance Flanders or Gallicant Flanders is the part of the Flanders where people speak romance languages like varieties of Picard language....
     (historically also Walloon Flanders
    Walloon Flanders

    The Walloon Flanders is a part of the Flanders .The Walloon Flanders means usually the same territory, the bailiwick of Douai and the castelleny of Lille, but in two different periods : In the Spanish Low Countries, it is that signed the Union of Arras on January 6, 1579....
    ) to the southeast, south of the Lys and now the arrondissements of Lille and Douai


History

The region was originally part of the feudal Countship of Flanders, then part of the Southern Netherlands
Southern Netherlands

The Southern Netherlands were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain , Austria and captured by France . This region comprised most of modern Belgium and Luxembourg as well as, until 1678, most of the present Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in northern France....
, in present-day Belgium. It was separated from the countship (part of Habsburg's Burgundian inheritance) in 1659 due to the Peace of the Pyrenees, which ended the French-Spanish conflict in the Thirty Years War, and other parts of the region were added in successive treaties in 1668 and 1678. The region was ceded to the Kingdom of France
Early Modern France

Early Modern France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century . During this period France evolved from a feudalism regime to an increasingly centralized state organized around a powerful absolute monarchy that relied on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and the explic...
, and became part of the province of Flanders and Hainaut
Provinces of France

The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the establishment of the d?partement in France system superseded provinces....
. The bulk became part of the modern French administrative Department of Nord, although some western parts of the region, which separated in 1237 and became the Countship of Artois before the cession to the French, are now part of Pas-de-Calais
Pas-de-Calais

Pas-de-Calais is a Departments of France in northern France. Its name is the French language equivalent of the Strait of Dover, which it borders....
.

During World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, French Flanders referred to all of Nord-Pas de Calais
Nord-Pas de Calais

Nord-Pas de Calais is one of the 26 regions of France of France. It consists of the departments of France of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, in the north and has a border with Belgium....
 which was first attached to military administration of German
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
-occupied Belgium, then part of Belgien-Nordfrankreich under a Reichskommissar
Reichskommissar

Reichskommissar , in History of Germany, was an official governor title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....
, and finally part of a theoretical Reichsgau
Reichsgau

A Reichsgau was an administrative sub-division created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945. It should not be confused with the Gau , an administrative region of the NSDAP ....
 of Flanders.

Rich in coal, and bordering the North Sea, French Flanders was fought over numerous times between the Middle Ages and World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
.

Language

The traditional language of northern French Flanders (Westhoek) is a dialect of the Dutch language
Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
 known as West Flemish
West Flemish

West Flemish is a group of Dutch dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.West Flemish is spoken by around 1.05 million people in West Flanders , 90,000 in the neighbouring Netherlands coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders, and approximately 20,000 in the northern part of the France d?partement in France of Nor...
, specifically, a subdialect known as French Flemish, but few speakers remain. The traditional language of southern French Flanders (Romance Flanders), Picard
Picard language

Picard is a language closely related to French language, and as such is one of the larger group of Romance languages. It is spoken in two List of regions in France in the far north of France – Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy – and in parts of the Belgium region Wallonia ....
 (and its dialects, such as Ch'ti or Rouchi), it is likewise seldom spoken. Standard French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 has largely replaced these regional languages.

See also

  • Nord (department)
  • French Flemish
  • French Netherlands
  • Greater Netherlands
  • Seventeen Provinces
    Seventeen Provinces

    The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of the West of Germany....
  • Burgundian Netherlands
    Burgundian Netherlands

    In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands refers to the period when the Duke of Burgundy ruled the area, as well as Luxembourg and parts of northern France, from 1384 to 1530....


Sources and references

  • Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré, 1952.

External links