97 articles
Amiens
Amiens, known in antiquity as Samarobriva, is a city in northern France, the prefecture of the Somme department, where the Somme is joined by the Avre and the Selle.
Angers
Angers, prefecture of Maine-et-Loire in Pays de la Loire, France; historic capital of Anjou, 159,022 inhabitants (2023), tramway lines B and C opened 2023, mayor Christophe Béchu.
Argenteuil
Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise sous-préfecture on the Seine northwest of Paris; INSEE code 95018. 106,130 inhabitants (2023), former wine town and abbey, Monet's residence 1872–1878, major industrial suburb by 1930, Métropole du Grand Paris member.
Arras
Arras, prefecture of Pas-de-Calais in Hauts-de-France, France; formerly Nemetacum and a Spanish Netherlands stronghold until 1640. Known for its UNESCO belfry and Vauban citadel, baroque Grand'Place, and the 1917 Battle of Arras.
Arromanches-les-Bains
Arromanches-les-Bains, a Calvados commune on Gold Beach, Normandy, site of the Mulberry B artificial harbour that landed 2.5 million troops after D-Day; home of the Musée du Débarquement and visible harbour remains.
Asnières-sur-Seine
Asnières-sur-Seine, commune 92004 in Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, on the Seine northwest of Paris; 93,941 inhabitants (2023), density 19,489.8/km²; served by Transilien J/L, RER C, metro 13, tram T1, and future Grand Paris Express line 15 (2031).
Bailleul-sur-Thérain
Bailleul-sur-Thérain, a commune in the Oise (Hauts-de-France), France, near Beauvais; INSEE code 60041; about 2,330 inhabitants in 2023; home of the Mont-César Gallic oppidum of the Bellovaci, a listed monument since 1979.
Beaurieux
Beaurieux: name of two French communes, one in Aisne (Hauts-de-France, ~830 residents, Aisne valley) and one in Nord (59740, 165 residents); the Aisne one holds major Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Gallo-Roman villa sites.
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine commune west of Paris (INSEE 92012), 119,019 inhabitants in 2023; defined by the Renault factories founded 1898 and closed 1992, and the Île Seguin redevelopment with La Seine Musicale and the Le Large art center.
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais, France), sub-prefecture on the English Channel; ancient Gesoriacum/Bononia. Leading French fishing port (~33,000 t auctioned yearly), Capécure seafood cluster, Nausicaá aquarium; 40,539 inhabitants in 2023.
Brest, France
Brest, France: commune in Finistère, Brittany, at France's western tip; major naval port with Toulon, seat of the Atlantic maritime prefecture, 142,346 inhabitants (2023), home of the FOST submarine force.
Caen
Caen, prefecture of Calvados in Normandy, France; first recorded as Cadomus in 1025, a city of William the Conqueror, 73% destroyed in 1944, rebuilt, with 109,400 inhabitants (2023) and the Mémorial de Caen museum.
Calais
Calais, French port city in Pas-de-Calais on the Strait of Dover; founded c.1165, English-held 1347–1558, retaken by the Duke of Guise in January 1558; today a leading cross-Channel ferry and freight port.
Callengeville
Callengeville is a commune in Seine-Maritime, Normandy (INSEE 76122), formed in 1973 from Bosc-Geffroy and Les Essarts-Varimpré; about 499 inhabitants, plateau between the Eaulne and Yères valleys.
Chanceaux-sur-Choisille
Chanceaux-sur-Choisille, a commune in Indre-et-Loire (INSEE 37054) about 10 km north of Tours, France. Known for a Gallo-Roman secondary agglomeration at La Prairie de la Bourdillière, an 11th-century Benedictine priory, and the Domaine de la Chute glasshouse restoration.
Chanteau
Chanteau is a commune in Loiret, France, 10 km north of Orléans on the edge of the Orléans forest. Named from Celtic Cantogil, founded around Robert II's 1029 priory, it holds the 1895 mausoleum of the Turco of 1870.
Chartres
Chartres, prefecture of Eure-et-Loir, France, also known as Autricum, capital of the Carnutes; cathedral city with 38,324 inhabitants (2023), UNESCO-listed Notre-Dame cathedral, one hour from Paris.
Cinq-Mars-la-Pile
Cinq-Mars-la-Pile, a commune in Indre-et-Loire (Centre-Val de Loire) on the Loire's right bank, named after its 29.5 m Gallo-Roman funerary pile, classified monument historique in 1840 and reinterpreted by 2005 excavations as marking a Turonne elite's grave.
Conquereuil
Conquereuil (Konkerel) is a rural commune in Loire-Atlantique, France, INSEE 44044, pop. about 1,061, on the river Don between Nantes and Rennes; site of the battles of 981 and 992 in which Duke Conan I of Brittany died.
Courbevoie
Courbevoie, commune 92026 in Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, west of Paris on the Seine; 82,902 inhabitants in 2023, motto Curva via mens recta, part of La Défense business district.
Créteil
Créteil, prefecture of the Val-de-Marne department in Île-de-France (not to be confused with Creil in the Oise), is a commune of 93,397 inhabitants (2023) south-east of Paris, rebuilt as a New Town-style ZUP from the 1960s, home to UPEC university and led by mayor Laurent Cathala since 1977.
Damblainville
Damblainville is a commune in Calvados, Normandy, on the Ante river, with 227 inhabitants over 6.35 km². Distinguished by a Gallo-Roman secondary agglomeration on the Monts d'Eraines and the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church.
Dinard
Dinard (INSEE 35093) is a Breton seaside resort on the Côte d'Émeraude facing Saint-Malo across the Rance estuary. Known for its Belle Époque villas, 407 listed buildings, British origins, and 2026 mayor Arnaud Salmon.
Dreux
Dreux is a commune and sub-prefecture of Eure-et-Loir in northern France, at the meeting point of Normandy and Île-de-France, best known for the Chapelle royale, burial place of the Orléans family including King Louis-Philippe.
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (Dunkerque, Duinkerke) is a port city in Nord, Hauts-de-France, France's third-largest port, site of the 1940 Operation Dynamo evacuation, 72% destroyed in WWII, now a battery-manufacturing hub with free buses.
Ecoust-St-Mein
Écoust-Saint-Mein, a rural commune in Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France, near Bapaume and Arras, site of one of the largest trapezoidal-plan Gallo-Roman villas of northern Gaul (L'Homme Mort) and a village rebuilt after the 1917-1918 offensives.
Épernay
Épernay, Marne sub-prefecture on the river Marne, France's Champagne capital with the 1.5 km Avenue de Champagne, 110 km of chalk cellars, UNESCO-listed since 2015; 22,174 inhabitants (2023).
Estrées-sur-Noye
Estrées-sur-Noye is a commune in the Somme, Hauts-de-France, 12 km south of Amiens, with about 290 inhabitants. It is known for a Gallo-Roman villa excavated by Roger Agache that modeled northern Gaul's large rural estates.
Ferrières-sur-Beaulieu
Ferrières-sur-Beaulieu (officially Ferrière-sur-Beaulieu), commune 37108 in Indre-et-Loire, France, near Loches; 703 inhabitants in 2023, named from Latin ferraria for Gaulish iron mines, with a 13th-century Angevin-vaulted church of Saint-Gilles.
Folleville
Folleville, Somme (INSEE 80321), a small Picardy commune with a Roman military camp, château ruins (11th-15th centuries, Louis XI, Talbot 1440), and the UNESCO-listed church tied to Vincent de Paul and the Compostela route.