Coordinates: 51°02′18″N 2°22′39″E / 51.038333°N 2.377500°E
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Commune of Dunkirk |
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| Dunkerque | |
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| Location | |
  Dunkirk
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| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Nord-Pas de Calais |
| Department | Nord |
| Arrondissement | Dunkirque |
| Intercommunality | Dunkerque grand littoral |
| Mayor | Michel Delebarre (2008–2014) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–17 m (0–56 ft) (avg. 4 m/13 ft) |
| Land area1 | 37.34 km2 (14.42 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 70,850 (1999) |
| - Density | 1,897 /km2 (4,910 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 59183/ 59140, 59240, 59640 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Dunkirk (French: Dunkerque, pronounced: [dœ̃kɛʀk] or [dɛ̃kɛʀk]; Dutch: Duinkerke [ˈdœynkɛrkə] (
listen); French Flemish: [ˈdyŋkarkə]( listen)) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the Belgian border. The population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants (71,300 inhabitants as per February 2004 estimates). The population of the metropolitan area was 265,974 inhabitants as per the 1999 census.
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Its name is derived from West Flemish "dun(e)" (dune) and "kerke" (church). Until the middle of the 20th century the city was situated in the Dutch language area; today the local Dutch dialect (West Flemish) can still be found but has been largely replaced by French.
Dunkirk was first mentioned in 1067 as Dunkerk (Dutch: “Church of the Dune” or "Dune Church").
The area was much disputed between Spain, England, the Netherlands and France.
At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War, Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, from 1577 until 1583. But in the latter year the Prince of Parma re-established Spanish rule there and made it a base of naval operations against the Dutch, first by a small royal squadron of warships and later by a growing number of privateers to whom the Habsburg authorities in the Low Countries began issuing letters of Marque - launching the centuries-long career of the infamous Dunkirkers (known in the Dutch language as the 'Duinkerker kapers' (kaper = privateer)): private shipowners operated whole privateer fleets to intercept merchants from countries hostile to the Spanish Habsburgs.
The 1600 Battle of Nieuwpoort, one of major military engagements of the Eighty Years' War, was part of a major Dutch military effort to reach and conquer Dunkirk by land. However, though Maurice of Nassau on that occasion inflicted a crushing victory on the Spanish, he was unable to reach Dunkirk due to overextended supply lines, and the pirate activity from that city continued unabated.
The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port, as the city was conquered by the French in 1646, but recaptured by the Habsburgs in 1652.
In 1657, as a result of war between Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Spain, it was captured by English forces, and was awarded to England in the peace the following year (see Battle of the Dunes (1658).
It became definitively French when Charles II of England sold it to France for £320,000[1] on 17 October 1662.
During the reign of Louis XIV, a large number of commerce raiders had again their base at Dunkirk; Jean Bart was the most famous, known for attacking Dutch ships. The Man in the Iron Mask was also arrested in Dunkirk.
The 18th Century Swedish privateer and pirate Lars Gathenhielm, and his wife and partner Ingela Hammar, are known to have sold in Dunkirk much of the loot from ships plundered further east.
In May 1940, during the battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force in France aiding the French, was cut off from the rest of the French Army by the German advance. Encircled by the Germans they retreated to the area around the port of Dunkirk. The German land forces could have easily destroyed the British expeditionary force, especially when many of the British troops, in their haste to withdraw, had left behind their heavy equipment. For some unexplained and still unknown reason, Adolf Hitler ordered the German army to stop the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe. Some say it was because Hitler was still hopeful of establishing diplomatic peace with Britain before 1940 so the Germans could have a potential allied force against the Russians, while others contest that the unfavourable terrain (which was not suited to armoured vehicles) and a strategic German desire to retain strength for future operations was the real explanation. This lull in the action gave the British a few days to evacuate by sea. Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers, and 338,226 men (including 123,000 French soldiers) were evacuated - the miracle of Dunkirk, as Churchill called it. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the Allied forces. More than 40,000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind; their value being less than that of trained fighting men. The British evacuation of Dunkirk through the English Channel was codenamed Operation Dynamo. It is only recently, however, that the historian Sean Longden has revealed the other side of the Dunkirk story in his book Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind which focuses on the 40,000 allied soldiers (some who carried on fighting after the official evacuation) and were captured or forced to make their own way home through a variety of routes including via Spain.
The city was again contested in 1944, and the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division attempted to liberate the city in September, as Allied forces surged northeast after their victory in the Battle of Normandy. However, German forces refused to relinquish their control of the city, which had been converted into a fortress, and the garrison there was "masked" by Allied troops, notably 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade. The fortress under command of German Admiral Friedrich Frisius eventually unconditionally surrendered to the commander of the Czechoslovak forces, Brigade General Alois Liška, on 9 May 1945.[2]
During the German occupation, Dunkirk was largely destroyed by Allied bombings; the artillery siege of Dunkirk was directed on the final day of the war by pilots from No. 652 Squadron RAF, and No. 665 Squadron RCAF.[citation needed]
On 14 December 2002, the Norwegian auto carrier Tricolor collided with the Bahamian-registered Kariba and sank off Dunkirk harbour,causing a hazard to navigation in the English Channel.
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The arms of Dunkirk are blazoned : |
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The commune has grown substantially by absorbing several neighbouring communes:
Dunkirk has the third largest harbour in France, after those of Le Havre and Marseilles. It is also an industrial city, heavily dependent on the steel, food processing, oil refining, ship building and chemical industries.
Dunkirk has a (ferry) connection with Dover, England.
Dunkirk maintains Sister City relationships with the following cities:
Krefeld, Germany since 15 June 1974
Middlesbrough, United Kingdom since April 12, 1976
Gaza, Palestinian Authority
Riga, Latvia since 1960 Rostock, Germany since 1960
Vitória, Brazil since unknown date Corumbá, Brazil since unknown date
Ramat HaSharon, Israel since unknown dateDunkirk has co-operation agreements with:
Dartford district, United Kingdom since March 1988 Thanet district, United Kingdom since June 18, 1993DUNKIRK (Fr. Dunkerque), a seaport of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, on the Straits of Dover, 53 m. N.W. of Lille on the Northern railway. Pop. (1906) 35,76)7. Dunkirk is situated in the low but fertile district of the Wateringues. It lies, amidst a network of canals, immediately to the west and south of its port, which disputes with Bordeaux the rank of third in importance in France. The populous suburbs of Rosendael and St Pol-sur-Mer lie respectively to the east and west of the town; to the north-east is the bathing resort of Malo-les-Bains. The streets of Dunkirk are wide and well paved, the chief of them converging to the square named after Jean Bart (born at Dunkirk in 1651), whose statue by David d'Angers stands at its centre. Close to the Place Jean Bart rises the belfry (290 ft. high) which contains a fine peal of bells and also serves as a signalling tower. It was once the western tower of the church of St Eloi, from which it is now separated by a street. St Eloi, erected about 1560 in the Gothic style, was deprived of its first two bays in the 18th century; the present façade dates from 1889. The chapel of Notre-Dame des Dunes possesses a small image, which is the object of a well-known pilgrimage. The chief civil buildings are a large Chamber of Commerce, including the customs and port services, and a fine modern town hall. Dunkirk is the seat of a sub-prefect; its public institutions include tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, an exchange, a branch of the Bank of France and a communal college; and it has a school of drawing, architecture and music, a library and a rich museum of paintings. Dunkirk forms with Bergues, Bourbourg and Gravelines a group of fortresses enclosed by inundations and canals. A chain of forts to the eastward is designed to facilitate the deployment of an army, concentrated within the fortified region, towards the Belgian frontier.
The harbour of Dunkirk (see DocK) is approached by a fine natural roadstead entered on the east and west, and protected on the north by sand-banks. From the roadstead, entrance is by a channel into the outer harbour, which communicates with seven floating basins about 115 acres in area and is accessible to the largest vessels. The port is provided with four dry docks and a gridiron, and its quays exceed 5 m. in length. Its commerce is much facilitated by the system of canals which bring it into communication with Belgium, the coal-basins of Nord and Pasde-Calais, the rich agricultural regions of Flanders and Artois, and the industrial towns of Lille, Armentieres, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Valenciennes, &c. The roadstead is indicated by lightships and the entrance channel to the port by a lighthouse which, at an altitude of 193 ft., is visible at a distance of 19 m.
Dunkirk annually despatches a fleet to the Icelandic codfisheries, and takes part in the herring and other fisheries. It imports great quantities of wool from the Argentine and Australia, and is in regular communication with New York, London and the chief ports of the United Kingdom, Brazil and the far East. Besides wool, leading imports are jute, cotton, flax, timber, petroleum, coal, pitch, wine, cereals, oil-seeds and oil-cake, nitrate of soda and other chemical products, and metals. The principal exports are sugar, coal, cereals, wool, forage, cement, chalk, phosphates, iron and steel, tools and metal-goods, thread and vegetables. The average annual value of the imports for the years 1901-1905 was X23,926,000 (L22,287,000 for 1896-1900), of exports £6,369,000 (4,48r,000 for 1896-1900). The industries include the spinning of jute, flax, hemp and cotton, iron-founding, brewing, and the manufacture of machinery, fishing-nets, sailcloth, sacks, casks, and soap. There are also saw-and flour-mills, petroleum refineries and oil-works. Ship-building is carried on, and the preparation of fish and cod-liver oil occupies many hands.
Dunkirk is said to have originated in a chapel founded by St Eloi in the 7th century, round which a small village speedily sprang up. In the 10th century it was fortified by Baldwin III., count of Flanders; together with that province it passed successively to Burgundy, Austria and Spain. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries its possession was disputed by French and Spaniards. In 1658 Turenne's victory of the Dunes gave it into the hands of the French and it was ceded to England. After the Restoration, Charles II., being in money difficulties, sold it to the French king Louis XIV., who fortified it. By the terms of the peace of Utrecht (1713) the fortifications were demolished and its harbour filled up, a sacrifice demanded by England owing to the damage inflicted on her shipping by Jean Bart and other corsairs of the port. In 1793 it was besieged by the English under Frederick Augustus, duke of York, who was compelled to retire after the defeat of Hondschoote.
See A. de St Leger, La Flandre maritime et Dunkerque (Paris, 1900).
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