Boulogne-sur-Mer


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Boulogne-sur-Mer (Bonen in Dutch) is a city in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département of which it is a sous-préfecture. It is located by the English Channel.

Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 44,859 inhabitants, whereas the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine) had 135,116 inhabitants.

[edit] History

Originally named Gesoriacum and probably also to be identified with Portus Itius, by the 4th century Boulogne was known to the Romans as Bononia and served as the major port connecting the rest of the empire to Britain. The emperor Claudius used this town as his base for the Roman invasion of Britain, in AD 43, and until 296 it was the base of the Classis Britannica.

In the Middle Ages it was the centre of a namesake county. The area was fought over by the French and the English. In 1550, The Peace of Boulogne ended the war of England with Scotland and France. France bought back Boulogne for 400,000 crowns.

In the 19th century the Cathedral of Notre Dame was reconstructed by the priest Benoit Haffreingue after he received a call from God to reconstruct the town's ruined basilica. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon amassed La Grande Armée in Boulogne to invade the United Kingdom in 1805. However, his plans were halted by other European matters and the supremacy of the Royal Navy.

Boulogne-sur-Mer is also one of the most important fishing ports in France.

[edit] External links

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