Pas-de-Calais (, " strait of Calais"; pcd, Pas-Calés; also nl, Nauw van Kales) is a department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

of all the departments of France,

890 __NOTOC__ Year 890 ( DCCCXC) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * The Frankish nobles, who have ruled Provence in anarchy (since 887), declare L ...

, and is the 8th most populous. It had a population of 1,465,278 in 2019.Populations légales 2019: 62 Pas-de-Calais
INSEE The Calais Passage connects to the

Port of Calais The Port of Calais in northern France is the fourth largest port in France and the largest for passenger traffic. It accounts for more than a third of economic activity in the town of Calais. Background The Port of Calais was the first cable ...

on the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. Pas-de-Calais borders the departments of Nord and Somme and is connected to the English

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

via the Channel Tunnel.

History

Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Pas-de-Calais region was populated in turn by the Celtic Belgae, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, the Germanic

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

and the Alemanni. During the fourth and fifth centuries, the Roman practice of co-opting Germanic tribes to provide military and defence services along the route from

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

created a Germanic-

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

linguistic border in the region that persisted until the eighth century. Saxon colonization into the region from the fifth to the eighth centuries likely extended the linguistic border somewhat south and west so that by the ninth century most inhabitants north of the line between

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a city in northern France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department. Geography Béthune is located in the former province of Artois. It is situated south-east of Calais, ...

and

Berck Berck (), sometimes referred to as Berck-sur-Mer (, literally ''Berck on Sea''), is a commune in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais. It lies within the Marquenterre regional park, an ornithological nature reserve. Geography Situa ...

spoke a dialect of

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarc ...

, while the inhabitants to the south spoke Picard, a variety of Romance dialects. This linguistic border is still evident today in the

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

and

patronyms A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

of the region. Beginning in the ninth century, the linguistic border began a steady move to north and the east, and by the end of the 15th century Romance dialects had completely displaced those of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. Pas-de-Calais is one of the original 83 departments created during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the

former provinces A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of the f ...

Calaisis The Pale of Calais was a territory in Northern France ruled by the monarchs of England for more than two hundred years from 1347 to 1558. The area, which was taken following the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and the subsequent siege of Calais, was ...

, formerly English, Boulonnais (land area), Boulonnais, Ponthieu and Artois, this last formerly part of the Spanish Netherlands. Some of the costliest battles of World War I were fought in the region. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial, eight kilometres from Arras, commemorates the Battle of Vimy Ridge assault during the Battle of Arras (1917) and is Canada's most important memorial in Europe to its fallen soldiers. Pas-de-Calais was also the target of Operation Fortitude during World War II, which was an Allies of World War II, Allied plan to deceive Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the Germans that the Operation Overlord, invasion of Europe at D-Day was to occur here, rather than in Normandy.

Geography

Pas-de-Calais is in the current Regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France and is surrounded by the departments of Nord and Somme, the

, and the North Sea. It shares a nominal border with the English county of

halfway through the Channel Tunnel. The principal rivers are the following: * Authie (river), Authie * Canche * Ternoise * Liane (river), Liane * Sensée * Scarpe (river), Scarpe * Deûle * Lys (river), Lys * Aa (France), Aa

Principal towns

Its principal towns are, on the coast, Calais and

, and in Artois, Arras, Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Lens, Liévin, and

. The most populous commune is Calais; the prefecture Arras is the second-most populous. As of 2019, there are 10 communes with more than 15,000 inhabitants:

Economy

The economy of the department was long dependent on mining, primarily the Coal mining, coal mines near the town of Lens, Pas-de-Calais where coal was discovered in 1849. However, since World War II, the economy has become more diversified.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called ''Pas-de-Calaisiens''. Pas-de-Calais is one of the most densely populated departments of France, but has no cities with over 100,000 residents: Calais has about 73,000 inhabitants. The remaining population is primarily concentrated along the border with the department of Nord in the mining district, where a string of small towns constitutes an urban area with a population of about 1.2 million. The centre and south of the department are more rural, but still quite heavily populated, with many villages and small towns. Although the department saw some of the heaviest fighting of World War I, its population rebounded quickly after both world wars. However, many of the mining towns have seen dramatic decreases in population, some up to half of their population. Population development since 1801:

Politics

Local elections

The president of the Departmental Council is Jean-Claude Leroy, elected in 2017.

National politics

In the second round of the 2017 French presidential election, French presidential elections of 2017 Pas-de-Calais was one of only two departments in which the candidate of the National Front (France), Front National, Marine Le Pen, received a majority of the votes cast: 52.06%.

Presidential elections 2nd round

Current National Assembly Representatives

Education

Lens Grands Bureaux de la Compagnie des mines

There are currently two public universities in the department. Although it is one of the most populous departments of France, Pas-de-Calais did not contain a university until 1991 when the French government created two universities: University of the Littoral Opal Coast, ULCO (Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale) on the western part of the department, and Artois University, Université d'Artois on the eastern part.

Tourism

File:Bouchot baie de Wissant P1030356.JPG, Mussel aquaculture in Wissant File:Cape_Gris_Nez,_France.JPG, Cap Gris Nez File:Cap Blanc-Nez Cliff 800x617.jpg, Cap Blanc Nez File:Boulogne vue generale phare beffroi mer.jpg,

File:Nausicaa_boulognesurmer.jpg, Nausicaä Centre National de la Mer, Nausicaä File:Le Touquet-Paris-Plage - Dunes au nord de la plage (2).JPG, Le Touquet File:Arras GdPlace27 JPM.jpg, Grand-Place of Arras File:Lorette13.JPG, Notre Dame de Lorette File:Vimy Memorial (September 2010) cropped.jpg, Canadian National Vimy Memorial, 11 kilometres from Arras File:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple.jpg, Liberty Leading the People on permanent display in Louvre-Lens since 2012 File:Blockhaus_Eperlecques.jpg, Blockhaus d'Éperlecques File:Audinghen_Batterie_Todt.jpg, Todt Battery, Audinghen