Hauts-de-France
Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
Scheldt
The Scheldt ( ; ; ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old Englis ...
, northwest of
Valenciennes
Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France.
It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...
, of which it is a suburb.
History
Anzin was once the centre of important
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
s of the Valenciennes basin belonging to the Anzin Company, the formation of which dates to 1717. The commune's first coal layer of the area in 1734. The company of the mines of Anzin ( Compagnie des mines d'Anzin) was created in 1757. In 1884 these mines were visited by
Émile Zola
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...
, who based his novel '' Germinal'' upon his observations. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the metallurgical industries of the place were extensive, and included iron and copper founding and the manufacture of steam-engines, machinery, chain-cables and a great variety of heavy iron goods. There were also glass-works and breweries.
Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):