Fort-Mahon-Plage () is a commune in the

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department in

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in northern

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Geography

The commune is situated on the coast of the

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and endowed with a sandy beach and massive sand dunes, Fort-Mahon-Plage attracts many tourists, especially during the summer and at the weekends. Thanks to investment and the fact the town meets many environmental criteria, the town is officially classified (since 2006), as a “station balnéaire”.

Population

History

Fort-Mahon-Plage is not a very old town. It seems certain that it did not exist before the 18th century, except, of course, the superb sand dunes and the sea. Considered rather cold and wild, this part of the coast would have welcomed only fishermen and

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

gatherers. The first town was raised there only a little more than two centuries ago, with a few small shepherds’ huts in 1790. Fort-Mahon-Plage was not considered a commune at all until 1922, when it was officially identified as a separate village from its neighbour Quend. Urbanization was steady, notably in the 1950s, with the immense beach of fine sand, in contrast to many of the pebble beaches of Normandy, doing a lot to attract tourists, as well as a soft and pleasant sea during the summer. The huge beach later became famous for its water activities, most notably landyacht racing,

wind-surfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

and kiting. The town also invested heavily in its infrastructure, most notably the very long principal promenade, the "Avenue de la plage" (Beach Avenue), of a quality design and layout that reinforces the attractiveness of the town. DUNES FMAHON

Twin towns

Bewdley Bewdley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England, on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley, and is west of Kidderminster, north of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham. It ...

(

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) *

Wellin Wellin (; ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 67.52 km2, had 2,958 inhabitants, giving a population density of 43.8 inhabitants per km2. The munic ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

)

Geography

Population

History

Twin towns

See also