Nord (French department)

Nord is a department in the north of France, in the Hauts-de-France region. Its name is because the department is in the north of France. Its prefecture is Lille.
History.
Nord is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790 with Douai as is capital.
It was divided in eight districts: Avesnes, Bergues, Cambrai, Douai, Hazebrouck, Lille, Le Quesnoy and Valenciennes.
In 1800, with the creation of the "arrondissements" in France, the eight districts were changed into six "arrondissements": Avesnes, Bergues, Cambrai, Cassel, Douai and Lille.
In 1803, the capital of the department was moved from Douai to Lille and the subprefecture of Bergues was moved to Dunkirk.
The "arrondissement" of Valenciennes was created in 1824.
The subprefecture of Cassel was moved to Hazebrouck in 1857. On 10 September 1926, the "arrondissement" of Hazebrouck was eliminated.
In 1962, the name of the "commune" Avesnes was changed to Avesnes-sur-Helpe.
Geography.
Nord is part of the Hauts-de-France region. It has an area of .
The department is surrounded by the North Sea, Belgium (West Flanders and Hainaut provinces) and 3 other departments of the Hauts-de-France region:
The highest point in the department is in the "commune" of Anor () near the border with Belgium; it is high.
Several rivers flow through the department; the main rivers are the Scheldt/Escaut, the Yser, the Lys, the Scarpe, and the Sambre.
Climate.
The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Lille is an "Oceanic climate" (also known as Marine West Coast Climate) and of the subtype "Cfb".
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Lille is . The month with the most precipitation on average is October with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of .
The average temperature for the year in Lille is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
Administration.
Nord is managed by the "Departmental Council of Aisne" in Lille. The department is part of the Hauts-de-France region.
Administrative divisions.
There are 6 "arrondissements" (districts), 41 "cantons" and 648 "communes" (municipalities) in Nord.
The following is a list of the 41 cantons of the Nord department, following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015:
Demographics.
The inhabitants of Nord are known, in French, as "Nordistes".
Nord had a population, in 2014, of 2,603,472, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The "arrondissement" of Lille, with 1,232,513 inhabitants, is the "arrondissement" with more inhabitants.
Evolution of the population in Nord
The 10 "communes" in the department with more inhabitants are: