Editing Nord (French department) (section)

== History ==
Until the 17th century, the history of the North (Nord, French department) was largely in common with the history of [[Belgium]] (the Celtics [[Belgae|Belgians]] during Antiquity were a multitude of Celtic peoples from the north of [[Gallia Belgica|Gaul]]). The historical [[Provinces of France|French provinces]] that preceded Nord are [[French Flanders]], [[French Hainaut]]  (part of [[Hainaut Province|Hainaut]] and [[Flanders]] is in the Kingdom of [[Belgium]]). Tribes of the [[Belgae]], such as the [[Menapii]] and [[Nervii]] were the first peoples recorded in the area later known as Nord.

During the 4th and 5th Centuries, [[Roman Empire|Roman]] rulers of ''[[Gallia Belgica]]'' secured the route from the major port of [[Boulogne-sur-Mer#Origin of the city|Bononia]] (Boulogne) to [[Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium|Colonia]] (Cologne), by co-opting Germanic peoples north-east of this corridor, such as the [[Tungri]]. In effect, the area known later as Nord became an [[isogloss]] (linguistic border) between the [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and [[Romance languages|Romance]] languages. [[Saxons|Saxon]] colonisation of the region from the 5th to the 8th centuries likely shifted the isogloss further south so that, by the 9th century, most people immediately north of [[Lille]] spoke a dialect of [[Old Dutch]]. This has remained evident in the place names of the region.  After the [[County of Flanders]] became part of France in the 9th century, the isogloss moved north and east.<ref name="Dutch">{{cite web|url= http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/023/0022/jmmd0230022.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/023/0022/jmmd0230022.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Dutch dialect }}&nbsp;{{small|(404&nbsp;KB)}}</ref>

[[File:FlemishinDunkirkdistrict.PNG|thumb|200px|left|Extent of [[West Flemish]] spoken in the arrondissement of Dunkirk in 1874 and 1972 respectively.]]

During the 14th century, much of the area came under the control of the [[Duchy of Burgundy]] and in subsequent centuries was therefore part of the [[Habsburg Netherlands]] (from 1482) and the [[Spanish Netherlands]] (1581).

Areas that later constituted Nord were ceded to France by treaties in 1659, 1668, and 1678, becoming the Counties of [[French Flanders|Flanders]] and [[French Hainaut|Hainaut]], and part of the [[Cambrésis|Bishopric of Cambrai]].

On 4 March 1790, during the [[French Revolution]], Nord became one of the original 83 departments created to replace the counties.

Modern government policies making French the only official language have led to a decline in use of the Dutch [[West Flemish]] dialect. There are currently 20,000 speakers of a sub-dialect of West Flemish in the arrondissement of Dunkirk and it appears likely that this particular sub-dialect will be extinct within decades.<ref name="Dutch"/>