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Denain

Field	Value
name	Denain
commune status	Commune
image	Denain Mairie.JPG
image flag	Flag of Denain.gif
caption	The town hall in Denain
image coat of arms	Blason ville fr Denain (Nord).svg
arrondissement	Valenciennes
canton	Denain
INSEE	59172
postal code	59220
mayor	Anne-Lise Dufour-Tonini
term	2020–2026
intercommunality	CA Porte du Hainaut
coordinates
elevation m	33
elevation min m	26
elevation max m	115
area km2	11.52
population
population date
population footnotes

|image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Denain (Nord).svg Denain (; ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. As of 2023, the population of the commune was 20,665, on a land area of 11.52 km2 (4.448 sq mi).

It is the largest of 47 communes which constitute the Communauté d'agglomération de la Porte du Hainaut, which in 2017 had a total population of 158,754.

History

A mere village in the beginning of the 19th century, its population rapidly increased from 1850 until 1962, when it had 29,467 inhabitants. Since then its population declined by about 30%.

Its vicinity was the scene of the decisive victory gained in 1712 by Marshal Villars over the allies commanded by Prince Eugene of Savoy; and the battlefield is marked by a monolithic monument inscribed with the verses of Voltaire: "Regardez dans Denain l'audacieux Villars/Disputant le tonnerre à l'aigle des Césars." ("See in Denain bold Villars/Fighting the eagle of the Caesars").

Denain was an important centre in the industrial revolution, first for coal-mining from 1720, and steelworks from around 1839. The closure of the large Usinor steelworks at Denain was announced in 1978, and the works finally closed in 1988. Émile Zola is thought to have conducted research into the working of the mine and mining communities by visiting Denain before writing Germinal. A primary school, a park and a road in Denain bear the name of the novelist.

Former mayor Patrick Roy was also a deputy and became famous for the support for heavy metal music he expressed at the National Assembly on various occasions.

Population

|graph-pos = bottom |1800 |927 |1806 |1057 |1821 |1262 |1831 |1601 |1836 |3200 |1841 |5144 |1846 |7272 |1851 |8691 |1856 |9496 |1861 |10254 |1866 |11022 |1872 |12330 |1876 |14419 |1881 |17202 |1886 |17832 |1891 |18258 |1896 |19916 |1901 |23204 |1906 |24564 |1911 |26800 |1921 |23472 |1926 |26868 |1931 |27767 |1936 |26478 |1946 |24908 |1954 |27449 |1962 |29467 |1968 |27973 |1975 |26204 |1982 |21825 |1990 |19544 |1999 |20360 |2007 |20186 |2012 |20270 |2017 |19825 |2023 |20665

Heraldry

The arms of Denain are blazoned :

Notable residents

Fabien Gilot (born 1984), Olympic and world champion swimmer
Philippe and Hervé Lomprez, founders of the cold wave band Trisomie 21 in the early 1980s.

References

(13 September 2022). "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises.
[https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/geographie/commune/59172-denain INSEE commune file]
{{EB1911
{{Cassini-Ehess. 11700. Denain
[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/8643952?geo=COM-59172#tableau-POPREF_G1 Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023], INSEE
[https://archive.ph/wsvja "Trisomie 21: C’était ça la révolte, il fallait s’inventer une vie"]. ''La Voix Du Nord''. Retrieved 2 June 2025.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

communes-of-nord-(french-department)

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