Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Common card · No. 279256

Nord-Pas-de-Calais (French pronunciation: [nɔʁ pɑ d(ə) kalɛ] ; Picard: Nord-Pas-Calés; West Flemish: Nôord-Nauw van Kales) is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais bordered the English Channel (west), the North Sea (northwest), Belgium (north and east), and Picardy (south). Until the 17th century, the history of the North was largely shared with the history of Belgium (the Celtic Belgians during Antiquity were a multitude of Celtic peoples from the north of Gaul), that of a land that "for almost a thousand years served as a battlefield for all of Europe." The majority of the region was once part of the historical Southern Netherlands, but gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678, particularly during the reign of King Louis XIV. The historical French provinces that preceded Nord-Pas-de-Calais are Artois, French Flanders...

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