France » France Nord Reviews

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Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has
always been a strategic (and hence one of the most fought-over) region
in Europe. French President Charles de Gaulle,
who was born in Lille, called the region a "fatal avenue" through which
invading armies repeatedly passed. Over the centuries, it was conquered
in turn by the Celtic Belgae, the Romans, the Germanic Franks, England, the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands, and the United Provinces of Holland, until the final French annexation in the early 18th century.