NORD, the most northern department of France. Area 2,22 sq. miles. Pop. (1931) 2,029,449. Bounded for 21 m. by the North sea, it has Belgian territory on the north-east and east. It lies below, and parallel to, the chalk scarp of Artois, famous for its defence in the War of 1914-18. The coast is formed largely of sand-dunes drained by canals. The department is crossed by the Scheldt (Escaut) with its tributaries and by the Sambre, the chief tributary of the Meuse. The climate of Nord is colder than that of France in general, the mean temperature being 49° or 5o° F. The average annual rainfall is about 28 inches.
In agricultural and industrial importance Nord is the first of French departments. In the south-east stock-raising flourishes; in the central zone beetroot is characteristic, while mixed farming prevails in the north-west. Cereals (especially wheat and oats) and potatoes are grown in abundance, while flax, tobacco, chicory, colza and hops are minor crops. Market-gardening and horti culture are practised in some localities. There are mineral springs, notably at St. Amand, where the mud baths are used in the treat ment of rheumatism. The mineral wealth lies chiefly in coal mines forming part of the Valenciennes basin, the most important in France, which extends into Belgium and Pas-de-Calais. The textile industry centres in Lille, Roubaix and Tourcoing, which spin and weave cotton, linen and wool, as also around Fourmies.
Other centres are Armentieres (cloth-weaving), Dunkirk (flax, jute and hemp-spinning), Cambrai (batiste and other delicate fabrics; also chicory), Douai, Avesnes, le Cateau and Caudry. Other great industries are glass, brick, pottery and sugar manu facture, alcohol-distilling, dyeing, iron-founding and steel pro duction. Branches of the metallurgical industry are at Denain, Hautmont, Maubeuge, Valenciennes, Douai, Raismes, etc. Dun kirk and Gravelines equip fleets for the cod and herring fisheries. Dunkirk is the chief port. Its system of inland navigation is highly developed, comprising a line of waterways from the Scheldt to the North sea at Dunkirk, with which the coal basin of Valen ciennes is linked by the canalized Scheldt and the textile region of Lille by means of the Deale canal and the canalized Lys.
The department is divided into six arrondissements (Avesnes, Cambrai, Douai, Dunkirk, Lille, Valenciennes) with 68 cantons and 668 communes. It forms the archiepiscopal diocese of Cam brai and part of the region of the I. army corps (headquarters at Lille) and of the educational division of Lille. Its court of appeal is at Douai.