Sangatte
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Commune of Sangatte |
||
| Location | ||
|
||
| Administration | ||
|---|---|---|
| Country | France | |
| Region | Nord-Pas-de-Calais | |
| Department | Pas-de-Calais | |
| Arrondissement | Calais | |
| Canton | Calais-Nord-Ouest | |
| Intercommunality | Communauté d'agglomération du Calaisis | |
| Mayor | Guy Allemand (2001-2008) |
|
| Statistics | ||
| Elevation | 0 m–151 m (avg. 4 m) |
|
| Land area¹ | 14.28 km² | |
| Population² (1999) |
4,046 | |
| - Density | 283/km² (1999) | |
| Miscellaneous | ||
| INSEE/Postal code | 62774/ 62231 | |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | ||
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. | ||
 |
||
Sangatte is a small harbour town and commune of the Pas-de-Calais département, on the northern coast of France, bordering the English Channel. Like many placenames in French Flanders, the name is of Flemish (Dutch) origin (Zandgat) and means "gap in the sand".
Contents |
[edit] Engineering
Sangatte became internationally famous because of the works for the Channel Tunnel and is the location for the tunnel's French cooling station, its British counterpart being at Samphire Hoe. In addition, it is the French end-point for the HVDC Cross-Channel, the connection between the UK and French electricity grids.
[edit] History
Sangatte also achieved notoriety as the location of a controversial refugee camp, colloquially dubbed Sans-gate (Lit. 'without gate') (see Channel Tunnel article for details). Nicolas Sarkozy, then Minister of the Interior, ordered its closure.[1].
[edit] Blériot Plage
On the 25th July 1909, Louis Blériot was the first to fly across the English Channel, from the beach at Sangatte, to claim the prize offered by the Daily Mail. The crossing took 37 minutes in his aeroplane, Blériot XI, built in collaboration with Raymond Saulnier. It was powered by a 3 cylinder 25 horsepower engine.
[edit] Population
| 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3309 | 3340 | 3332 | 3199 | 3326 | 4046 |
| Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting | |||||
[edit] Miscellaneous
This is where the Top Gear presenters arrived in Jeremy Clarkson's amphibious "Nissank" car, after crossing the channel from Dover (Series 10 Episode 2).
[edit] Twinned With
Sandgate, Kent, England.
[edit] See also
Communes of the Pas-de-Calais département
[edit] References
- ^ Le Monde, 7 mai 2007: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-823448,36-906438@51-823374@45-100,0.html
[edit] External links
(All French language)
