*** Welcome to piglix ***

Cambraisis

Cambrai
Commune
The bell tower of the town hall, where Martin and Martine (fr) mark the hours
The bell tower of the town hall, where Martin and Martine () mark the hours
Coat of arms of Cambrai
Coat of arms
Cambrai is located in France
Cambrai
Cambrai
Coordinates: 50°10′36″N 3°14′08″E / 50.1767°N 3.2356°E / 50.1767; 3.2356Coordinates: 50°10′36″N 3°14′08″E / 50.1767°N 3.2356°E / 50.1767; 3.2356
Country France
Region Hauts-de-France
Department Nord
Arrondissement Cambrai
Canton Cambrai
Intercommunality Cambrai
Government
 • Mayor (2001–2008) François-Xavier Villain (DLR)
Area1 18.12 km2 (7.00 sq mi)
Population (1999)2 33,716
 • Density 1,900/km2 (4,800/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 59122 /59400
Elevation 41–101 m (135–331 ft)
(avg. 60 m or 200 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cambrai (French pronunciation: [kɑ̃bʁɛ]; Picard: Kimbré; Dutch: Kamerijk; old spelling Cambray) is a commune in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river.

A sub-prefecture of the department, Cambrai is a town which had 32,518 inhabitants in the Census of 2009. It is in the heart of the urban unit of Cambrai () which, with 47,138 inhabitants, ranks as 7th largest of the department. Its urban area (), a more extensive range, included 65,986 inhabitants in 2009. With Lille and the towns of the former Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, it is also part of the Metropolitan area of Lille () which has more than 3.8 million inhabitants.

Towards the end of the Roman Empire, Cambrai replaced Bavay as the "capital" of the land of the Nervii. At the beginning of the Merovingian era, Cambrai became the seat of an immense archdiocese covering all the right bank of the Scheldt and the centre of a small ecclesiastical principality (), roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, including the central part of the Low Countries. The bishopric had some limited secular power and depended on the Holy Roman Empire until annexation to France in 1678. Fénelon, nicknamed the "Swan of Cambrai", was the most renowned of the archbishops.


...
Wikipedia

...