Comines-Warneton

Comines-Warneton
Municipality

Comines-Warneton town hall

Flag

Coat of arms
Comines-Warneton

Location in Belgium

Coordinates: 50°46′N 03°00′E / 50.767°N 3.000°E / 50.767; 3.000Coordinates: 50°46′N 03°00′E / 50.767°N 3.000°E / 50.767; 3.000
Country Belgium
Community French Community
Region Wallonia
Province Hainaut
Arrondissement Mouscron
Government
  Mayor Gilbert Deleu (Action)
  Governing party/ies Action, MR, PS, Ecolo
Area
  Total 61.09 km2 (23.59 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
  Total 18,101
  Density 300/km2 (770/sq mi)
Postal codes 7780-7784
Area codes 056
Website www.villedecomines-warneton.be

Comines-Warneton (Dutch: Komen-Waasten, Picard: Comène-Warneuton, West Flemish: Koomn-Woastn) is a Belgian city and municipality in the Walloon province of Hainaut. On January 1, 2006, it had a total population of 17,562. Its total area is 61.09 km² which gives a population density of 287 inhabitants per km². The name "Comines" is believed to have a Celtic, or Gaulish, origin. Comines-Warneton is a municipality with language facilities for Dutch-speakers.

The municipality of Comines-Warneton includes the traditional villages of Comines (Dutch: KomenComines is also the name of the village on the other side of the Belgian-French border), Comines-ten-Brielen, Houthem, Warneton (Dutch: Waasten), Bas-Warneton (Dutch: Neer-Waasten), Ploegsteert and Le Bizet. They were all transferred in 1963 from the arrondissement of Ypres in the Dutch-speaking province of West Flanders to the newly created arrondissement of Mouscron in French-speaking Hainaut. The five municipalities (Comines, Houthem, Ploegsteert, Bas-Warneton, Warneton) were merged into a single Comines-Warneton municipality in 1977. Since then, the municipality forms an exclave of both Hainaut and Wallonia, being surrounded by the Flemish province of West-Flanders and the French department of Nord and not connected to the rest of the French-speaking area of Belgium.

Comines-Warneton is twinned with Hedge End in England and with Argenton-les-Vallées in France.

Famous inhabitants

Twin towns

References

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This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.