Cherbourg
Chèrbourg (Norman) | |
|---|---|
Part of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin | |
 May 2006 aerial view of Cherbourg | |
Location of Cherbourg  | |
  Cherbourg  Cherbourg | |
| Coordinates: 49°38′N 1°37′W / 49.63°N 1.62°W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Manche |
| Arrondissement | Cherbourg |
| Commune | Cherbourg-en-Cotentin |
| Area 1 | 6.91 km2 (2.67 sq mi) |
| Population (1999) | 25,370 |
| • Density | 3,700/km2 (9,500/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 50100 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Cherbourg[a] is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 February 2000,[5] which was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin on 1 January 2016.[6]
Cherbourg is protected by Cherbourg Harbour, between La Hague and Val de Saire, and the city has been a strategic position over the centuries, disputed between the English and French. Cited as one of the "keys to the kingdom" by Vauban, it became, by colossal maritime development work, a first-rate military port under the leadership of Napoleon I, and holds an arsenal of the French Navy. A stopping point for prestigious transatlantic liners in the first half of the 20th century, Cherbourg was the primary goal of US troops during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Along with its use as a military, fishing and yachting port, it is also a cross-Channel ferry port, with routes to the English ports of Poole and Portsmouth, the Irish ports of Rosslare Harbour and Dublin, and St Helier on Jersey. Limited by its geographical isolation from being a great commercial port, it is nonetheless an important shipbuilding centre, and a working-class city with a rural hinterland.
- ^ "Cherbourg". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "Cherbourg". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020.
- ^ "Cherbourg". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "Cherbourg". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ Décret 23 February 2000 (in French)
- ^ Arrêté préfectoral 1 December 2015 (in French)
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