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55-625: Armentières ( French pronunciation: [aʁmɑ̃tjɛʁ] ; West Flemish : Armentiers , Picard : Armintîre ) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France . It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille . The motto of the town is Pauvre mais fière (Poor but proud). Armentières lies on the Belgian border, northwest of the city of Lille , on

110-630: A long ie ( [i] ). Like for the ui , the long o ( [o] ) can be replaced by an [ø] ( eu ) for some words but a [uo] for others. That often causes similarities to ranchers English. Here are some examples showing the sound shifts that are part of the vocabulary: Plural forms in Standard Dutch most often add -en , but West Flemish usually uses -s , like the Low Saxon dialects and even more prominently in English in which -en has become very rare. Under

165-433: A marked reduction from its original full-time service. This scaling back underscores the difficulties in maintaining such an ambitious project, with financial constraints and logistical inefficiencies contributing to its partial rollback. While the program succeeded in increasing mobility for low-income residents and reducing car usage initially, its long-term sustainability has been questioned, casting doubt on its viability as

220-475: A model for other cities. ( https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/after-becoming-largest-european-city-to-offer-free-public-transit-theyre-enjoying-a-revolution-from-their-buses/ ), https://theconversation.com/in-the-french-city-of-dunkirk-free-public-transport-has-led-to-more-walking-and-cycling-127411 , https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-14/free-public-transit-can-it-work-in-every-city ) As of August 2019, approximately 5% of 2000 people surveyed had used

275-511: A short u ( [ɐ] ), a phenomenon also occurring in Russian and some other Slavic languages , called akanye . That happens spontaneously to some words, but other words keep their original short o sounds. Similarly, the short a ( [ɑ] ) can turn into a short o ( [ɔ] ) in some words spontaneously. The diphthong ui ( /œy/ ) does not exist in West Flemish and is replaced by a long u ( [y] ) or

330-517: A strategic point, Dunkirk has always been exposed to political greed, by Duke Robert I of Bar in 1395, by Louis de Luxembourg in 1435 and finally by the Austrian archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg , who in 1477 married Mary of Burgundy , sole heiress of late Duke Charles the Bold . As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III , all Flanders was immediately seized by King Louis XI of France . However,

385-490: Is closed and has been dismantled in places. In September 2018, Dunkirk's public transit service introduced free public transport, thereby becoming the largest city in Europe to do so. Several weeks after the scheme had been introduced, the city's mayor, Patrice Vergriete, reported that there had been 50% increase in passenger numbers on some routes, and up to 85% on others. As part of the transition towards offering free bus services,

440-988: Is listed as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO 's online Red Book of Endangered Languages . West Flemish has a phonology that differs significantly from that of Standard Dutch, being similar to Afrikaans in the case of long E, O and A. Also where Standard Dutch has sch , in some parts of West Flanders, West-Flemish, like Afrikaans, has sk . However, the best known traits are the replacement of Standard Dutch (pre-)velar fricatives g and ch in Dutch ( /x, ɣ/ ) with glottal h [h, ɦ] ,. The following differences are listed by their Dutch spelling, as some different letters have merged their sounds in Standard Dutch but remained separate sounds in West Flemish. Pronunciations can also differ slightly from region to region. The absence of /x/ and /ɣ/ in West Flemish makes pronouncing them very difficult for native speakers. That often causes hypercorrection of

495-621: Is part of Nord's 13th constituency , The current Member of Parliament is Christine Decodts of the miscellaneous centre . At their base, the arms display the insignia of the four medals awarded to the city: the Legion of Honour , Croix de Guerre and British Distinguished Service Cross for World War I; and a second Croix de Guerre for World War II. The city also has its own flag, made up of six horizontal stripes of alternate white and azure blue. The commune has grown substantially by absorbing several neighbouring communes: Dunkirk has

550-404: Is pronounced only if the next word begins with a vowel sound. Another feature of West Flemish is the conjugation of ja and nee ("yes" and "no") to the subject of the sentence. That is somewhat related to the double subject, but even when the rest of the sentence is not pronounced, ja and nee are generally used with the first part of the double subject. This conjugation can be negated with

605-552: Is spoken by about a million people in the Belgian province of West Flanders , and a further 50,000 in the neighbouring Dutch coastal district of Zeelandic Flanders (200,000 if including the closely related dialects of Zeelandic ) and 10-20,000 in the northern part of the French department of Nord . Some of the main cities where West Flemish is widely spoken are Bruges , Dunkirk , Kortrijk , Ostend , Roeselare and Ypres . West Flemish

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660-535: The /h/ sounds to a /x/ or /ɣ/ . Standard Dutch also has many words with an -en ( /ən/ ) suffix (mostly plural forms of verbs and nouns). While Standard Dutch and most dialects do not pronounce the final n , West Flemish typically drops the e and pronounces the n inside the base word. For base words already ending with n , the final n sound is often lengthened to clarify the suffix. That makes many words become similar to those of English: beaten , listen etc. The short o ( [ɔ] ) can also be pronounced as

715-558: The Bahamian -registered Kariba and sank off Dunkirk Harbour, causing a hazard to navigation in the English Channel . The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Dunkirk proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Dunkirk absorbed the former commune of Malo-les-Bains in 1969, Rosendaël and Petite-Synthe in 1971, Mardyck in 1979 and Fort-Mardyck and Saint-Pol-sur-Mer in 2010. Dunkirk

770-475: The Belgian border. It has the third-largest French harbour. The population of the commune in 2019 was 86,279. The name of Dunkirk derives from West Flemish dun(e) ' dune ' or ' dun ' and kerke 'church', thus 'church in the dunes'. A smaller town 25 km (15 miles) farther up the Flemish coast originally shared the same name, but was later renamed Oostduinkerke (n) in order to avoid confusion. Until

825-571: The Kingdom of Spain , the United Netherlands , the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France . At the beginning of the Eighty Years' War , Dunkirk was briefly in the hands of the Dutch rebels, from 1577. Spanish forces under Duke Alexander Farnese of Parma re-established Spanish rule in 1583 and it became a base for the notorious Dunkirkers . The Dunkirkers briefly lost their home port when

880-559: The Peasant revolt of 1323–1328 , which was crushed by King Philippe VI of France at the 1328 Battle of Cassel , whereafter the Dunkirkers again were affected by the repressive measures of the French king. Count Louis remained a loyal vassal of the French king upon the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War with England in 1337, and prohibited the maritime trade, which led to another revolt by

935-591: The Republic of Ireland and carries truck freight as well as a limited number of private car passengers. The Dunkirk-Rosslare route take 24 hours and is run by the MF Regina Seaways . The Gare de Dunkerque railway station offers connections to Gare de Calais-Ville , Gare de Lille Flandres , Arras and Paris, and several regional destinations in France. The railway line from Dunkirk to De Panne and Adinkerke , Belgium,

990-747: The Royal Greenwich Observatory . Sightings were made of signal lights at Dover Castle from the Dunkirk Belfry, and vice versa. Two belfries in Dunkirk (the belfry near the Church of Saint-Éloi and the one at the Hôtel de Ville ) are part of a group of belfries of Belgium and France , inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 in recognition of their civic architecture and importance in

1045-515: The meridian arc distance from Dunkirk to Barcelona , two cities lying on approximately the same longitude as each other and also the longitude through Paris. The belfry was chosen as the reference point in Dunkirk. Using this measurement and the latitudes of the two cities they could calculate the distance between the North Pole and the Equator in classical French units of length and hence produce

1100-523: The Dunkirk citizens. After the count had been killed in the 1346 Battle of Crécy , his son and successor Count Louis II of Flanders (1346–1384) signed a truce with the English; the trade again flourished and the port was significantly enlarged. However, in the course of the Western Schism from 1378, English supporters of Pope Urban VI (the Roman claimant) disembarked at Dunkirk, captured the city and flooded

1155-822: The Dunkirkers with market rights . In the late 13th century, when the Dampierre count Guy of Flanders entered into the Franco-Flemish War against his suzerain King Philippe IV of France , the citizens of Dunkirk sided with the French against their count, who at first was defeated at the 1297 Battle of Furnes , but reached de facto autonomy upon the victorious Battle of the Golden Spurs five years later and exacted vengeance. Guy's son, Count Robert III (1305–1322), nevertheless granted further city rights to Dunkirk; his successor Count Louis I (1322–1346) had to face

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1210-1421: The archduke defeated the French troops in 1479 at the Battle of Guinegate . When Mary died in 1482, Maximilian retained Flanders according to the terms of the 1482 Treaty of Arras . Dunkirk, along with the rest of Flanders, was incorporated into the Habsburg Netherlands and upon the 1581 secession of the Seven United Netherlands , remained part of the Southern Netherlands , which were held by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands) as Imperial fiefs. [REDACTED] Burgundian Netherlands 1384–1482 [REDACTED] Habsburg Netherlands 1482–1556 [REDACTED] Spanish Netherlands 1556–1577 [REDACTED] Dunkirk Rebels 1577–1583 [REDACTED] Spanish Netherlands 1583–1646 [REDACTED] France 1646–1652 [REDACTED] Spanish Netherlands 1652–1658 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] England and France 1658–1659 [REDACTED] England 1659–1662 [REDACTED] [REDACTED] France 1662–1870 [REDACTED] Prussian occupation 1870–1873 [REDACTED] France 1873–1940 [REDACTED] German occupation 1940–1945 [REDACTED] France 1945–present The area remained much disputed between

1265-601: The autumn of 1917. In January 1916, a spy scare took place in Dunkirk. The writer Robert W. Service , then a war correspondent for the Toronto Star , was mistakenly arrested as a spy and narrowly avoided being executed out of hand. On 1 January 1918, the United States Navy established a naval air station to operate seaplanes . The base closed shortly after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . In October 1917, to mark

1320-619: The city experienced severe bombardment, including from the largest gun in the world in 1917, the German ' Lange Max '. On a regular basis, heavy shells weighing approximately 750 kg (1700 lb) were fired from Koekelare , about 45–50 km (30 miles) away. The bombardment killed nearly 600 people and wounded another 1,100, both civilian and military, while 400 buildings were destroyed and 2,400 damaged. The city's population, which had been 39,000 in 1914, reduced to fewer than 15,000 in July 1916 and 7,000 in

1375-658: The city was conquered by the French in 1646 but Spanish forces recaptured the city in 1652. In 1658, as a result of the long war between France and Spain, it was captured after a siege by Franco-English forces following the battle of the Dunes . The city along with Fort-Mardyck was awarded to England in the peace the following year as agreed in the Franco-English alliance against Spain. The English governors were Sir William Lockhart (1658–60), Sir Edward Harley (1660–61) and Lord Rutherford (1661–62). On 17 October 1662, Dunkirk

1430-402: The city's fleet was expanded from 100 to 140 buses, including new vehicles which run on natural gas. The Dunkirk free public transport initiative, initially lauded for its bold ambition, saw a significant decline in ridership after the initial surge. While the first three months post-launch demonstrated a dramatic increase in usage, with some lines experiencing up to 120% higher demand on weekends,

1485-450: The city, which had been converted into a fortress. To seize the now strategically insignificant town would consume too many Allied resources which were needed elsewhere. The town was by-passed masking the German garrison with Allied troops, notably the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade . During the German occupation , Dunkirk was largely destroyed by Allied bombing. The artillery siege of Dunkirk

1540-486: The extra word, toet ( [tut] ), or strenght strengthened by adding mo- or ba- (or both). Dunkirk Dunkirk ( UK : / d ʌ n ˈ k ɜːr k / dun- KURK , US : / ˈ d ʌ n k ɜːr k / DUN -kurk , French : Dunkerque [dœ̃kɛʁk] ; West Flemish : Duunkerke ; Dutch : Duinkerke or Duinkerken ) is a major port city in the department of Nord in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from

1595-715: The face of overpowering German Panzer attacks. Fighting in Belgium and France, the BEF and a portion of the French Army became outflanked by the Germans and retreated to the area around the port of Dunkirk. More than 400,000 soldiers were trapped in the pocket as the German Army closed in for the kill. Unexpectedly, the German Panzer attack halted for several days at a critical juncture. For years, it

1650-595: The famous novel Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas was arrested at Dunkirk. The eighteenth-century Swedish privateers and pirates Lars Gathenhielm and his wife Ingela Hammar are known to have sold their gains in Dunkirk. As France and Great Britain became commercial and military rivals, the British grew concerned about Dunkirk being used as an invasion base to cross the English Channel. The jetties, their forts, and

1705-533: The first prototype metre which was defined as being one ten millionth of that distance. The definitive metre bar, manufactured from platinum, was presented to the French legislative assembly on 22 June 1799. Dunkirk was the most easterly cross-channel measuring point for the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) , which used triangulation to calculate the precise distance between the Paris Observatory and

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1760-519: The free bus service to completely replace their cars. Dunkirk is twinned with: Dunkirk has co-operation agreements with: Dunkirk has an oceanic climate , with cool winters and warm summers. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dunkirk has a marine west coast climate , abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps. Summer high temperatures average around 20 to 21 °C (68 to 70 °F), being significantly influenced by

1815-723: The gallant behaviour of its inhabitants during the war, the City of Dunkirk was awarded the Croix de Guerre and, in 1919, the Legion of Honour and the British Distinguished Service Cross . These decorations now appear in the city's coat of arms. During the Second World War 1940 Battle of France , the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), while aiding the French and Belgian armies, were forced to retreat in

1870-476: The heavy contamination. Witnesses to the bombardment stated that the shelling was so heavy that liquid mustard gas ran in the streets. Armentières has a railway station on the line from Lille to Calais and Dunkirk . It was commissioned in 1848 by the Chemins de Fer du Nord (Northern Railway Company). The buildings were completed in 1861. The station is currently served by TER Hauts-de-France trains, on

1925-417: The influence of Standard Dutch, -s is being used by fewer people, and younger speakers tend to use -en . The verbs zijn ("to be") and hebben ("to have") are also conjugated differently. West Flemish often has a double subject. Standard Dutch has an indefinite article that does not depend on gender, unlike in West Flemish. However, a gender-independent article is increasingly used. Like in English, n

1980-617: The middle of the 20th century, French Flemish (the local variety of Dutch ) was commonly spoken. A fishing village arose late in the tenth century, in the originally flooded coastal area of the English Channel south of the Western Scheldt , when the area was held by the Counts of Flanders , vassals of the French Crown. About AD 960, Count Baldwin III had a town wall erected in order to protect

2035-509: The official evacuation) were captured or forced to make their own way home through a variety of routes including via neutral Spain. Many wounded who were unable to walk were abandoned. Dunkirk was again contested in 1944, with the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division attempting to liberate the city in September, as Allied forces surged northeast after their victory in the Battle of Normandy . However, German forces refused to relinquish their control of

2090-612: The order several hours later. This lull gave the British and French a few days to fortify their defences. The Allied position was complicated by Belgian King Leopold III 's surrender on 27 May, which was postponed until 28 May. The gap left by the Belgian Army stretched from Ypres to Dixmude. Nevertheless, a collapse was prevented , making it possible to launch an evacuation by sea , across the English Channel , codenamed Operation Dynamo. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to collect

2145-558: The port facilities were demolished in 1713 under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht . The Treaty of Paris of 1763, which concluded the Seven Years' War , included a clause restricting French rights to fortify Dunkirk. This clause was overturned in the subsequent Treaty of Versailles of 1783. Dunkirk's port was used extensively during the war by British forces who brought in dock workers from, among other places, Egypt and China. From 1915,

2200-518: The right bank of the river Lys . In 1668, the town became French, along with most of the rest of French Flanders . At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Armentières acquired fame, being the "City of Fabric". Industrial weaving , spinning and brewing grew in Armentières, benefitting from the presence of water. Armentières particularly suffered during the World Wars although

2255-487: The rise of municipal power in Europe. The 63-meter-high Dunkirk Lighthouse, also known as the Risban Light, was built between 1838 and 1843 as part of early efforts to place lights around the coast of France. At the time of its construction it was one of only two first order lighthouses (the other being Calais) to be set up in a port. Automated since 1985, the light can be seen 28 nautical miles (48 km) away. In 2010 it

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2310-520: The routes between Lille-Flandres station and Dunkirk , and between Lille-Flandres and Hazebrouck . Armentières is twinned with: The belfry of Armentières was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005 as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France site, and in recognition of their influence in the rise of municipal power in Europe. The belfry, just like the nearing city hall

2365-421: The settlement against Viking raids. The surrounding wetlands were drained and cultivated by the monks of nearby Bergues Abbey. The name Dunkirka was first mentioned in a tithe privilege of 27 May 1067, issued by Count Baldwin V of Flanders . Count Philip I (1157–1191) brought further large tracts of marshland under cultivation, laid out the first plans to build a Canal from Dunkirk to Bergues and vested

2420-462: The stranded soldiers. 338,226 men (including 123,000 French soldiers) were evacuated – the miracle of Dunkirk , as Churchill called it. It took over 900 vessels to evacuate the BEF, with two-thirds of those rescued embarking via the harbour, and over 100,000 taken off the beaches. More than 40,000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind. Forty thousand Allied soldiers (some who carried on fighting after

2475-532: The surrounding estates. They were ejected by King Charles VI of France , but left great devastations in and around the town. Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384, Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian , Duke Philip the Bold . The fortifications were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark (a navigational aid similar to a non-illuminated lighthouse). As

2530-486: The system faced substantial challenges. By the end of the first three months, ridership plummeted by 73% from its peak, eventually stabilizing at only 12% more than pre-pandemic levels (2019-2020). This decline was primarily due to the inability of the public transport infrastructure to handle the overwhelming demand, leading to overcrowding, delays, and reduced service quality. Despite these issues, Dunkirk’s free transport program remains operational, albeit limited to weekends,

2585-496: The third-largest harbour in France, after those of Le Havre and Marseille . As an industrial city, it depends heavily on the steel , food processing , oil-refining , ship-building and chemical industries . The cuisine of Dunkirk closely resembles Flemish cuisine ; perhaps one of the best known dishes is coq à la bière – chicken in a creamy beer sauce. In June 1792 the French astronomers Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre and Pierre François André Méchain set out to measure

2640-503: The town received two Military Crosses, one for World War I and the second for the Second World War and the Legion d'Honneur . In Armentières and the surrounding areas, the military cemeteries are places of remembrance for the casualties of the World Wars. " Mademoiselle from Armentières " was a popular song among Allied soldiers in World War I . During World War I, in October 1914, the town

2695-467: Was sold to France by Charles II of England for £320,000. The French government developed the town as a fortified port. The town's existing defences were adapted to create ten bastions. The port was expanded in the 1670s by the construction of a basin that could hold up to thirty warships with a double lock system to maintain water levels at low tide. The basin was linked to the sea by a channel dug through coastal sandbanks secured by two jetties. This work

2750-537: Was assumed that Adolf Hitler ordered the German Army to suspend the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe . However, according to the Official War Diary of Army Group A , its commander, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt , ordered the halt to allow maintenance on his tanks, half of which were out of service, and to protect his flanks which were exposed and, he thought, vulnerable. Hitler merely validated

2805-461: Was completed by 1678. The jetties were defended a few years later by the construction of five forts, Château d'Espérance, Château Vert, Grand Risban, Château Gaillard, and Fort de Revers. An additional fort was built in 1701 called Fort Blanc. During the reign of Louis XIV , a large number of commerce raiders and pirates once again made their base at Dunkirk, the most famous of whom was Jean Bart . The main character (and possible real prisoner) in

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2860-510: Was designed by the architect Louis Marie Cordonnier and is open for visitors and tourists. Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers hides in Armentières and is caught and executed there. The bawdy song, Mademoiselle from Armentières , was popular amongst British and American troops during World War 1. There are multiple version of the lyrics, that mostly refer to a woman from the town. West Flemish language West Flemish

2915-506: Was directed on the final day of the war by pilots from No. 652 Squadron RAF , and No. 665 Squadron RCAF . The fortress, under the command of German Admiral Friedrich Frisius , eventually unconditionally surrendered to the commander of the Czechoslovak forces, Brigade General Alois Liška , on 9 May 1945. On 14 December 2002, the Norwegian car carrier MV  Tricolor collided with

2970-434: Was listed as an historical monument. Two museums in Dunkirk include: Dunkirk has a ferry route to Dover that is run by DFDS , which serves as an alternative to the route to the service to nearby Calais . The Dover-Dunkirk ferry route takes two hours compared to Dover-Calais' 1 hour 30 minutes, is run by th r ee vessels and runs every two hours from Dunkirk. Another DFDS route connects Dunkirk to Rosslare Europort in

3025-418: Was the site of the Battle of Armentières . Later in the war, Armentières was repeatedly shelled by the Germans with mustard gas . In July 1917, 675 civilians were injured of which 86 died due to lingering residue, as the agent was a new and unknown weapon. In April 1918, German troops shelled the town again. British troops were forced to evacuate the area, but the Germans could not enter for two weeks because of

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