Everything about Picardie totally explained
Picardie (
English: Picardy) is one of the 26
regions of
France. It is located in the northern part of
France.
The modern region of Picardie is larger than the historical
province of
Picardy. The south of the
Aisne department and most of the
Oise department were historically part of the
province of Île-de-France, while the
Somme department and the north of the Aisne department were the province of Picardy proper, with the Boulonais, that's now in
Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (
Pas-de-Calais departement).
As the historical Picardy was deemed too small to become a region, the French government decided to join it with the north of
Île-de-France (specifically, the
pays of
Beauvaisis,
Valois,
Noyonnais,
Laonnois,
Soissonnais,
Omois, to name only the most prominent). The name of the historical province of Picardy was given to this new region.
Thus, the Picardie region is somewhat an artificial region, with the south of the Oise department lying inside the metropolitan area of
Paris. People in the south of Oise commute to Île-de-France for work, and hardly feel
Picard ("Picardy inhabitant" and traditionally
Picard-speakers) unlike those coming from the north of this new artificial region for whom the term is very meaningful.
The industrial area of
Saint-Quentin in the north of Picardie has been hard hit by economic crisis, the south of the region, at the border with Île-de-France, is booming due to the increasing inflow of Parisians relocating to the distant and greener towns of the Oise department, in short thanks to what the French call
rurbanisation.
Between the 1990 and 1999 French censuses, the population of Oise increased 0.61% per year (almost twice faster than France as a whole), while the Aisne department lost inhabitants, and the Somme barely grew, at a laggard 0.16% per year. Today, 41.3% of the population of Picardie live inside the Oise department, which historically wasn't part of
Picardy.
Although Picardy proper is a vast flat plain of
open fields, famed for the gruesome
Battle of the Somme, the south of Picardie (historically part of Île-de-France) is a very scenic hilly area with large forests.
Major communities
Further Information
Get more info on 'Picardie'.
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