Picardy

Picardy (pĭk`ərdē), Fr. Picardie, region and former province, N France, on the English Channel. It includes the Somme, Oise, and Aisne depts. and has three main geographical regions: the plateau north of Paris, which is an important wheat and beet area; the Somme River valley, with manufacturing cities like Amiens, Abbeville, and Saint-Quentin; and the coast, with fishing and commercial seaports like Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais and beach resorts such as Le Touquet and Le Crotoy. The name Picardy appeared about the 13th cent., designating the many small feudal holdings added to the crown by Philip II. During the Hundred Years War the area was contested by France and England. Louis XI occupied it in 1477, securing it for France. The word Picard, always vaguely used, also applies to the people of neighboring Artois.

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Picardy

 French Picardie

Région (pop., 2003 est.: 1,869,386), encompassing the northern French départements of Oise, Somme, and Aisne and roughly coextensive with the historical region of Picardy. In the 13th century the historical region included the countships of Amiénois and Vermandois, which were united with the French crown by Philip II from 1185. Picardy was joined to Burgundy in 1435 and attached to France in 1477. The province of Picardy from the 16th century to the end of the ancien régime in 1789 comprised the Somme River basin from Saint-Quentin to the English Channel, the basins of the Serre and upper Oise rivers, and Montreuil on the Canche beyond the Authie River. The region was the scene of heavy fighting in both world wars, especially in the First Battle of the Somme (1916). The capital of the French administrative region of Picardy is Amiens. Picardy has an area of 7,490 sq mi (19,399 sq km).