Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Nord-Pas-de-Calais was a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais bordered the English Channel (west), the North Sea (northwest), Belgium, and Picardy (south). Until the 17th century, the history of the North was largely shared with the history of Belgium, that of a land that "for almost a thousand years served as a battlefield for all of Europe."