Dunkirk (Municipality, Nord, France)

Dunkerque, Duinkirk

Last modified: 2005-04-09 by ivan sache
Keywords: nord | dunkirk | dunkerque | duinkirk | cross (red) | chamber of commerce and industry | cross (blue) | lion (black) |
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by Ivan Sache

• Presentation of Dunkirk
• Municipal flag of Dunkirk
• Logotype flag of Dunkirk
• Historical flag of Dunkirk (?)
• Yacht Club de la Mer du Nord
• Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Dunkirk

See also:

• France
• Nord (Department, France)

Presentation of Dunkirk

Dunkirk (75,000 inhabitants; 200,000 when including the suburbs), is a maritime city located on the Pas-de-Calais, the narrow bottleneck between the Channel and the North Sea, about 10 km of the Belgian border. It is the northernmost big city of France, the northernmost municipality being Bray-Dunes.

The first occurrence of the name of Dunkirk (lit., "the church in the dunes") is dated 1067. The city was disputed between Spain, England, Netherlands and France until Turenne annexed it definitively to France in 1658 after the battle of the Dunes. The city was later fortified by Vauban.
During the reign of Louis XIV, the corsairs from Dunkirk captured or sunk ca. 3,000 ships and contributed to the ruination of the Dutch sea trade. The most famous of them was Jean Bart (1650-1702, born in Dunkirk), who is said to have answered Lou