Fort-Mahon-Plage
Encyclopedia
Fort-Mahon-Plage is a commune
in the Somme
department in Picardy
in northern France
.
and endowed with a sandy beach and massive sand dunes, Fort-Mahon-Plage attracts many tourists, especially during the summer and at the weekends. Thanks to investment and the fact the town meets many environmental criteria, the town is officially classified (since 2006), as a “station balnéaire”.
gatherers.
Indeed, the first town was raised there only a little more than two centuries ago, with a few small shepherds’ huts in 1790. Fort-Mahon-Plage was not considered a commune at all until 1923, when it was officially identified as a separate village from its neighbour Quend-Plage-Les-Pins. Urbanization was steady, notably in the 1950s, with the immense beach of fine sand, in contrast to many of the pebble beaches of Normandy, doing a lot to attract tourists, as well as a soft and pleasant sea during the summer.
The huge beach later became famous for its water activities, most notably landyacht
racing , wind-surfing and kiting
.
The town also invested heavily in its infrastructure, most notably the very long principal promenade, the "Avenue de la plage" (Beach Avenue), of a quality design and layout that reinforces the attractiveness of the town.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
department in Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Geography
The commune is situated on the coast of the English ChannelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and endowed with a sandy beach and massive sand dunes, Fort-Mahon-Plage attracts many tourists, especially during the summer and at the weekends. Thanks to investment and the fact the town meets many environmental criteria, the town is officially classified (since 2006), as a “station balnéaire”.
Population
History
Fort-Mahon-Plage is not a very old town. It seems certain that it did not exist before the 18th century, except, of course, the superb sand dunes and the sea. Then considered rather cold and wild, this part of the coast would have welcomed only fishermen and shellfishShellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
gatherers.
Indeed, the first town was raised there only a little more than two centuries ago, with a few small shepherds’ huts in 1790. Fort-Mahon-Plage was not considered a commune at all until 1923, when it was officially identified as a separate village from its neighbour Quend-Plage-Les-Pins. Urbanization was steady, notably in the 1950s, with the immense beach of fine sand, in contrast to many of the pebble beaches of Normandy, doing a lot to attract tourists, as well as a soft and pleasant sea during the summer.
The huge beach later became famous for its water activities, most notably landyacht
Landyacht
Landyacht is colloquial term in the United States and parts of Canada, used to describe the large sedans that American automobile manufacturers produced, particularly full-size, rear-wheel drive sedans, from the 1950s through the 1990s...
racing , wind-surfing and kiting
Kiting
Kiting may refer to:* Kiting on gossamer , by which some spiders and mites disperse.* Flying a kite* Kiting * Check kiting, a form of banking fraud* Domain kiting* Kitesurfing, a water sport...
.
The town also invested heavily in its infrastructure, most notably the very long principal promenade, the "Avenue de la plage" (Beach Avenue), of a quality design and layout that reinforces the attractiveness of the town.