Boulogne-sur-Mer

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This article is on Boulogne-sur-Mer. For other places called Boulogne, see Boulogne.

Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département of which it is a sous-préfecture. It is located by the English Channel.

Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 44,859 inhabitants, whereas the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine) had 135,116 inhabitants.

Name

The name Boulogne was recorded for the first time during the Roman Empire as Bononia, a derivative of the Celtic word bona (meaning "foundation", "settlement", "citadel"). This derivation is also found in the name of the Italian city of Bologna.

History

Originally named Gesoriacum and probably also to be identified with Portus Itius, by the 4th century Boulogne was known to the Romans as Bononia and served as the major port connecting the rest of the empire to Britain. The emperor Claudius used this town as his base for the Roman invasion of Britain, in AD 43, and until 296 it was the base of the Classis britannica.

In the Middle Ages it was the centre of a namesake county. The area was fought over by the French and the English. In 1550, The Peace of Boulogne ended the war of England with Scotland and France. France bought back Boulogne for 400,000 crowns.

In the 19th century the Cathedral of Notre Dame was reconstructed by the priest Benoit Haffreingue after he received a call from God to reconstruct the town's ruined basilica.

Miscellaneous

Open in 1991, NAUSICAÄ [link] - The French National Sea Experience Centre is a Science Centre entirely dedicated to the relationship between Mankind and the Sea. Aquaria, exhibitions on the marine fauna, and the exploitation and management of marine resources (fisheries, aquaculture, coastal planning, maritime transport, exploitation of energies and mineral resources, tourism...). Its goal is to incite the general public to discover and to love the Sea, while raising its awareness on the need for a good management of marine resources.

In the year 1905 the First Esperanto Universal Congress was held in Boulogne-sur-Mer. L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, was among the attendees. In the year 2005 there was held a great anniversary meeting with more than 500 attendees.

Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer

• Frédéric Sauvage (1786-1857), engineer and inventor of the propeller.
• Pierre Claude François Daunou (1761-1840), politician and historian
• Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve(1804-1869), literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history
• Guillaume Duchenne (1806-1875), neurologist
• Auguste Mariette (1821-1881), scholar and archaeologist, one of the foremost Egyptologists of his generation, and the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo
• Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841-1909), actor
• Ernest Alexandre Honoré Coquelin, actor
• Georges Mathieu (1921), painter
• Sophie Daumier (born 1934), actress
• Jean-Pierre Papin (born 1963), football player
• Mickael Bourgain (born 1980), track cyclist
• Franck Ribéry (born 1983), football player
• François Ribéry, his brother, (born 1987), football player

Other famous people associated with Boulogne

• Caius Julius Caesar (Caesar)(100-44 ante J.C.), as a proconsul,
• Godfrey of Bouillon (1060-1100), count of Boulogne, leader of the first crusade
• Blaise de Monluc (1500-1577), marshal of France,
• Henry II (1519-1559), king of France
• Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), emperor,
• Napoleon III (1808-1873), emperor,
• Queen Victoria (1819-1901),
• Maurice Boitel (born 1919), painter,
• Constant Coquelin, actor,
• Jacques-Oudart Fourmentin said "Le Baron Bucaille", corsair,
• Benoît-Agathon Haffreingue, priest and builder of the catheadral,
• Olivier Latry, organist,
• José de San Martín, South American historical figure,
• "Niall of the Nine Hostages" (( c.342-c.405). He took royal hostages from nine countries which he subdued and made tributary. They were four Ireland provinces plus Britain, the Picts, the Dalriads, the Saxons, and the Morini, a people of France. He marched deep into France to aid the native Celts in expelling the Roman Eagles, and thus conquer that portion of the Roman Empire. He was killed for revenge by the son of the king of Leinster on the banks of the river Lianne, near Boulogne-Sur-mer. Niall ordained that "Alba" be forever known as "Scotia Minor", (Scotland).

Twin towns

Boulogne-sur-Mer is twinned with:

• Folkestone, United Kingdom
• Zweibrücken, Germany - since 1959
• Constanţa, Romania

See also

• Côte d'Opale
• Siege of Boulogne
• Vieux-Boulogne
• Itius Portus

External links

• [boulogne-sur-Mer city council website] (in French)
• [Visiting Boulogne-sur-Mer] (English guide and tourist map)
• [NAUSICAÄ's official website] (in French and English)
• [Boulogne 2005 Esperanto] (en eo fr)

 

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